Either racial discrimination is always wrong, or it's sometimes useful and justified. The former is a more difficult path demanding honorable effort from everyone, but leads to a happy ending. The latter offers short-term benefits to some, but it's an endless loop of bitterness.
When I was young, we were often told that "prejudice" was the great sin to be avoided. I think that term went out of vogue because it was too obviously universal and neutral, so it wasn't politically useful. "Discrimination" can be good or bad; we applaud discriminating tastes.
To say that NO ONE should be judged on the color of their skin is a noble and universal principle. It is honest and fair. It requires no thick volumes of law to explain what it means. It calls EVERYONE to a higher purpose. It places an equal burden of responsibility on all.
But when you say that some people DO deserve to be judged by the color of their skin, held accountable for the deeds of others, pre-judged because of their alleged history, treated unfairly in the pursuit of higher justice, you have corrupted a noble principle.
The wisdom of the ages teaches us that corruption festers and spreads. It taints everything it touches. The poisoned tree drops poisoned fruit. More corruption, more compromises, more injustice is constantly needed to sustain the system. More lies must be told every day.
When you say that everyone should be allowed to stand for themselves, everyone should be treated the same by the government we consent to, no one should be judged and punished for the deeds of others, you speak the plain and simple truth. There is no fine print.
Corrupt that truth and you have planted seeds of falsehood in pure, clean soil. More falsehoods will grow, and they must be tended with more compromises and lies. The original truth becomes harder to find among the ever-spreading weeds.
The truth about racism is simple, but the corrupt system of exceptions and justifications we live under grows endlessly more complex. We can't join hands and repeat it in unison, as we could with the truth. We need a vast clergy of lawyers and politicians to interpret it for us.
Of course, those who thrive and profit from complexity and corruption want more of it, and they have a great deal of power and money to get what they want. That's how it always works with corruption, isn't it? The charlatans make each other rich while honest men are paupers.
The truth brings us together, while corrupting that truth divides us in endless warfare. Those unjustly accused and punished for "social crime" are understandably angry at the theft of their innocence. Those who supposedly benefit are angry that they don't benefit more.
The truth about racism is a simple equation, while the corrupt system we live under is an endless nightmare of division and remainders that will NEVER be resolved. It will never end with an equal sign. Too many rich and powerful interests would lose everything if it did.
We keep foisting responsibility off on others, thinking that some program or political crusade can bring us closer to collective justice. It's much harder for each person to take their own share of responsibility, but it's the right thing to do. It's the only way to find peace.
Telling other people their burden of responsibility can be taken away, or increased unfairly, through political machinations is corrupt and poisonous. It's a lie that grows and spreads through everything we say and do. Everything becomes corrupt to service that lie.
If you want to see how complicated corruption can become, wait until someone forces a racial reparations bill on us. Wait until we're deciding who pays, who receives, and who gets to distribute the money. Wait until people who did nothing wrong are told they deserve punishment.
Look at how complicated the accusations, "proofs,' and forcible remedies made under notions like "systemic racism" and "critical race theory" have become. None of that garbage is a pure truth we can repeat in one voice together. It's a lecture, not a chorus.
Is it wrong to say a certain thing, to commit some aggression against another person or treat them unfairly? Well, that depends on what color your skin is, and what color they are. You see? Corruption, not pure truth. Endlessly spreading corruption, a pit growing ever deeper.
The truth doesn't need "but," "maybe," or "it depends." It doesn't have to ask a dozen questions before it can answer one. It doesn't have to calculate how many wrongs add up to a right. It doesn't have to promise that today's evils will someday mix together to form justice. /end
