Living in the Past – Racism

Merriam Webster defines racism as:

1. a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2. the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another

Is there racism in the world? Of course, the answer is yes.

Is there racism in the United States? Again, no one would say there is none.

The bigger, more relevant question in the US is: Is it prevalent? I submit the proposition that racism exists, but only in pockets. It is not prevalent.

There are those among us who would have all of us constantly re-live the ugliness of slavery in some of the states and former colonies, and the segregation and oppression of blacks subsequently.

Let’s start with the 1619 Project. NY Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones had New York Times Magazine publish her proposition, in August 2019, that the US was founded on slavery, that slavery and racism was ingrained in the fabric characteristics of the Revolutionary War and the writing of our Constitution.

Then there’s CRT, or critical race theory. CRT considers racism to be systemic in various laws and rules, and not only based on individuals’ prejudices. In other words racism exists everywhere because the laws and regulations we live under are themselves racist.

Both the 1619 Project and CRT have developed curricula that are meant to be taught to our children.

Enter DEI – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. This program, which is now part training for many corporations, suggests all whites are racist even when whites don’t think/know they are – and requires all white employees to admit to being racist. It goes further, the ‘equity’ piece suggests every workforce (and group) reflect the ‘proper percentages’ of race(s) to the population. For some reason that doesn’t apply to the NFL, NBA or NHL.

Many major colleges had adopted the equity piece as part of their admissions process. The current federal administration requires all employees to represent the required percentages. The thing that’s wrong with it, as recently ruled by the Supreme Court, is that competence and ability is not to be ignored in the college admissions protocol. Equity suggests that race overshadows ability, talent and experience. The Supreme Court previously overturned affirmative action programs where someone got a job not because s/he was more qualified than others, but because of their race.

Equity is just another affirmative action program in sheep’s clothing. No one should get a job or be admitted to college just because of their race.

We’re surrounded by people not debating when disagreement arises and simply cut off discussion by saying the dissenter is racist. The social media mob would ‘cancel’ anyone who disagrees with any, nonconforming stance on an issue by playing the race card.

What all of this racially charged atmosphere does is require us to live in the past. There are no solutions proposed other than reparations – which gets us nowhere.

History is not there for us to like or dislike or to relive. It is there for us to learn from.  If it offends you, even better- because then you are less likely to repeat it.

An analogy. When learning to ride a bike, we had to focus on moving forward. A

look back over our shoulder would likely involve a crashed interruption in our learning.

I suggest the same is true when it comes to race and racism. This country has moved forward in the past 50-60 years to overcome racism, segregation, and mistreatment of against a certain race.

The US made mistakes. It moved Japanese Americans into isolation camps during WWII. It did not allow women to vote. It allowed denial of certain people to vote. It allowed the KKK and red lining real estate.

But we have moved forward. We’ve learned from the country’s mistakes and fixed them – not because the Constitution and its Bill of Rights are existentially racist and doesn’t allow corrections, but because of its ideals of justice and equality demand it.

If we want to do something positive regarding race and racism in this country, we can’t live in the past. The vast majority of us don’t want to embrace propositions that would revive dark parts of our history.

Quite the contrary.

What can be done is to increase the opportunities for minorities, and that starts with our schools and our generally failing public schools. Either the public school system gets fixed, or parents are provided with solid alternatives.

The other thing that would change for the good is if both whites and blacks were more open and accepting of inter-racial marriage.

An observation: young kids are not naturally racially sensitive or motivated. They meet and make friends without regard to the color of other kids’ skins – and that works both ways. As adults, we can learn something from that.

So all those ‘virtue signaling’ advocates of emphasizing racism have no place in our forward progress to eliminate it altogether.

*****************

Have a great and prosperous week.

Hug somebody.

SPIDER Bites

This week’s trivia question: Who is the youngest golfer ever to win the U.S. Junior Amateur title? The answer to last week’s museum of a murder in The Da Vinci Code – The Louvre. The huge museum is a national monument Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Seine and home to some of the most canonical works of Western art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.

Last Monday was observed in NYC and elsewhere as the 9-11 anniversary – marking the deaths of nearly 3,000. That terrorist attack was the last time I remember the country as united.

BTW, President Biden said he remembered standing at ground zero in New York City the next day and looking at the rubble of the fallen World Trade Center. Except he was in D.C.  as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and managed discussion prior to a vote that would unanimously confirm a joint resolution condemning the 9/11 attacks. Why would he say anything differently?

The CA House passed a bill requiring major companies to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions as well as those that come from activities like employee business travel. So add up all the energy used via fossil fuels in a state now requiring more info on the emissions generated by operations and by employee-used land vehicles and as passengers on commercial flights – and report the number to the state. Want to figure that out? Oh, and raise the cost/price of everything more while companies hire people to comply.

The CPI was 3.7% in August, up from 3.2% in July. Gas prices were up 11%. And with oil futures topping $90/barrel Friday, inflation will keep eroding the income and net worth of everyone.

A number of green energy companies and advocacy groups have petitioned the New York Public Service Commission to renegotiate contracts with state utilities for 90 offshore wind, solar and onshore wind projects as rising costs threaten the viability of the projects, according to UtilityDive. In for a dime, in for a dollar.

We’re filling the east coast offshore with wind turbines with nearly 100 new ones recently approved by the feds. No one knows the impact of those already there and the many more planned will have on the environment. A joint study in March by two federal scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects will have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields, and heat transfer that could alter the environment. Where are the “save the whales” people?

OK, let’s now have a daily news alarm on the prospect of another government shutdown if the Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling by the end of the month. Frankly, why don’t we just let the federal government shut down for a couple of years and see what happens.

I thought we had a policy of no ransom. Last week the Biden administration announced a prisoner exchange with Iran that involves giving Iran $6B.