Readers Share their Thoughts: What Can Be Done About Racism and Violence
Will Stambaugh
Thank you for the opportunity to respond regarding racism. I, like many others, have no power to enact laws, right wrongs and make every human being equal and accepted by their peers. I wish I could enact and enforce equality. But failing that, what I can do is to be a friend and a fellow human to those I meet, see, and live near.
John Baikie
Australia
This message is in response to the request for comments on what can be done about racism and violence in the world.
Here are a few comments to add to the many I am sure you will receive.
Racism and violence are interrelated but are not on the same spectrum. To this extent they need to be considered separately.
Having lived for forty years in South Africa and then thirty years in Australia, with a couple of years in the USA and Canada, I have experienced many things and drawn some conclusion rightly or wrongly.
Racism:
Racism, in one form or another has existed since Biblical days, and nobody has been able to eradicate it. With the world population now exceeding seven billion people it seems inevitable that racial issues will continue to emerge in different parts of the world. Human nature, being what it is, believing that racism can be eradicated is wishful thinking and naïve. That doesn’t mean that nothing can or should be done. Much progress has been made in some countries, notably the USA, South Africa and others.
So what can be done?
Education, is a key factor. Appropriate education, focusing on human rights, values, empathy and integrity, amongst other topics, would be a good start. Particular attention should be given to the education of women, who have more influence than men on the values and attitudes of children.
Encouraging leaders of all kinds to respect the rights of others and particularly, to understand people of other racial groups and to be willing to work with them for the benefit of all, would help.
Associated with racism is religion. Educating people to understand and to respect the religions of others would help to defuse racial tensions.
Violence:
Wars and violence have been around for thousands of years. Perhaps the high levels of testosterone in men compared with women has been responsible for much of the violence. Violence amongst the male members of many animal species is quite common and normal. One wonders what the level of warfare and violence would be in the world if women were “in charge”, rather than men.
The rise of terrorism, in different forms, has added a further dimension to violence around the world. Violence stems from a variety of causes. For example, dissatisfaction with the availability of jobs, working conditions, wage differentials and other economic factors play an important part in violence. To this extent, keeping unemployment at very low levels is one way of reducing violence. People with steady jobs are less likely to participate in riots and other violent acts than those who are frustrated by the inability to find a job that will house, feed, clothe and educate their family.
People with extreme or fundamentalist positions on religion, who believe that they have some kind of monopoly on God and that everyone else with different beliefs, are wrong, are dangerous and are more likely to become violent in order to defend or promote their particular religious beliefs. Once again, education can play an important part in encouraging an attitude of tolerance towards people who have different religious or social views about what is acceptable.
Economic factors play an important part, so one way to reduce violence is to promote economic advancement for all, and for there to be adequate unemployment benefits for those who are genuinely out of work.
Another factor is the growing misuse of drugs and alcohol, which are frequently associated with violence. It is difficult to say what the answer is to the drug and alcohol problem, however appropriate education pops up as a necessary, if not sufficient part of a solution. Strict enforcement of the law for drug traffickers seems to be an obvious way to help with the drug problem. However,
It is a complex problem, and simply throwing more and more people into jail is counterproductive. Perhaps with the aid of modern technology, more effective ways of creating “house arrest” types of programs would be more effective than traditional incarceration.
This message only touches the surface of what is a growing and serious issue for governments and social workers around the world. I hope others have much better ideas.
Pat Bath
OR
What can we do?
Share what has gone on in our history. EVERYONE should know that Blacks were prevented from getting FHA and other home loans, that our government purposely prevented Blacks from living in white neighborhoods and forced them into overcrowded areas. Most of us just learned this in the past few months.
EVERYONE should know that Blacks have been targeted as children, treated differently, punished harsher, forced into the School-to-prison pipeline so corporations which run prisons can get workers on the cheap. That when they come out of prison it is so hard to get a job that they never recover.
That when the man of the house is arrested, everyone in the family loses their income, mothers are forced to work IF they can find a job, children are forced to grow up without a father and without enough food.
EVERYONE should know that people who don’t get good nutrition and who are forced to live in areas with lead paint, mercury, toxic wastes–their BRAINS suffer.
Everyone needs to know that Blacks were denied decent jobs after the war.
Everyone needs to know what happened under Jim Crow laws.I read yesterday that many in the South don’t even know who won the Civil War? That many books still call it the War of Northern Aggression.
People in Texas are writing our textbooks. They are not historians. They live in a state which has the most politically and religious driven standards of any state! What will children learn from those textbooks? (and they are used throughout the U.S.)
The Voting Rights Act is SO important yet it is being (demolished.)
We are forcing generations to grow up without adequate nutrition and without the self-esteem a job brings. What are they expected to do with their time and their lives? How many will get used to video games as a way of life?
People need JOBS. Those who say Everyone can work are wrong. We need to invest money in bridges, underground pipes, energy efficient housing, etc.
Michael Neal Arnold
MAI, MRICS
Like many progressive Christians, I have often been reluctant to self identify as such. I have found that, in the secular world, Christian is Christian. I marvel that clearly intelligent people cannot, or will not, make any distinctions. So, what comes out is, “I am a Christian but …” And frankly I think people pretty much tune out at that point. I know what I should do is simply say that I am a Christian and let people judge me by my actions. Concervatives cannot not own the term Christian unless we cede it too them. Progressive leaders (e.g. Bishop Spong) do get some limited media attention but I think it will take the hundreds of thousands (millions) Christians who don’t agree with perverted so called Christian positions to proclaim that the Pat Robertsons of this world do NOT speak for us. My first feeble step a few years ago was to affix a bumper sticker on my car that announces (pretty discretely, I must confess), “I am an Episcopalian”.