PERPETUATING MOTION

The other day, on the TV show, "The View," Whoopie Goldberg got into a discussion" with Elizabeth Hasselbeck about continued "racism" in this country.

Whoopie continually interrupted Elizabeth with strident tones insisting that we still have "race problems" in The United States.

Well, Whoopie is right to an extent.

There are, indeed race issues still to be dealt with.

Whoopie is a very articulate person, who is very able to put together sentences that make sense and that express her thoughts and feelings well.

However, in my humble, but correct, opinion, she is not a part of the solution, but is part of the problem.

When I was in college at Stetson University, in Deland, Florida, I spent some time living in nearby St. Augustine.

In June of 1964, while I was there, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to town to march and to stage sit-down protests at area restaurants and diners.

Being in agreement with what Dr. King was trying to accomplish, I joined the march and sat down with the black community at the local corner Rexall Drugstore's lunch counter.

As I left the diner, I was stopped by a couple of guys who looked like NFL offensive guards...big!

The "leader" said, "Here's one of them now. Let's take him out back and paint him black with shoe polish."

Needless to say, I was more than a bit nervous.

Fortunately for me, a Sheriff's deputy pulled up to the corner and stopped for the red light.

I quickly stepped over to the Sheriff's car and started a conversation with the deputy at the wheel.

The two guards sort of ambled on down the side walk, and I made my escape back to my room at a nearby hotel.

My point is that I had been, since my high school days in Warner Robins, Georgia, of all places, involved in one way or another in the Civil Rights movement, because I believed then (and believe now) that the Declaration of Independence means it when it says, "...all men are created equal."

Having said that, I admit that I am no longer "actively" involved in the movement, because the movement has left its core concept of peaceful protest.

In my mind, at least, people like Whoopie Goldberg, Jesse Jackson, Alcie Hastings, Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel have done more to perpetuate the issues of racism in this country than they have done to help solve it.

Their speech is consistently inflammatory, their hatred for "white folks" is evident and their actions dissuade many from healing the wounds that have infected this country for too long.

Unlike a few years past, I encounter more people today who are blatantly expressive about their opinions of the black population, as well as of Hispanics and Arabs. Many of them base their feelings on reactions to those in leadership who think it helpful to ignite heavy passions. It is almost as though they wish to incite racism, rather than to mitigate it.

Is it, after all, to their advantage financially to perpetrate hatred and/or fear of people whose skin is a different color?

Whatever their motives, I wish we could all make an effort to adopt and realize the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he expressed it, that people (he was specifically referencing our children) should "...not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Now we have elected our second black President (Bill Clinton was the first...remember?).

Aside from his politics, with which I strongly disagree on most points, I hope that he can effectively further the racial healing that needs to take place in our land.

I am hopeful, but not overly so.

There are still too many inciters whose mouths are in perpetuating motion.