A strange dichotomy exists among those who support the "liberal" left. There are those solely focused on social justice, and others who wage war on capitalism. The former believes that one race is responsible for the ills of America, and more specifically, a single gender from that particular race, while the latter focuses on large corporations that they believe should be there for the people, rather than the converse.
Before we travel down the road of racial and gender injustices, let's be frank about our own history. White Europeans sailed the Atlantic and landed on the east coast. The Europeans bought land from Native Americans, then pushed west and fought wars with the Natives until the country was conquered. Unfortunately for the Native American peoples, they were savagely slaughtered, and those remaining moved (Cherokee and Creek Nations) further west and forced to live on reservations. Eventually, other Native nations were defeated and pushed onto their own tribal reservations. There is no doubt that this part of American history is tragic and with significant remorse. On equal par with this is our nation's history of slavery.
Africans were caught and sold by their own tribal leaders to white and Spanish slave traders who brought them to the Caribbean Islands, as well as North and South America. Slaves were treated as animals and punished harshly when they attempted to escape their plantations and slave owners. Their children were immediately born into slavery and the indescribable hell of slavery was passed to another generation.
The bloodiest war in our country's history was fought and men by the thousands died. The north with its hopes of preventing the south from seceding and ending slavery, and the south with its own ideas about forming a stand alone government separate and independent from the union that would also preserve the status quo--that is, slavery.
All that being said, there are many in our current day who claim that white men are maintaining a form of slavery by not giving blacks an opportunity in the work force. Let's not be blind to the fact that this was true in generations past, and probably still exists in some forms today, but on a much, much smaller scale. Truly, opportunities for blacks, Latinos (why else would Latinos flock here by the millions if opportunity did not exist?), Asians, and everyone else in between. The days of keeping a person from employment or advancement because of skin color or gender have all but vanished, no matter what you may hear from the left.
Why do they perpetuate this myth you may ask? The idea of lessening the stature of white males is somehow appealing to them. They tend to fixate on race as the reason for every woe plaguing us today. Obviously, many of these same people have never ventured to other countries to understand what poverty and oppression looks like, so their frame of reference is mired by their own skewed understandings (or lack thereof).
Many have called for reparations to Natives and blacks for the treatment of their ancestors. While understandable that there is more healing needed as we move further away from this disgusting era in American history, it must be said that the blood shed by those fighting for their freedom is the ultimate reparation.
Naturally, laws currently in place in the United States need to be enforced. Affirmative Action is not needed; what is needed is to hire and promote the most qualified individual for a given position, bar none. Employers must be held to that standard, and Americans should never settle for anything less.
We are the greatest nation on earth. Why? Because of who we are as a people, and, I would argue, because of the mistakes we made and the course correction brought on in the form of a Civil War. Can we do more to help people? Of course! Do we need to legislate that help? No.
Enforce our current laws and let's hold ourselves to a higher standard. When we accomplish that, liberals will have to find another cause on which they hang their pink hats.
Note: Part 3 will take a look at the myth of gender inequality. Stay tuned.
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