Resentment? Government sows what we reap

I grew up in the age of Aquarius when peace, love and understanding sought harmony and unity among people.

And I have seen how that message engineered by the people of my generation has produced changes that brought about more cohesiveness among the races.

That is why recent polls finding a majority of Americans nationwide believe race relations are in bad shape not only disturbs me, it also puzzles me.

According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 58 percent of Americans — across all racial and ethnic lines — say race relations in the U.S. are generally bad.

I can’t help but think this is all part of a pattern by politicians and the controlling interests in the government — whether Republican or Democrat — to weaponize discord and use the seeds for political gain, and polling reflects what sprouts from those seeds.

During my lifetime, I witnessed politicians like George H.W. Bush use criminals such as Willie Horton to stoke white fear and drive whites to the polls to propel him into the White House.

Bill and Hillary Clinton also used that tactic in reverse to get blacks to the polls for them by campaigning on a fair judicial system. It worked for Bill but by the time Hillary got her chance, black voters remembered how Bill fed them that campaign line — and then presided over the largest increase of prison inmates of any president in American history.

President Donald Trump uses the crimes of undocumented Mexicans and other immigrants along with migrants at the borders in the same way.

Politicians have always used the actions of a few to paint a broad distortion to exploit people’s insecurities — and they always will, because playing on the fears of the public is what gets them elected.

There is no uncertainty that crimes tinged with racial hatred are on the rise as Jews and Muslims are under attack, mosques and black churches are being burned and people of all races are arming themselves and targeting specific races and beliefs for death.

Yet, even given this, racial discord and animosity is not what I experience on a daily basis.

I often use my family and our experiences as a cornerstone of my columns and while I reference the bad of my childhood a lot, there is something I don’t write about as often: my family is like a mini United Nations.

Through bloodlines and marriage, my family includes Jews, Irish, Hispanics and Asians — and of course, blacks.

And we get along despite our sometimes different views on politics and race relations.

I don’t think there is any doubt there are periods when race relations are strained in America. How can it not be in a nation where everyone started in another country and brings with them their own culture and traditions?

But when I visit classrooms and interact with young students, I am reminded that we grow together, bond together, live together, and learn together . So, exactly when and where is the ember of hatred, intolerance and separatism lit? Exactly who stokes them into huffs and puffs of rage and fury and racial divide?

Government can wipe out many of the smoldering embers that stoke resentment, such as fixing the immigration system, eliminating poverty and ensuring the judicial system works fairly for everyone.

Instead, they use selective symbols knowing they will clash like cymbals among Americans.

Because it is real difficult to cheer for immigration when many American children lack food and shelter and or you’re working 60-hour work-weeks while monthly checks sustain able-bodied people. It is difficult not to resentful when you’re behind bars for selling marijuana but the men who put the country on the brink of disaster due to greed get away scotfree.

It’s difficult not to be resentful when you are a member of one race and watch another race get affirmative action when you, too, are from humble beginnings and need a break.

In my column, “Americans? It takes guts to get to glory,” — which was a response to the heroic actions of people after mass destruction hit Harvey, Texas, — I wrote “we may fight like brothers and sisters and at times go after one another like despised cousins but one thing we know: we are in this together — and we like the melting pot.”

And despite the ratcheting up of racial hatred, I believe that remains true.

But once again, we must get past the cymbals.

Resentment? Government sows what we reap.