The civil rights movement solved the
problem of racial prejudice in the United States.
The civil rights movement in
America made great strides in calling attention to racial
injustice and the enactment of laws which have helped to
put an end to the most blatant forms of racism.
Even so, the United States of America has not even come close to
realizing the ideal so eloquently spoken by Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. in his "I have a dream" address.
The key to solving racism in
the United States resides in two of the most instrumental
cultural institutions in America which remain deeply racially
segregated to this day. One is as hypocritical as it is
revealing. The fact that Sunday is the most racially
divided day of the week is a devastating indictment on the state
of Christianity in America. Followers of Jesus Christ who
teaches to love one's neighbor as oneself and to love one's
enemy are unwilling or unable to sit together as color-blind
brothers and sisters on Sunday. Another racially
segregated institution provides the very foundation for our
society: marriage. While progress has been made in
reducing the stigma of inter-racial marriage, still their is a
strong tendency from every quarter to avoid the potential
difficulties which often arise due to societal prejudice by
simply marrying within one's own race.
What needs to happen to
overcome these most fundamental forms of racism? Such
pernicious and historical divisions can only be solved by
addressing the root causes which are spiritual in nature.
Only when we come to realize that our fears of the unknown have
allowed us to be diminished as human beings will we then act
collectively to end racism forever. Our fears are nothing
more than ghosts from the past which were not able to practice
God's love due to spiritual ignorance which placed more
importance on external differences than our what we have in
common as children of God. This ignorance led our ancestors to
commit all forms of mistakes, sins, and crimes creating enmity
between God's children. These sins of the past can only be
overcome by practicing the philosophy of loving one's enemy as
oneself.
When Christians of every
denomination finally proclaim a movement for eliminating all
racial divisions on Sunday and everyday then we can imagine the
beginning of the end of racism. When people everywhere
open their hearts and yearn to have inter-racial and
international marriages for themselves and for their descendants
then we can imagine the emergence of a colorblind society and
world which will become the very foundation for the
establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
Such a possibility is not an unrealistic pipe-dream, but rather,
a tangible opportunity which would result in the realization of
God's desire and the hope of all the ages for a unified world of
peace and harmony for all humanity.
