Systemic Racism, Where?
Claims of racism are everywhere in our country, fueled
by Marxist based theories such as “The 1619 Project”, “Wokeness”, Identity
Politics, and Critical Race Theory. What
utter nonsense! The vast numbers of
everyday Americans, White, Black, Asian, East Indian, Native, naturalized, and
Americans of all stripes, really don’t buy into this corrosive propaganda. We can hardly avoid the left-wing noise that
everything we touch is racist, but unless we are somehow unusually receptive to
these lies about race, most Americans know that they are not “racist”.
We have been the melting pot for immigrants from
other parts of the world ever since we were formed as a nation in the
eighteenth century. Whereas at one time
our ancestors named O’Grady, or Donatelli, or Rodriguez, or Yamada, or my own
Slavic name of Gruszecki, may have elicited epithets from more “native”
Americans, of “mick”, or “wop”, or “spic”, or “nip”, or “polack”, our last
names have melded into Americana, and, after education and adoption of American
culture and values, are now as American as “Smith” or “Jones” or “Brown”. (Although
maybe not as easy to spell and pronounce).
This conversion of a European/Asian immigrant base
to fully cultural Americans was not rapid. It took several generations and some
bigoted challenges along the way.
Historians will remember the “No Irish Need Apply” signs, and the
Chinese Exclusion Act of the nineteenth century, and FDR’s Executive Order 9066
exiling and expropriating Japanese-American citizens from their homes and
businesses in the 1940’s. Other immigrant
groups took some time and one or two generations to leave their ethnic ghettos
on the Lower East Side of New York City or Milwaukee Avenue of Chicago, or the
various “Chinatowns”, to join mainstream America.
The reason for the references to history is that bigotry
and racism followed immigrant groups to America from the start, and although most
of this bigotry has dissipated, there still are remnants. Many northern inner cities are still oriented
around ethnic neighborhoods, churches, drinking establishments and
entertainment. Ethnic jokes are not
uncommon. After living in Boston, New
York and other eastern cites, when I moved to Texas, I found that these ethnic
differences disappeared. All we have in
Texas is “Anglos” and “Meskins”. Texans
don’t distinguish the ethnicity of “Anglo”.
The crux of the “racist” push in the country, is our
African American brothers and sisters, most of whose ancestors did not come to
America by choice. They came as “property”,
or slaves, in chains. After being exploited
as slaves for over 200 years in our young country, these dark-skinned people
with African origins were freed and enfranchised as American citizens by our 14th
and 15th amendments. But this
was only after our most disruptive war, the civil war, in which 618,222 men
died; 360,222 from the North to free the slaves, and 258,000 from the South, to
preserve slavery.
The rancor of losing 2.5% of our 1960’s population
to free the slaves and enfranchise them, really did not dissipate for 100
years. During this time, we saw true
racism and bigotry against black Americans.
KKK lynching’s, segregation, true voter suppression and withholding of
basic rights were common. The civil rights movement was a struggle for social
justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans
to gain equal rights under the law. The Civil War had officially abolished
slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against Black people. They, along
with many white Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for
equality that spanned two decades, and effectively resulted in de facto acceptance
of Black Americans as equals in American life.
But, somewhat analogous to nineteen century ethnic
bigotry amongst European and Asian groups, all bigotry and real “racism”, against
black Americans has not disappeared. It
rears its ugly head in uneducated fashion throughout elements of our
society. But it is not at all as
pervasive as the Marxist left would have us believe. There are remnants of bigotry against all
ethnic groups, and perhaps a bit more against black Americans because of their
ancestors being slaves, and the debilitating civil war and ensuing civil rights
movements fought to truly enfranchise them, but American Blacks have pretty
much joined the other ethnic groups in the country, as occasional targets for opprobrium.
Since class warfare is a difficult theme for
Marxism in this wealthy country, the Marxist left has taken “race” as the divisive
element to abuse and exploit, and to separate our society. With the ridiculous bordering on the sublime,
we see the left pushing “racism” everywhere.
Math is “racist”. The National
Archives Rotunda is “racist”. Many
innocuous phrases that have worked their way into our vernacular are all “racist”. Critical Race Theory goes even further, and
seeks to separate us by skin color, re-introducing a bigotry once thought
stamped out in the U.S.
The sad thing is that much of our society, economy
and government, have been hijacked by Marxist entities such as Black Lives
Matter and Antifa, using the unfortunate death of a sometimes violent, petty
criminal and junkie in Minneapolis as the martyred symbol for social justice. Using George Floyd’s death as the fulcrum,
these Marxists have been able to institute systemic Marxism in our
country. They may call it “democrat” or “socialist”
or “progressive”. What it is, is Marxist
and borderline communist.
There is some relevant pushback at all levels of society
and government against this ridiculous effort by the left to paint our country
as systemically racist. In the hearts
and minds of thinking Americans, we just know it isn’t so. We don’t deny differences in our diverse
society, but we truly accept our fellow citizens of all races and backgrounds
for “the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin”, as
expressed by Dr. Martin Luther King, and in opposition to the tenets of Critical
Race Theory.
Ray Gruszecki
June 29, 2021
