Years ago, when someone criticized another for an offense they were equally guilty of it was said that it was like a “pot calling a kettle black.” Well it seems the BBC is the pot. The BBC issued a report today on the issue of race and equality in America on the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat for a white man on a Montgomery bus. According to the report, equality between the races remains elusive, with only marginal progress since the hey-day of the civil rights era. So what’s the Phalanx’s response to this report: hogwash (since we’re using old sayings).
Is their racism in America, Yes, absolutely. In fact you would be hard pressed to find anyone in this (or any country) who is completely unbiased. Racism, today, unlike 50 years ago, however, is not institutionalized or enshrined in our laws. Each and every America has equal opportunity with free access to schools, courts, medical attention, etc. Yes there is prejudice, but sadly human nature precludes this or any country from eradicating all prejudice in men’s hearts. No legislation can change a person’s personal views and the feelings in their heart. This is one reality that the BBC should be clearly aware of. Indeed, racism and prejudice is a matter of course in Europe. Racial and ethnic violence are all too common across Europe, from France, to Britain to Germany and so forth.
Britain, in particular, is no bastion for racial harmony. How many members of parliament have ever been Black? Only a handful, compared to the significant numbers elected to Congress in the US each year. Some 40% of blacks in Britain claim to have experience discrimination in the work place. A majority of Britons believe non-whites have “damaged” British society over the last half century. In fact a majority of Britons, regardless of race, freely recognize British society as “racist.” Frequent readers of the Phalanx might argue that we are pulling a Mussolini, by drawing attention away from the issue of equality in America. Quite the contrary, we are simply highlighting the hypocrisy of the report’s authors.
According to the BBC, progress has been made on issues of race in America, but “a substantial gap remains.” The report points out that ¼ of Blacks live in poverty compared to a tenth of the white population. Statistically, Blacks are still twice as likely to be jobless as white people, as they were in 30 years ago. Blacks are also more likely to be the victims of and perpetrators of violent crime. According to NAACP Chairman, Julian Bond, this is a legacy of slavery, where “black skin still acts as a mark of difference – for many white Americans, a negative difference.” These factors, which Bond attributes to race are conditions brought about not by race, but by poverty. Poverty for which there is no excuse today.
Is racism to blame for such poverty? If this question were posed 50 years ago (or even 30 year ago) the answer would clearly be Yes. Posed today, the answer is most assuredly No. Can someone living in poverty today, blame his station in life on the poverty of his grandparents. No, it’s a poor excuse to justify complacency. Poverty, as we have stated on numerous occasions, is a direct byproduct of personal choices: Choices not to work hard in school, choices not to pursue student loans to go to college, choices not to have children for which they can’t afford and so on and so forth. Race is a cop out and does a disservice for those hardworking people (black or otherwise) who overcome difficulty and adversity to achieve success.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4482988.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/
