I watch the news a lot. The latest troubling news about racism are about Ahmed Aubrey, the black jogger murdered by men trying to citizens arrest him, and a New Yorker named Amy Cooper, who called the cops and lied to them to get a black man arrested for asking her to leash her dog.
These are just the tip of the iceberg, if you talk to average Americans about race. Doing so, unfortunately, you discover racism is still persistently present in America. It seems to be one of our original sins as a country.
I spent memorial day getting to know the civil war better. It was an unmitigated bloodbath for both sides. Fought for some of the silliest reasons wars have ever been fought. Unfortunately, some of our founders as a nation inherit some of the blame for their own racism. A sin that would later lead the nation to total war.
Clearly the example in the Bible's Book of Philemon that slaves must be treated as brothers and sisters never caught on. Other warnings about man catchers, those who make slaves, inheriting hell or the need for believers to not sell themselves into slavery were also ignored.
This is compounded by souring race relations. Although, the Black Lives Matter movement has blood on its hands for stirring up riots that destroy the livelihood of people they want to supposedly help.
My tone is melancholy since this nation's people have been through so much over the silly idea that those descended from Adam and Eve of a certain color of skin are somehow less dignified and less important than those of another shade of skin.
I do not address the George Floyd case, since I believe it is more about excessive force, another issue all its own.
Is my melancholy justified? Or is there far more progress on eliminating racism that I am m
issing? Maybe this moment in American history seems darker than the reality on the ground.