The excitement with which so many Americans voted for Barrack Obama carried over to his inauguration and continued through the first half of his first year in office. Many people asked if America could finally let go of its racist past. Sadly, political parties and leftist ideologies that base public policies on social and economic classifications will never be able to view human beings as individuals—they will always view individuals as members of some group—and overcome racial classifications. Although many liberals have good intentions and want to help others, their policies have perpetuated tension among social groups. Such policies have done more harm than good to the very communities that they try to help.
Race relations in America began with the morally repugnant and racist institution of slavery. Many of the founding fathers knew that slavery was an unjustifiable institution given the spirit of the Declaration of Independence but it was an issue, tragically, that they could not resolve prior to forming the country. From the depths of such dehumanizing racism, however, America has risen to become a country in which racism occupies feeble places on the margins of society.
The vast majority of times that race garners national attention are when left-wing political elites, media elites, organizations, or pundits use it as an instrument for political or personal expediency. Playing the race card and pitting groups against other groups to attract media attention, sway public opinion to gain political power, or increase donations is a tactic that the left often uses.
America has moved beyond judging a person based on race as evidenced by the election of President Obama. Polls, however, show conflicting evidence that America has moved beyond race. A January 19, 2009 article in the Washington Post titled “Far Fewer Consider Racism Big Problem: Little Change, However, at Local Level” by Michael A. Fletcher and Jon Cohen discussed polls regarding race relations in America on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration. The authors wrote, “With the nation poised to inaugurate its first African American president, the survey found that just over a quarter of all Americans said they see racism as a large societal problem, less than half of the 54 percent who said so about a dozen years ago... But even as declining numbers of Americans see racism as a big problem for the country, there has been little change in the amount of racism people perceive in their local communities.” The key word in the previous quote is “perceive”. Perception is not reality.
How can it be that the overwhelming majority of whites believe that racism is not a large societal problem and only a slight majority of blacks feel the same?
The answer is that the left will not move beyond race. Leftist elites in politics, the media and academia perpetuate claims that America is racist when they discuss problems in the black community; many problems of which stem from leftist public policies. Blacks listen to America’s left-wing elites blame phantoms like institutional racism for the despair in black communities. The irony is that many institutions have diversity programs yet liberal pundits still claim that institutions are racist.
The left uses the term racism so often to describe so many things that it has lost its meaning. When then presidential candidate Obama fell behind Senator John McCain in the national polls, liberal pundits and Obama supporters immediately attributed Obama’s decline in the polls to racism. When public support for healthcare reform dipped below 50%, the term racism reared its ugly head again. Blacks hear that America is racist so often, even when race is clearly not the issue, that a significant portion of the community continues to perceive that America is racist.
The good thing that the Fletcher and Cohen article revealed is that far fewer blacks today allow race-baiting liberal elites to influence their perception of America than in the mid 1990s.
The left ought to reevaluate the effects that their policies have had on the black community rather than blame racism. There are two leftist policies that have had serious negative repercussions on the black community: welfare and abortion.
Welfare entrenches blacks, and people of all other races who rely on government entitlement programs, in a system from which it is extremely difficult to get out. Liberal elites who advocate entitlement programs also perpetuate the belief that the black community continues to be a victim of American racism. The victimization of the black community removes individual accountability from the policies of the left. The absence of individual accountability allows welfare recipients and liberal elites to claim that welfare recipients can only rely on the government. Communities that accept this notion are doomed to the welfare trap, which has affected the black community more than the white community.
Proportionally, there are more blacks on welfare than other racial groups because the black community entered the War on Poverty in greater proportions than whites did in 1964, which was when America truly suffered from the lingering effects of systemic racism. It is far too easy for liberal pundits to blame racism for the high proportion of blacks who live under the poverty line rather than evaluating the liberal entitlement policies that harm the black community.
Perhaps the most destructive force that has plagued the black community is abortion. Abortion violently and permanently destroys the relationship between a mother and her unborn child by deliberately ending the developing life and it erodes important family values and responsibility. According to Julia Duin’s January 11, 2009 blog in the Washington Times, blacks “make up about one-eighth of the U.S. population” yet they “have more than one-third (37 percent) of America's 1.2 million annual abortions.” The relative ease by which women, or young teens, can have abortions removes any responsibility that the father would have for the child. If the mother decides to carry her baby full term then raise him or her, the father can easily claim that having the baby was the woman’s choice, therefore he is not responsible. Liberals, independents and conservatives alike recognize that the absence of fathers in the black community is a problem that must be resolved. Yet, how can a liberal who tells blacks that they are victims demand that young black men take accountability for their actions, not only to raise their children but in all areas of their life?
America must have a genuine discourse on race relations today. The vast majority of Americans recognize the dignity of individuals and judge character based on a person’s merits, not skin color. Liberal elites ought to reevaluate their s policies regarding race and poverty. The American dream is alive and well as proved every day by Americans from all races who rise from poverty to live successful lives. All individuals should be accountable for their actions and work hard to accomplish their dreams. Race should never be used as an instrument of political or personal expediency.
