Set Aside Race; Don’t Highlight It

Two ideologies that quickly grew in American society this past century have been “critical race theory” and the “black lives matter” movement. Unfortunately, these belief systems helped fuel today’s noticeable division among many people, as they propagandized the fallaciousness of dividing the world into color and into oppressed groups and their oppressors.

Both critical race theory (CRT) and the black lives matter movement (BLM) are ideologies that purposely attempt to divide people. They act similar to how classical Marxism divides the world into the so-called haves and have nots.

Most universities in the past few decades implemented CRT curricula, and then this theory dangerously moved down to be taught in high schools and even many elementary schools. Most of the secular media, entertainment industry, and government bureaucrats began about a dozen years ago to promote and embrace BLM to the point of anyone not buying into it was mercilessly derided.

With this indoctrination of our recent generation of youth and young adults, society has led many to falsely be taught that America is systemically racist and that certain groups are being oppressed by a dominant white culture. Moreover, both young ones and adults have been programmed to believe that anyone who is not of the white race has been oppressed by so-called white privilege.

Unfortunately, the life-lesson that a black child will subconsciously learn via CRT lesson or the the shouts coming from a BLM protest is that the white culture will always be treated superiorly and get all the benefits. Thus, non-whites are being brainwashed with a built-in excuse to not make it to the top of their class, to not be successful in their career, or to not need to follow so-called unjust laws that are racially biased.

It is interesting that the woke culture often uses the all-encompassing terminology “child of color” when discussing racial disparity. But in the case of CRT’s curricula, it stays primarily focused on the sole battle of blacks/African-Americans vs. whites/Caucasians. Critical race theory’s proponents intentionally do not want to include and are not sympathetic to all other non-white races.

This divisive movement never mentions Asians in its arguments about so-called white privilege or about non-whites having it tough to be successful in school or in life. That is because the propagandists who like to divide by race do not want to reveal the fact that Asian-Americans do better than white kids (and black and Hispanic kids) in all aspects of schooling and are more financially successful in their adult careers. In addition, Asians are disciplined less in school and imprisoned less in society than whites.

“Color” is not a factor when looking at Asians’ achievements. The reason Asian children do the best in education and careers and are less likely to get in trouble has to do with how they are raised. They are raised in superior families; superior not because of skin color but because their parents and elders place emphasis on three fundamentals of a successful life. They stress law and order, they stress the family unit staying together with dads remaining in the household, and they stress education being the principal goal for their children.

Regrettably, critical race theory and the black lives matter movement are teaching youngsters to be racist instead of teaching them the importance of the above three fundamentals. Society should be teaching about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a day when all persons are judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. But these harmful ideologies project the notion that one ethnic group is better than other groups because of color.

Both CRT’s and BLM’s beliefs conflict with the Catholic Church’s teachings on human dignity. These divisive ideologies pit people against one another based on skin color. Faithful parishes and Catholic schools teach their parishioners and students that treating people as individuals is more important than looking at skin color or country or origin. Orthodox priests’ sermons do not preach to their white congregants to be burdened with guilt because of so-called white privilege. Authentic Catholic teachers do not teach ethnic-minority children to believe there is hopelessness and permanent victim status because of their race.

As Catholics and Christians, we are to set aside race – not highlight it. Our Lord wants to bring together people from every ethnic group into one, not divide them into colored categories so that they might endlessly battle one another. CRT and BLM adopt policies that treat people differently according to race. These campaigns’ beliefs are always viewed through a racial lens.

Automatically pointing to the fact that a person is white and, therefore, came out on top, dismisses the person as a color more than considers the person as a child of God. It also has a double effect of telling the black person that it doesn’t matter how hard he works or the choices he makes, because being black is not as honored as being white. The message that the theory of so-called white privilege gives is a perfect example of a type of racism.

When black actor Morgan Freeman was asked how we are going to get rid of racism, he simply replied, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.” But programs such as CRT and BLM don’t want to stop talking about it. Contrarily, they want to highlight it and propagandize it.

Another group that wants to keep dividing society by talking nonstop about race is the media. Journalists and news sources have dramatically increased focusing on race in their stories this century. The media has been working hard to normalize among their readers and viewers that a person’s color is their most critical attribute.

Whereas there is and will always be some racists in our country, the drastic increase in recent years in noting some type of “racism” in news stories has not been due to increased numbers of racists. It has been due to a superabundance of reporting and editorializing on the subject by today’s liberal journalists – ironically most who are white.

Unfortunately, the ideas of guilt and victimhood advocated by much of the secular culture, by the CRT and BLM ideologies, and by many in the media have resulted in people of some races developing unhealthy self-hatred for their unalterable characteristics. What the world should want to teach children and young adults is that we all should care for one another regardless of skin color, socio-economic status, or nationality.

Did you know that the phrase ‘one another‘ is used over 90 times in the New Testament? This phrase is one way the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit show us how we should work with our brothers and sisters. Scripture tells us we should…

• Love one another. (John 13:34)

• Build up one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

• Give preference to one another. (Romans 12:10)

• Stimulate one another to good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)

• Be hospitable to one another. (1 Peter 4:9)

• Pray for one another. (James 5:16)

No where is Scripture are we preached about determining a person’s race before choosing to help, pray for, or show charity toward them.

Authentically Catholic parents and teachers teach their youngsters that the fundamental race that matters is the human race. It is the inclusive race of which we are all a part. Naturally, adults want to encourage children to have cultural respect for their own culture and their neighbors’ cultures. It is good to celebrate the beautiful tapestry of people God made when He created the various races. One of America’s defining points is the many cultures and colors represented by one nation.

Moreover, children should lose count of the number of times their parents and Catholic school teachers tell them that our Lord is a God of love and justice, and a God who made all of us in His image. Through both the adults’ words and modeling, it should be made known to youngsters that to treat someone else poorly because of what they look like or what country they came from would be like a slap in the face to God.

We are one human family whatever our racial, ethnic, and economic differences are. We are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers with a responsibility to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is why we are to set aside our neighbors’ various pigmentations and instead direct our attention to their minds and souls.