When we get to the point of believing that we are all children of God (to Catholic Fundamentalists, we are the “Beloved free-will programs of The Loving Programmer”), racism is impossible.
We do know that various groups of people have different characteristics. Some are better at running long distances, some at short distance dashes. Others are better at thinking, others are better at doing. Some have an affinity for music, others, literature. These differences, like separate parts of the body, all work together for good if we love our neighbors as much as our hands love our feet.
Racism is worse than being aware of racial differences. Racism is, at heart, a manifestation of selfishness. Those who loot and plunder hate those whom they plunder. We who are plundered must be “de-humanized” so that the plunderer does not have to feel guilty about the way they treat us.
In the public sector, for instance, those sworn to serve the public often despise taxpayers for not giving them enough money. “Those fools don’t understand how important it is to stop the ozone hole, clean up PCBs, teach new math, reduce carbon footprints, etc., etc., etc. The selfish bastards have to be made to support our cause.”
It’s interesting to watch how many groups of people make a point of denigrating their neighbors. There’s a deplorable tendency to separate all of our neighbors into “us” and “them”. There are many words that do this in a reasonable way. “Jew, gentile, oriental, caucasian” make divisions without insult.
“Honkey, goyim, wogs,” etc. are words that separate and denigrate. We should avoid them and the kind of “We are better than ‘those people’, they are worse than us.” thinking that leads to their usage.
Racism is seeking and finding flaws in our neighbors, and using those flaws as an excuse to treat them badly. As we grow in understanding that failing to love our neighbor is one of the greatest flaws of all, we can replace those feelings with love. We have to join the human race if we are to spend eternity with Love, rather than hate.
