The Face of Racism: Racism has many faces because it is based on the opinions, beliefs and prejudices of individuals. At its core, is the belief that one group of people is superior to another. As Plato says, it is only those “who see beyond their culture and lies,” that will be able to rise above it. Most Americans are still “rising.” Evil minds latch on to “critical race theory” falsehoods, distortion of truth and Supreme Court biases as excuses for racism. What is “critical race theory?”

CRITICAL RACE THEORY: WHAT IS IT?

As a kid growing up in the south, my books contained nothing that revealed my ancestry as contributing to the growth of America. We were defined as slaves with little or no identity. Jim Crow laws furthered that description. “Black” always had a negative connotation. Words like “black-market, black-balled, blackmail” or “blackface” carried negative meanings. This caused black children to feel there was something wrong with being black. Pictures of happy, white kids were everywhere! Black kids were nowhere! Mainstream society did not seem to care about that.

Critical race theory seeks to erase such prejudices and idealism from the culture. First, it requires books to speak the truth about America’s dark history and secondly, have books in schools about all races and ethnicities.

BOOKS ON CRITICAL RACE THEORY

States across America are banning books such as the ones listed above from classrooms and libraries. Why? What is white America afraid of? America’s culture represents all people, not just white people. Critics say it will make white children uncomfortable when all children are represented in classroom books and libraries. We say if that is true, it only makes them uncomfortable because they feel our country should continue to lie about who it is and what it represents. We are a nation of colors, let’s continue to move toward a “more perfect union.” No one group of people should be sacrificed for another! No one group is superior to another! Blacks no longer accept that they are inferior as white history points out.

THE FACE OF RACISM

The face of racism is embedded in the soul of immorality, not the soul of morality. It is not moral nor spiritual to develop and maintain a culture that limits certain segments of that culture because of race. It is not “justice” to pass laws that take away civil and voting rights of citizens because one group does not like how they vote. What does freedom really mean? What is a democracy if it does not work equally for everyone? We cannot and will not revert to Jim Crow laws if we proclaim ourselves to be leaders of democracy. What face are you wearing? Is it a mask of deceit or is it a face of inclusiveness and unity? Only you know . . .