Racism - Hiding in Plain Sight
Good symbolism is worth a few words...not a thousand.
The Pentagon panel that is overseeing the process changing the names of Confederate officers have inadvertently uncovered something very symbolic of American history.
In their evaluating West Point for potential name changes, they stumbled upon a triptych engraving in Bartlett Hall of a hooded soldier carrying a musket. The engraving has a caption that reads
“KU KLUX KLAN”
This engraving has been in this science building for an undetermined amount of time, and the commission doesn’t have the power to remove the plaque because it doesn’t specifically reference a Confederate soldier or a West Point graduate.
The website coffeeordie.com asked a number of West Point graduates about the engraving, and none of them were aware of its existence, even though it was there when they attended the academy.
The website article noted that the triptych carving is not easily searchable on Google, even when using a plethora of applicable search terms.
It’s hard to think of better symbolism of American racism.
I wrote and posted an essay a few days ago talking about the difficulties of writing about unpopular topics such as racism.
One of the responses I got was from a former friend and coworker who initially acknowledged me as someone who had been a Christian mentor.
However, she made it clear to me that now she perceives me as racist and suggested that I return to writing about Jesus.
I’m a racist, not because I call people racial epithets.
Not because I use prejudiced bigoted language referring to people belonging to other racial and ethnic groups other than my own.
But because I call attention to racism.
Racism in society.
Racism in the American church.
Racism in sports.
Racism in politics.
Racism in law enforcement.
Racism is a fundamental aspect of American society, but many would have you believe it only exists when it is discussed, pointed out, evaluated.
No, it’s there.
It’s here.
It’s always been here.
It was here when the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution said, “all men are created equal,” but were slaveowners.
It was present on the ships that brought captured Africans from their homeland to perform chattel slavery.
It was present on the Trail of Tears.
It was written in almost every Confederate statement on succession – the fact that the Southern states were leaving the union because that Black were inferior to Whites and that being enslaved was their rightful and beneficent stature.
It was written in blood during the Civil War, and the post-Reconstruction lynching of innocent men, women, and children.
It laid the groundwork for the KKK and the Citizens Committees.
It tried to hide but was still visible in the rise of the Lost Cause mythology.
It was in Mississippi when Medgar Evers was shot dead in front of his children in his driveway.
It was in Tennessee when Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel.
It was present when migrant workers were denied basic human rights.
It was present when restoring “law and order” meant arresting as many minorities as possible.
It was palpable when lies were spread about “welfare queens.”
It was smack in the middle of the “War on Drugs.”
It can be seen voting laws requiring photo ID and prohibiting passing out water to those waiting in long voting lines.
It can be seen when some say “Blue Lives Matter” when the police kill unarmed Black people, but then say “F--- The Blue” when rioting at the Capitol.
It can be seen everywhere, anywhere, all the time.
If you know where to look.
If you want to look.
If you want to see it.
It’s there.
Whether I write about it or not, it’s there.
I’d rather write about Jesus, but that wouldn’t change the problem.
Or more to the point, wouldn’t change the fact that the problem exists.
Some of us won’t be the people you want us to be.
We won’t be Clarence Thomas.
We won’t be Herschel Walker.
We won’t be Candace Owens.
We will tell the truth.
You can face it or ignore it.
But it is what it is.