© 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
What is racism? I believe it is using race in any way. There are no good ways to use race. Monday is the federal holiday to celebrate the 80th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. His was a life spent bringing an end to racism in our world. He gave us the thoughts we, as a society, needed then and now to do the right things. He gave of himself and ultimately gave his life.
MLK’s most famous statement about race was, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
This is not a statement about heritage; rather, it is entirely about race. MLK felt that any focus on race rather than the content of character is wrong. He dreamed of a society for his four little children where considerations of race simply disappear. This society does not allow race to be used for anything.
Example: at the coffee shop the other day we were talking about a lineman for one of the NFL teams who was very fast on his feet. Our conversation did not once consider his race; we only spoke about his speed.
Further, our new president must be defined by the content of his character. While it is acceptable to note his heritage, the importance is that we did not vote race in the presidential election — we voted to elect him for his character.
MLK was a man for all time because he intellectually challenged with ideas as fresh today as 50 years ago. Other leaders in the movement to end racism were more noted for using emotion, but MLK endures because of his intellectualism that resonates in every heart.
I was raised blind on race. The world I lived in did not focus on race even though that was in the 1950s. Operationally, race was not a part of my family’s thinking. And we lived among many people of the same mind since my father was a sergeant in the military. There was no racial separation in school, housing or play among us children.
What does it mean to be colorblind?
So what does colorblind mean? When I was seven we moved to Japan and lived in a little village near Yakota Air Force Base. My assimilation of the Japanese language was rapid. Once while hanging out with some Japanese boys a Japanese man came shouting in Japanese, “An American just hit me.”
The military police were summoned and we all followed him back to the scene of the crime, a bus stop. There were a number of American soldiers standing in a line waiting to get on a bus. “Which one did it?”
He looked closely from American to American and then shook his head, “I do not know; they all look alike.”
I was puzzled because there were men of Hispanic and African heritage along with some of English heritage. I could see cosmetically the difference. This Japanese man was colorblind.
Perhaps all of the people who still harbor racial thoughts and actions will never let go of their hatred. It will end when they die. Our battle is for the hearts and minds of their children and their children’s children. In that battle MLK’s thoughts will be as pertinent 50 years from now as today.
On Jan. 15 — his real birthday — and Monday — the federal holiday — I will give thanks that such a man helped us end racism. I intend to observe his birthday and federal holiday and every day as King would have had us. Our society must not carry racism any longer.
All of the people of the world are just that — people, not races to divide us.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.