Hopefully, the dust has somewhat settled on the tragic deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, and Eric Garner in New York, and also settled (literally as well as figuratively) on the senseless destruction resulting from these two tragedies, destruction that was visited upon innocent blacks as well as whites in Ferguson and New York, many of whom owned businesses that were destroyed, or who lost wages because of the wanton destruction of businesses at which they worked.
So with this somewhat in our rear view mirror, can we add some perspective to the ever-rising tensions between black and white Americans, which could potentially set race relations back decades?
To that end, let’s look back decades — to the years prior to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — when discrimination against people based on their race and skin color was a commonplace occurrence? In schools, at the workplace and in the use of any public facilities (drinking fountains, restrooms, public transportation, restaurants, etc.), blacks were denied equal access, meaning equal treatment under the law.
This was in great part because they were disenfranchised politically. Despite the 14th Amendment’s insistence that blacks deserve “equal treatment under the law,” including the equal right to vote, in the early 1960s — especially in the Deep South— poll taxes, literacy tests, property qualifications and a variety of other illegal means were used to prevent blacks from voting. Fortunately, passage of both the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed all of this, to the everlasting credit (I willingly admit it) of one of the most liberal presidents in our history, Lyndon Johnson.
Granted, both the fair enforcement and acceptance of the laws created under these two acts took time — and inequities remain — but undeniable progress has been made, and today white children not only go to schools with black children, they are taught by black teachers. And when whites break the law today, they are often arrested by black cops and go before black judges to receive judgment.
White patients are often treated by black doctors and whites are customers of black-owned or black-led businesses ranging from auto repair shops to strategic marketing and communication companies. In the highly-paid sports and entertainment industries blacks are well represented.
And, of course, on the governmental front, countless blacks have served as governors and as members of both state legislatures and Congress, and black men and women have served in every major cabinet position except secretary of Defense, Treasury and Interior. And then there is the twice elected black president of the United States.
Please. Can any future “national conversation” about race relations in America take into account the above?
