Racism Is Always a Tough One
by James Glaser
December 2, 2010

Last night I watched Representative James Clyburn, of South Carolina talk about his disappointment that racism is still part of Congress. Some Congressman said something that Clyburn took as racist, and I have no doubt but that it probably was.

Here is what I'm thinking. Racism has been around since, well ever since there were races—forever. Some time in the 1960s the Civil Rights movement in America got moving, and a lot of legal changes have been made.

But you can't expect thousands of years of racism to disappear in less than 50 years. It is going to take many generations. Also, I think America has to start owning up to the fact that there are racists in every race. That means there are white racists, black racists, yellow racists, and brown racists. You can't tell the white people to cut racism out if you don't tell all the other races to do the same.

There is going to be racism in America for a long time to come, and it is something we all have to work on, but posting new laws won't change things. It is going to take time and effort, and a lot of that effort will not garner any progress that a person can measure, because the gains will be so small. We each have to work on it one person at a time, and with over 300 million Americans, it won't be fast.

I understand Congressman's Clyburn's frustration, but when he gets on television and starts to lecture the white race, he is thought of as a racist by millions of white people who are just trying to live their lives the best they can. In his frustration, Clyburn set back race relations a little bit last night. I know he didn't want to do that, but that is what happens when a politician picks out one race, usually not his own, and starts telling that other race how to act. That doesn't work, and it never will.

Free JavaScripts provided
by The JavaScript Source