“The Arc of the Moral Universe ….

…. is long, but it bends towards justice.” – MLK

The quote at left conveys another equally optimistic perspective on racism.

But in addition to believing that truth and unconditional love will ultimately prevail, it may be instructive to examine the forces that keep racism rooted in place.

By far the most consequential of these is ignorance.  Those who are given the fruits of education, and especially the opportunity to travel and observe how different people live their lives are very seldom hateful exclusivists.

Once an understanding exists that people of all colors are basically good and honest, and that they love their children and aspire to live happy and productive lives, it’s very hard to want to harm and shun those who don’t look and worship like we do.

Unfortunately, there is a large group of people in United States politics that thrive on racism and fan its ugly flames; they would be powerless without it.  Their supporters storm the Capitol, buy into the Big Lie, carry torches in Charlottesville, brandish weapons of war on black protestors, and support cruelty to Central American children.

Ask yourself where these politicians stand on public education.  It comes as no surprise that they install people into positions of power whose job is to tear it to bits.  They hire  people like Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, a billionaire Trump mega-donor who spent four years taking money away from our schools, and removing institutions that support education, like school lunch and after school programs.  The more ignorant the American people become, the better they do at the polls, and in turn, the more the dwindling spiral can be accelerated.