The Fallacy of Racism
by Henry Velez, Editor.

It's hard to distinguish here which is more agonizing. The idea of racism or the fact that so many people still fervently adhere to the idea.

For years and still today I find it unimaginable how anyone could sit down with their beliefs of racism and not help but come to the sensibility of common reasoning. Racism in the United States has evolved over the years but its central belief remains the same. And this too is another ridiculous fact concerning racism. It isn't limited to white people who think white people are superior to all other races. There are Negro people who feel earnestly that any race other than their own is inferior. 

Furthermore, there are races who not only wish to separate and be at enmity against all other races.. they are at war amongst themselves as well despite their similar appearance or history. Irish Protestants against Irish Catholics. Arab Muslims against Israeli Jews. Spanish aristocracy against indigent Mexicans. Mexicans who criticize Mexican-Americans for being too American. Northern Italians versus Southern Italians. On and on it goes.

"My race is superior. Any other race is inferior." Such is the creed of the racist bigot. And what evidence or proper reasoning has led them to such a staunch conclusion? Could any reasonable defense be given for such a position that would sway a person considered 'inferior' to say in response, "You know, I never did look at it that way.. you're right, white people are better than everyone else." I have yet to hear such rationale. What I have seen in interviews from those who support such lunacy is self-serving rhetoric and illogical conclusions drawn from inaccurate premises.

Criterium
Let's examine this idea of being 'superior' for a moment. In order to qualify as being superior there must first be criteria in place by which to objectively, not subjectively, determine whether a thing, person or race is superior, nominal or inferior. What criteria does the bigot use to establish his foundation that his particular race is superior to all others?

Is it based on intelligence? Surely a survey of the brightest minds of this century would find a smattering of every race rather than one singular race dominating this arena. There are East Indian mathematicians who rivaled Einstein. There are accomplished lawyers, doctors and scientists from every part of the world. American industry underwent a lot of re-gearing when it finally acknowledged many of the innovations Japan had instituted since the end of World War II in the their auto and electronics industries. So, no.. intelligence is not the criteria any one race can lay claim to nor can any race say others are too inferior to excel in the sciences alongside them.

Is the better race based on physical attributes? Raw strength and speed? If so we would have found that over the many years of the Olympic Games that only one race was excelling against the other inferior races. Yet history does not show this to be true. Rather it is found that every year the highest level of achievement in each given area is devoted to those individuals, not races, who put forth the excellent talent and drive to achieve such success. It did not come by default to any given race.

Is the 'superior' race one that holds to a greater philosophy of peace, social stability or social system than all others? Where can one find such a race who has not had it's own troubles with crime, hatred, poverty or social injustice? What race has shown itself above producing murderers, thieves, rapists and or child molesters? There again, all races have fallen short of such a qualification for the status of calling themselves 'superior' over any other race.

No matter what criteria you may produce, there is no one race that can stand superior within it with a right to claim they are above value in comparison to all other races. 

Separatism
Aside from this issue of 'superiority' comes the bigot's corollary of 'separatism'. They don't want to be in any way near or involved with people who don't look like themselves because it is viewed as an implied threat against their own welfare. There are those who only want to pursue a network of Negro driven businesses in order to demonstrate they don't need the "white man's" help to be successful. There are those in Southern areas of the US who would just as soon be able to go to the supermarket without having to look upon anyone of color. "Let them keep to themselves.", they insist for the better good of all. While separatism may seem like the perfect Band-Aid to avoiding conflict, over the long term what it really does is allow for the reinforcing and forwarding of these unsound doctrines of hatred to be passed on to the next generation. Rather than encourage unilateral cooperation and acceptance, separatism is the breeding ground for reinforcing the misplaced pride that fuels continued racism.

Amongst black separatists I have heard the rhetoric that, due to some distant, historical link to the Egyptians.. somehow that is the basis for Negro people to hold themselves in higher regard than their fellow man. But while I can find that about as amusing as it is illogical, what I find more disturbing is the link many white-supremacist groups attempt to make between themselves and the bible.

Contorting the Bible
The Bible is the holy book of God's word to mankind according to Christian theology and history. Originally the first two-thirds, known as the Old Testament, was solely the theology and history of Judaism, from which Christianity has it's origins. It is in the final third of what is now known as the bible that the New Testament is found, God's message of salvation not only to the Jew, but to all Gentiles outside of Judaism as well. Within and throughout all the documents that make up the bible are consistent themes of morality, character and laws that are the guiding light of Judaism (in the Old Testament) and Christianity (old and New Testament).

As if it were not enough to follow a creed that has no basis for feeling superior, white-supremacists go even further into a baseless idealism by making unfounded attempts at justifying their beliefs on the bible. Unfortunately for them, the bible cannot be abused with bits and pieces out of context without it being very clear to anyone who has read it thoroughly that such support is without merit.

One such weak example is the racist idea that says all people of color are inferior due to the curse of Cain, which God supposedly did by making him and all his descendants a colored race for the sin of murdering his brother. While it is true that God did curse Cain for the murder of his brother, Abel, the mark was not itself the curse nor was it in any way implied that the 'mark' was a complete change of skin color. In fact, the mark was an act God took so as to protect Cain from being lynched, as is obvious once one reads the actual verses;

Genesis 4:13-15
13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear.
14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 

Another attempt made by white-supremacists to find justification for their separatism and underlying hatred is a misuse of the following verse;

Matthew 5:43-47
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 

Rather than read the entire verses and thoughts in full, supremacists take only the view that is being criticized in verse 43 and twist the Christian theology of "love your brother" as instead to mean, "love only your own kind". Even though this is blatantly against the very position the bible takes, it is weak links and pieces of bent verses by which supremacists make laughable justification for their bigotry.

Self-Contradiction
If, in fact, supremacists were to use skin color as a criteria for 'supremacy' and at the same time hold reverence for Jesus Christ.. then they would have to honor the fact that Jesus himself was born, as to the flesh, not as a white man but as an olive-skinned Jew. They would also be in violation of their own reverence for Judaism by setting themselves against the Jewish people.

It follows then, after observing all this, that there is no sound basis for taking a position that one's race is any better than any other race. How is it then that racism flourishes in so many ways throughout various societies? Because those who subscribe to it do so based, not on intelligent thought, reason or observation.. but rather on a hatred that takes a slanted view of everything around them and selectively chooses to only perceive that which thinly supports their stance. 

Racism is a creed that can only grow where there is an abundance of hatred and a deficiency of morality and objective reasoning. Its separatist views promote more suspicion and bigotry for the next generation. It is a belief system that is only a thinly disguised excuse for cruelty, prejudice and violence against others. The claim it makes, that it is an extension of pride for one's race, is in reality a shame and embarrassment to mankind as a whole and to any individual who subscribes to it's base beliefs.