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2010
Soap Box Archives Race I will turn 74 years old in October, and my formative years were in the days of rampant racial prejudice, and in the Deep South where I lived they strictly enforced Jim Crow laws. In my entire early youth I never went to school with a black kid and never sat in a theater or a restaurant with a black person. The black race was relegated to the back of the bus, to segregated sections of restaurants and theaters, and for the most part got the old school buses and school buildings, and in many cases the used books. There were three public restrooms, white men, white women and colored. Even the drinking fountains were segregated. They were looked upon by white society as second-class citizens who, for the most part, had neither the mental capacity nor the initiative to rise above the run down segregated part of town they were forced to live in. The courts were partial and more than likely to take the white side of any court case. Black people were expected to work long hours for little pay, and not complain about it. Now let me make a few qualifications. The white people of my early days did not hate black people and there were many fair-minded white people who treated black people well, it’s just that even those who did would be quick to tell you that they believed in segregation. Segregation was the law of the land and was mandated to be “separate, but equal,” which was a monstrous joke. It was separate all right, but never equal. Being born and nurtured in this social atmosphere only proliferates this condition and with each succeeding generation feeling, but never publicly admitting, that it was their duty to, ”keep the black race in its place.” When I got old enough to start figuring things out for myself, it took while, but I started to see how unfair, un-Christian and inhuman those old ingrained attitudes were, just how wrong it was for people to claim to be good and godly people and to show such animosity toward human beings made in God’s image just because they were a different color. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge and the last half century has brought a lot of changes in laws and attitudes as a couple of new generations have come to see the fallacy of racism. Racial prejudice is literally a sickness, an evil sickness that can be completely healed by admitting the truth and I determined the cruel chain would be broken, that racial prejudice in my family would end with me and raised my son accordingly. I hold no prejudice against any man because of the color of his skin. It’s something I didn’t learn out of a book or an attitude I took on to become part of any group or ideology. I learned it through a conscious effort and a realization that thinking somebody is inferior to you because they are a different color is wrong, immoral, silly, stupid and ungodly. I came by it honestly and live by it faithfully and it literally breaks my heart to see what’s happening to this nation as the specter of racism raises it’s unspeakably ugly head again. There are people on both sides of the color line whose only power is derived by maintaining dissention between the races. They never miss an opportunity to pick at any small thread of contention, magnifying the smallest situations. Hoping to tear a bigger hole in the racial fabric of the nation. These opportunistic vultures make me sick. The media is also guilty of causing problems in the racial arena giving voice to every radical talking head who wishes to spout their poison of innuendo and lies to stir the pot. I can’t speak for anybody but myself, but let me declare here and now. I am no better, no smarter and no more entitled that any other citizen of this nation, skin color notwithstanding. I will respect the rights of all human beings and I will strive to see that their rights are protected the same as mine. When I see racial injustice on either side of the color line I will deplore it and if possible defeat it. I will reach out the hand of brotherhood to all men of good will, to all who seek racial peace, while at the same time I will vehemently condemn those who use unfounded racial issues to further their own greedy agendas. What we need in this nation is understanding, coming to the awareness that skin color makes a person neither a sinner or a saint, that they are not automatically right just because they’re the same race as we are and they are not automatically wrong because they’re not. When someone starts screaming racism, we need to take the time to see if there is validity to what they say, or just another cheap political statement meant to stir the pot of prejudice. In my opinion this racial divide that is becoming so evident in this country is one of the most dangerous things happening to us today, and friends it is so unnecessary. Stop giving any credence to these racial rabble rousers, let their empty rhetoric fall on deaf ears and let’s get on with the business of being, not black Americans, not white Americans, but Americans, plain and simple. What do you think? Pray for our troops, and for our country. God bless America Charlie Daniels |