Eugene Robinson: America will only end racism when it stops being racist

Last edited Tue Jun 23, 2015, 09:55 AM - Edit history (1)

If American racism were a thing of the past, nine men and women who went to church last Wednesday evening would be alive.

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Obama’s election in 2008 undoubtedly marked a milestone, one I never dreamed I’d live to see. I wrote at the time that it felt like morning in America.

What I didn’t fully appreciate then was the extent to which the mere fact of a black family living in the White House would, at least in the short term, heighten racial anxieties and conflicts. I didn’t see that the spectacle of African Americans in power would apparently lead some whites to feel powerless, aggrieved and victimized.

In the long run, I’m an optimist. But a post-racial future will not just appear. There is urgent work to do.

By all means, South Carolina, get rid of the Confederate battle flag, which has become an emblem of the white supremacist movement. The flag first flew over the state house in Columbia in 1961, not 1861; it was essentially an act of defiance, a raised middle finger toward a federal government that was forcing the end of Jim Crow.

But we need to go beyond speeches and symbols. Law enforcement should subject white racist organizations to the same surveillance and scrutiny as groups devoted to jihad. Governments at all levels should enforce fair housing and employment laws as vigorously as they enforce the Patriot Act. Police departments and court systems must be compelled to administer justice equally — with African Americans, too, considered innocent until proven guilty.

Our society will end racism when it stops being racist. Not a minute sooner.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-roots-of-racism/2015/06/22/24e61d56-1909-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html