Monday, January 21, 2008

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as I’m sure most people know. While it’s seen by many as a day to honor the legacy of this great civil rights proponent, some feel otherwise. In a statement to the Dallas Morning News (as covered by United Press International), the Rev. Peter Johnson, who marched with MLK Jr. and now operates the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Texas, said that he feels the date to honor him should not be his birthday, but the day he was assassinated, and even more, says the fact that it is his birthday is an insult to his legacy. He said, “We have ignored the essence of his life and the horror of his death. We’ve allowed white AmericaAmerica to drift back into a coma.” to escape the guilt of his assassination and we've allowed black

This statement to me is offensive and seems to run counter to the very values MLK Jr. wanted to spread. “Allowed white America to escape the guilt of his assassination”? I apologize if this seems insensitive, but I will not feel guilty for an action taken by a small group of people just because I happen to share their skin color. In this statement, Johnson is guilty of the very thing MLK Jr. fought against: judging someone based on the color of their skin. Being born white, or any other color, should not carry some inherent guilt. In this one circumstance, for example, I was not born when MLK Jr. was alive or was assassinated; as far as I know, none of my ancestors or relatives had anything to do with it; there is no blatant racism within the past several generations of my family, which is all I know about in relation to their views on that subject. No matter what atrocities have been carried out by members of my race or in the name of “white supremacy,” I will not feel guilty because I was accidentally born white.

In the same manner, another article I recently read on the UK Times Online described a surge of anger from a large number of Oprah fans directed towards her for endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. The article cites a comment made on her site by a “fan”: “[I] cannot believe that women all over this country are not up in arms over Oprah’s backing of Obama. For the first time in history we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the White House and Oprah backs the black MAN. She’s choosing her race over her gender.”

I’m sorry, but when did the race to decide our next president become about race OR gender? As far as I know, the idea was to decide who you thought could best lead the country, and then vote accordingly, not decide which historic first will occur, the first female president or the first black president. In all this discussion over those two possibilities, people tend to miss the point that the presidential race should be about the issues and the candidates’ stance on them, not their race or gender or looks or even really their personality, although that obviously plays into it.

Another issue brought up by the article is radical feminism, or maybe it would be better termed “anti-maleism.” One of the comments for the article said something like the woman who posted it thought that this country has been run by men long enough, and it was time for it to be led by a woman. Once again, this is an example of reverse-sexism. Just as I harbor no guilt over being born white, I will not feel guilty for being born male. Not all men are chauvinists, and not all men think that the country should be only “run” by males. Especially as Christians, I think we are called to look beyond race or gender for virtually everything like that (I will leave religious services and the like out of the discussion for now).

In conclusion, as a white male, I want to say that being white or male is not evil. Not only are both characteristics something I had no control over at all, but saying I am responsible for the actions of others just because I share their color or gender is tantamount to the same racism/sexism those who would say I am guilty by accident of birth accuse me of committing. I will not apologize for my genes, and I will not try to fix the actions of those of my race or gender who came before me for some kind of penance. What I am willing to do is to stand with other like-minded people and repair the damages cause by those actions, not because of guilt or because I am bullied into doing so by the “victims,” but because it is the right thing to do. I don’t think that the way to honor Martin Luther King Jr. is to attack someone for being white, but to embrace the fact that, whatever color, gender or religion we are, we are all humans sharing this planet and deserving of respect.

-edit-
I found this [CNN readers respond angrily to "race or gender" story] a while after my original post, but it shows that some people feel the way I do. I'm glad that a good portion of America is not as stupid as we're made out to be.
-30-

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1 Comments:

At 10:52 AM, January 23, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree completely. The guilt needs to stop.

 

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