Two years ago on Biblical Conservatism, I took time to reflect on how
the Left in America fails to live up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
famous dream. Today, on the day after Martin Luther King Day, I felt it was a good
time to once again repost that reflection.
In 2011, America celebrated the 25th Martin Luther King Day. As it has
in the past, this day brought to mind a panel discussion I was
priveleged to join back in 2001 (my senior year of high school)
sponsored by Umoja (student lead-group at my school). I was known in my
high school as one of the best Conservatives (a small pool of talent in a
New York state high school I must admit). A Liberal friend, with whom I
had enjoyed many great debates with through our honors History and
English classes over the past years, was a member of the group Umoja’s
branch at my school. The goal of this panel was to discuss race
relations 33 years after Dr. King was assassinated. I will never forget
this event. It was the day I truly understood how the American Left has
failed Dr. King’s dream.
The panel consisted of some black students and some white students. I
recall most vividly the stories of “racism” that some of these students
claimed to have experienced at our school. Included among the most
prominent “offenses” as being asked questions about their hair and how
difficult it was to manage! I have always believed that the greatest
problem that caused racism in America was ignorance. If this is the
case, how is it racist to ask questions in an effort to understand?
Further, aren’t questions like this a demonstration that our generation
does in fact recognize that race differences are purely skin deep…that
black people are simply PEOPLE…people who have different physical
traits but otherwise 100% the same!
If I may step away from the point of this article for one moment, I’d
like to take time to explain the real purpose of race. The physical
traits of different races on Earth were caused due to the process of
physical adaptation as people moved into different parts of the World.
For example, the physical traits of people from eastern African descent.
People in Africa generally have long and lanky frames. Their skin has a
high amount of melanin in their bodies because melanin is essentially
sun block built in to the human body. The more melanin a person has in
their skin, the more they can be in the sun without the sun’s rays
damaging their body. The lanky frame and high amount of melanin in black
person’s body is the ideal combination of traits to dissipate heat and
to withstand the longest possible time in the sun.
People of northern Asian decent are generally shorter and squatter. They
have thicker, darker hair and almond shaped eyes which reduce the glare
of snow and ice. They tend to have flatter noses because that shape
nose is less exposed to cold. People of Asian descent often have minimal
facial hair because a man’s breath often condensates on the beard,
making the face colder. These traits make a person of northern Asian
decent best able to withstand the cold temperatures of northern Asia.
Both these examples show that the human body adapted to its
surroundings!
Back to the original story. The one question that I recall as if it was
yesterday from that panel discussion from ten years ago was “How do you
see yourself as a minority or majority in America today?” I remember I
was quite bothered by this question because it ignored the point of Dr.
King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Dr. King said famously:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they are judged not by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character.”(1)
Yet these students wanted to talk about people in categories based upon
the color of their skin! I spoke about my personal beliefs on race: That
skin color is exactly the same as eye color…a physical trait. I do
not consider people to be different than me if they have blue or brown
eyes (I have green eyes, for the record). I do not consider a person
different from me if they have blonde hair or black hair or red hair (I
have brown hair, for the record). I also do not consider people to be
different because they are of Asian descent or African decent or
American Indian decent (I am of European Decent, for the record). These
are only physical traits. They DO NOT MATTER to me!
Another statement made was “Everyone is at least a little racist.” I
stand living proof that this is not true! My response to this was: “I
look at you and I see a person. You look at me and you see a white
person. Who do you think is REALLY racist here?” I said then, and I
still say now, that the person who sees a fellow human being through the
lens of their race is the racist, regardless of what that racist
person’s skin color happens to be!
The truth is the Left has failed Dr. King’s dream. They have spent a
generation telling minorities that they can’t succeed on their own. They
have spent a generation telling minorities they need the Democrat party
to fight for them because they can’t fight for themselves. The Left has
spent a generation crying racism every time someone argues against a
policy of a minority. Look at Barrack Obama. The Left should be thrilled
that the Right debates President Obama’s policies on merit alone if
they were living up to Dr. King’s beliefs. But the Left instead cries
racism because we criticism Obama. The reality is we ARE judging Obama
by the content of his character…and we don’t like that content! I
despise President Obama’s policies with my eyes closed…his race does
not matter. I am the same person who liked the idea of Condoleezza Rice
running for President at one point because I liked the content of her
character. I oppose Obama’s policies because he is a Socialist, not
because he is black! Something tells me that you, my readers, oppose
Obama’s policies for the same reason.
The Left has failed Dr. King’s Dream, and done so intentionally. They
fail the Dream because it means they can’t use race to convince
minorities to vote for them. The Right, on the other hand, has
succeeded. We as Conservatives do judge people by the content of their
character. We happily support Conservative minorities like Condoleezza
Rice, Judge Clarence Thomas, Governor Bobby Jindall of Louisiana,
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and others. Because it’s about the
ideas, not the skin tone. We argue against minorities who are on the
Left, like President Barrack Obama, Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend
Al Sharpton. It is for their policies we oppose these men. If they were
white, we’d fight them just the same.
So I ask you what I asked ten years ago: If the Left looks at a man and
sees a white man or a black man or an Asian man and the Right looks at a
man and sees a man, who is the racist? It is the side that sees simply a
man that has fulfilled the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Authored By Biblical Conservatism
