The Civil Rights Battle Has Been Won
I believe it is time to redefine the civil-rights battle. The battle for civil rights as presently understood has been won. The oppression of 1960 no longer exists today. We cannot move forward umbilically tied to that past. The civil-rights battle of the 21st century is for America. To continue today as in times past is attempting to advance mired neck deep in quicksand.
Blacks can immiserate and whites can wallow in guilt, but the fact remains – there is nothing in our country today preventing anyone from doing, being or attempting anything they choose, save the lack of preparedness, lack of education and lack of vision. Working hard at sports and rap music is not commensurate with working hard at science, math and geography, but I digress.
The guarantee of opportunity must be understood in context. It is not the guarantee of success, but rather the guarantee of opportunity to succeed as defined by the skills, preparedness and determination of the individual so inclined. The battle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as accorded by the Constitution has been won.
[adsanity id=8405 align=alignleft /]While I am unapologetic in my contempt for race divisionists – I have the utmost respect and admiration for the civil-rights warriors who fought so gallantly to secure the freedoms of our Constitution for all. But it is important to note that history is replete with examples of great warriors, generals, militiamen, etc. who did not recognize when the battle was over and the war had been won.Such is the case with far too many who are respected in the civil-rights movement. America needs them to refocus on the 21st century. Unlike the progenitors of immiseration and division, they must not fall victim to fighting for that which has been won. As I have often stated, the problems that concern America today are not color sensitive – they are American sensitive.
Obama and his administration must admit this as well. Karl Rove, Jeb Bush et al. are contributing to the racial divide to say Republicans must do a better job of reaching out to blacks. Their statements are divisive and specious. I did not join the Republican Party because someone reached out to me with a color-coded message. I joined because I observed what we were being denied under Democrat tyranny.
I observed what socialist liberal Democrats were doing to black men and women I considered role models for my child. I realized that the Democrat message was one designed to keep me dependent upon them for daily sustenance, while discouraging my dreams. And I realized that the only thing I needed to succeed was to apply prioritized principles to my life and use the education I had received. I realized that contrary to Democrat dogma, many careers are rejection-based and same is seldom today synonymous with race rejection.
Republicans must do a better job of reaching out, but they must do a better job of reaching out by distinguishing themselves from Democrats, not by becoming more like Democrats.
Is home ownership, retirement income, education, health care and homeland security a black concern or an American concern?
Does it not send a message of childlike need to suggest that blacks in 2014 cannot achieve without paternal instruction from some politician? To extend such a message is to calcify the message that the liberals who imprisoned the minds of blacks in the first place, have been sending since the New Deal.
True conservative leadership must be dogmatic and unapologetic in the position that all have access to the same foundational opportunities, those being first and foremost education. Get the National Education Association, liberals and the radical homosexual agenda out of education so real learning can take place. Insisting on elevated expectations pursuant to education should not cost the tax payers billions of dollars – it should cost those teachers and school systems that foster environments absent of same their jobs and charters. Offering a color-coded message may tickle the ears of blacks with a feel-good message, but it is simply promoting and supporting a subgroup status.
In the strongest possible terms, I repeat: “The problem in the so-called African-American community, as defined, is the community itself.” It is time to stop being an African-American community and be an American community. Racial division continues because it is encouraged and financially rewarded.
If we are viewing things through a prism of Americanism there can be no minority status. It is time to stop trading and trafficking in race. A mindset built on holism will sanction the end of race hustling.
In the final analysis, civil-rights leaders of days past, Obama, and so-called Republican leadership are advocating an America that is no better than the one Americans successfully overcame.
Every American is confronted on some level with the same concerns – color notwithstanding. So why argue the battle for a few – when all are affected?[adsanity id=11817 align=alignleft /]
About the Author
Mychal Massie
Mychal S. Massie is an ordained minister who spent 13 years in full-time Christian Ministry. Today he serves as founder and Chairman of the Racial Policy Center (RPC), a think tank he officially founded in September 2015. RPC advocates for a colorblind society. He was founder and president of the non-profit “In His Name Ministries.” He is the former National Chairman of a conservative Capitol Hill think tank; and a former member of the think tank National Center for Public Policy Research. Read entire bio here