The Flawed Logic of Racism

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Romans 5:8

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(ESV)

The tragic events in Charlottesville have once again brought the subject of racism to the forefront of the national discussion.  While President Trump's statement condemning both sides for the violence in Charlottesville has been condemned since it failed to point a finger at white supremacists and neo-Nazis (1), Trump was correct in stating that both sides committed acts of violence at Charlottesville (2) and was attempting to illustrate the futility of resorting to violence to resolve grievances.  Unfortunately, however, the racially inflamed rhetoric of our time has changed the meaning of what constitutes racism and created flawed logic on the issue. 

Even though many of the founders of the United States were slave owners, a common practice in the late 1700’s, many did condemn its practice.  While many founders condemning slavery owned slaves many of them released them after the United States declared its independence from the British Crown.  (3)  Part of the flawed logic driving the debate on racism post Charlottesville is the removal from history of any statue or monument of anyone who once owned a slave even if they condemned the practice and were part of the founding of the country.  While some may believe this practice will cause people to forget the practice of slavery in the history of the United States and provide assurance the nation never returns to this abhorrent practice, I believe this is flawed logic. 

The first five books of the Bible are what are known as the Pentateuch.  They are a record of the history of humanity from creation to Israel on the verge of entering the land God had promised them.  These books contain both the positive aspects of this history and the negative ones.  In Deuteronomy 6:7, God commands His people to diligently teach the commands contained in these books.  The purpose of history is not to offend us but to teach us.  Negative aspects of history are present to teach us what not to do while the positive aspects are present to teach us what to do more of. 

The removal of history from a culture is a dangerous thing and something tyrants have done throughout history in an effort to set themselves up as supreme leaders.  As we read through the list of these ruthless leaders we see a common thread of either burning books or murdering those disagreeing with them.  (4)  Just as God reminded the people of Israel to continue teaching future generations about their history, we too must allow monuments and statues pointing to both the negative and positive aspects of our nation’s history to remain as reminders of history in order to teach future generations what to do and most importantly what to avoid. 

Racism is an attitude of one’s heart and not something contained in some statue or monument.  This is why simply removing some statue or monument will not remove racism from the nation and may in fact cause future generations to forget the atrocities of slavery and return to it touting its benefits.  We know this can occur in our time for even though most countries in the free world, including the United States have made the practice illegal, slavery still exists in many parts of the world.  (5) 

Instead of removing statues and monuments believing this will somehow rid us of racism, we must use these statues and monuments as teaching objects in an effort to change the hearts of individuals reminding them of the vileness of slavery and racism.  This, I believe is what President Trump intended to do when he condemned both sides for their violence during the riots in Charlottesville seeking civil discourse and protest in an effort to shed light on any racism. 

This past Saturday, in stark contrast to the violence in Charlottesville, there was another protest in Boston Massachusetts.  (6)  Pictures of this rally show thousands lining the streets, exercising their constitutional right to free speech but this time minus deadly violence.  This is precisely what the founders of the United States had in mind when they passed the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  However, if we insist on removing any memory in history of these men, I fear we may soon forget their positive contribution to our history (i.e. the Bill of Rights) and not learn from their mistakes. 

History is history.  It is in the past and no matter what we do to attempt to whitewash it from our memories, it will remain.  Let us therefore not be offended by events that have occurred in the past and instead learn from them.  We therefore must allow monuments and statues to remain as reminders of our history and not allow them to be used as political objects causing further divisiveness in our nation but as objects to remind us of our past and teach future generations. 

1. Busette, Camille. On Charlottesville, racism, and President Trump’s comments. www.brookings.edu. [Online] Brookings, August 16, 2017. [Cited: August 19, 2017.] https://www.brookings.edu/podcast-episode/on-charlottesville-racism-and-president-trumps-comments/.

2. Murdock, Deroy. Trump Accurately Blames Both Sides for Charlottesville Mayhem. www.nationalreview.com. [Online] National Review, August 18, 2017. [Cited: August 19, 2017.] http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450612/trump-blame-both-sides-charlottesville-statement-factual-correct-description-trump.

3. Wallbuilders. The Founding Fathers and Slavery. wallbuilders.com. [Online] Wallbuilders. [Cited: August 19, 2017.] https://wallbuilders.com/founding-fathers-slavery/.

4. Macias, Elena Holodny and Amanda. The 25 most ruthless leaders of all time. www.businessinsider.com. [Online] Business Insider, October 7, 2015. [Cited: August 20, 2017.] http://www.businessinsider.com/most-ruthless-leaders-of-all-time-2015-10/#qin-shi-huang-1.

5. The Global Slavery Index. In 2016, we estimate that 45.8 million people are in some form of modern slavery in 167 countries. www.globalslaveryindex.org. [Online] The Global Slavery Index. [Cited: August 20, 2017.] https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/?gclid=CjwKCAjw5uTMBRAYEiwA5HxQNs9hKZEYlp1ZvG-wt9XuKHsK_lc9lDdU_sZCuQrARRLgyh3ZTcfLUBoCeCkQAvD_BwE.

6. Sanchez, Ray. Thousands march in Boston in protest of controversial rally. www.cnn.com. [Online] CNN, August 19, 2017. [Cited: August 20, 2017.] http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/19/us/boston-free-speech-rally/index.html.