Changing history is never easy

For many when it comes to issues of racial equality and systemic racism, the walls that immediately go up are extremely intense. But why? What makes the idea that all people should be treated fairly and equitably so controversial? How can there be such extreme resistance to the idea of equality for all people? It sometimes seems to feel like we take two steps forward and one step back. What about that core principle laid out by the Founding Fathers that all men are created equal? Why is the struggle for civil rights — in essence, human rights — so difficult?

One simple and maybe obvious response is that the Founding Fathers did not consider Black people to be included in that statement. So right from the beginning it was a flawed concept. In reality, discrimination was built in from the inception of this nation. And then, as it is now, it was largely unwritten. That section of the document simply ignored the clear contradiction that all involved knew, the reality that in their eyes all men were not created equal. The literal opposite of what was written on those pages was their belief. And I believe we are still living with the subconscious impact of those beliefs today.

It annoys me when I hear people say that this is not who America is. I believe this is exactly who we are. This is who we have been for over 400 years, simply in varying degrees and various iterations. Early America was built by the hands of the persecuted.

I heard something that struck me in reference to the age of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Think about this: If you know a person who is 57 years old, that person is older than the Civil Rights Act. That person lived in a time when Black people were terrorized for attempting to vote. A time when “whites only” and “colored” signs hung all over the South. That person you are picturing is not that old.

Approximately 57 years have passed since civil rights for all became the law. Compare that to over 240 years of slavery. Over 240 years when Black people were being bought and sold, brutalized, tortured and disrespected legally. Imagine the impact of that. As well as 240 years when white people were legally considered superior humans, when no level of brutality was punishable by law, and thus there was no limit to the depths that they would go.

For over 240 years, white people were told to fear Black progress, and that any improvement of the Black condition would destroy their way of life. They were told to resist seeing and treating Black people as human because their personal well-being depended on it. And even that it was God’s will. And this was all upheld by the law. Imagine the impact of that on both races.

That 240-plus years was followed by the era of the Klan and Jim Crow. It would be another century before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During that 100 years after slavery, the torture and intimidation of Black people continued. And lynchings were public entertainment for white men, women and children.

Discrimination in education, employment, housing and the inability to simply move freely without fear created a constant weight to be carried. There could hardly be any escape from that feeling of persecution and dread.

And through all of that we still managed to persevere, flourish and prosper. There have been over 350 years of both blatant and subliminal messaging that Black equals inferior. So much that the impact can be seen in attitudes across the entire planet. This creates a problem for both white and Black races, because there is brainwashing on both sides. While Blacks have endured systemic racism and discrimination for far too long, some whites still seem to feel their well-being is threatened by Black progress.

To undo that degree of programming and negative propaganda is a significant task. To reach equality, we will have to scale a wall that has been built over 400 years. A wall not tumbled in an instant because of a Black president, nor relegated to the shadows because of a Black vice president. It is an astronomical climb, but not impossible.

And still no matter how difficult, the time for enlightenment, progress and change is now.