There comes a point in most Martin Luther King Jr. Day speeches when the speaker must acknowledge the current level of racism in the land.
And it usually goes something like this: Yes, we have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go.
In fact you can Google the search terms “Martin Luther King” and “long way to go” and find endless examples.
Or, the speaker notes that we have made progress, but there is still much work to be done.
But the racism yardstick is always imprecise. Yes, we no longer have separate drinking fountains, and we have elected our first Black president. That’s clearly major progress and worth recognizing.
But what’s far harder to measure is the level of racism that usually goes unspoken, but which we know remains buried in the hearts of many Americans.
And, in some cases, not so deeply buried, as was remarkably apparent twice recently.
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy first gained the spotlight for refusing for two decades to pay fees for grazing his cattle on federal land.
No honest logger would expect to cut timber in the White Mountains National Forest—or for that matter on a neighbor’s land—without paying for the privilege.
Be that as it may, Bundy was embraced by the far right and several high profile conservative politicians for his stand.
Then, apparently believing himself a sage, Bundy began offering views on other matters, including wondering aloud whether Black people were better off picking cotton as slaves.
That, apparently, was just too crazy for any politician to support, and Bundy was condemned from all angles.
He tried patching things up in another video interview several days later by explaining that Blacks are so sensitive about certain words because “Martin Luther King hasn’t got his work done yet.”
It’s ML King’s fault?
OK. The man is hopeless.
Last week, the cameras moved to a totally different arena, big city basketball, with the release of a secret tape recording of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling apparently urging his girlfriend not to be seen in public with Blacks.
She, by the way, is a Black Hispanic, while 70 percent of the players in his basketball league are Black.
One NBA player likened his attitude to a plantation owner who makes money from the work of Blacks, and sleeps with Black women, but just doesn’t want anyone to know about it.
Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million, which is certainly punishment but seems unlikely to change the man’s beliefs.
So, by the ML King yardstick we can clearly see that there is work to be done to erase, extinguish or simply outlive racism in the U.S.
While history tends to compress time, it is always worth remembering that slavery existed in North America for about 250 years—that’s two and a half centuries, or about 100 years longer than it has been officially unconstitutional.
The evil of racism has had an almost genetic power over us, passing from one generation to the next, from mothers and fathers to sons and daughters, down through the decades.
The measure of our progress, perhaps, is the speed at which we can muster a resounding condemnation of open racism when it does surface.
Fifty years ago, there was widespread support for Alabama Gov. George Wallace when he talked openly of separate but equal facilities and tried to block a Black student from attending a public university.
His famous rallying cry: “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
In 1968, Wallace ran for president and won almost 10 million popular votes, carried five Southern states and gathered 46 electoral votes, which almost threw the election to the House of Representatives.
Today, the same words and attitudes spoken by high profile politicians would seem so obviously wrong, unacceptable and even outlandish.
Wallace was, of course, at least a product of his time.
Today, Bundy and Sterling simply look like two fools stuck in the wrong century.
And that’s a measure of progress.
(Reprinted from The Sun Journal of Lewiston [Maine]-AP Editorial Roundup).
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