America Will Find a Cure for COVID-19 But There Is No Vaccine for Racism

To eradicate racism we must put in the work

Vice Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris recently made an analogy between the pandemic of COVID-19 and the viral scourge of racism and violence in America.

Her observation of the two devastating and deadly viruses brought her to the conclusion that COVID-19 will ultimately have a vaccine to help the country and the world population.

However, there is no vaccine for racism. Nevertheless, work must be put in to find a way to stop the insidious scorching of the earth events that are taking place every day in our country with no end in sight for a cure.

Until we come to some basic understanding of racism and its genesis there will be no cure or even a sedation effect on its ravages and the condition will continue to get worse. In my view, it could even lead to another civil war. Certainly, that is something that we must do everything possible to avoid

Confronting and resolving problems have some fundamental basics that apply to any circumstance. Addressing the issue of racism as a problem that should be viewed through the lenses of those fundamentals.

Those fundamentals are:

1. Recognize there is a problem

2. What caused or is causing the problem?

3. What can be done to solve the problem?

4. How should the resolutions be implemented?

5. Measuring results and modeling and multiplying what works

America Must First Recognize It Has a Race Problem

While there is an understanding by a large portion of America that racism exists and is institutionalized, still the majority of White people and the institutions that they control and enjoy are in denial that racism exists. This is a huge part of the problem.

Denying that racism exists is in effect supporting it. The 800-pound gorilla of racist realism in the room that White America refuses or doesn’t want to see, or is unconsciously blind to is the fact that racism is a system of advantage based on race.

According to a Stanford University article, based on a psychological study,

“Racism is a system of advantage based on race. It is a hierarchy. It is a pandemic. Racism is so deeply embedded within U.S. minds and U.S. society that it is virtually impossible to escape.”

It is not seen on the surface as being a huge problem. Indeed, the instances of police brutality and killing of Black citizens, particularly, male are generalized with the rationale that they are instances of “bad cops” or police.

That is an oversimplification and fails to reveal the real systemic problem and institutionalize choices that are made based upon advantages provided to White people for centuries.

Ben and Jerry’s, of Ice Cream fame, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, published an article based on empirical evidence, that validates the fact that America’s race problem is grounded and rooted in its systems and that institutional systems are what perpetuates racism and the racial divide within the U.S.

The article shows that the systems within the U.S. create and maintain horrific statistics that undeniably make clear that there is a problem of race in America that cannot continue to be ignored or glazed over.

The recognition of the problem is shouted out through the following statistics for anyone who truly wants to know if there is a racial problem in the country:

• African-Americans are 2x as likely to be unemployed
• Black students are 3x more likely to be suspended as white students for the same infractions
• Blacks make up 13% of the general population but 40% of the prison population
• Blacks are shown 18% fewer homes and 4% fewer rental units than Whites
• Black drivers are 30% more likely to be pulled over
• 76% of doctors have biases against African-American patients

America has a race problem. The issue is will it be taken seriously and whether people who can do something about it will get busy to eradicate it.

What Caused or Is Causing the Problem of Racism?

The answer to this question is not rocket science. Racism was sewed into the fabric of America from its inception. Whites were given preference over Blacks and any other color at the beginning.

This preference that started the flames of racism began in 1776 when there was a Declaration of Independence and thereafter in 1787 when Black people were regarded as only three-fifths of a person within the U.S. Constitution and not recognized as human beings.

They were regarded as property. Indeed, they would not have even been mentioned in the U.S. Constitution but for the fact that Southern states insisted on them being counted as property to gain more political clout for voting purposes based upon votes being tied to taxation on property.

Had Blacks not been included as property for taxation purposes, Southern states would have been placed in a disadvantaged position for voting power.

The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865, in law and concept, freed the Black slaves but the system of racism and being regarded and treated as property and less than human had taken root in the conscience of the country and was steeped in practice and already handed down to the next generation after almost a century (89 years) of the birth of the nation.

Racism was now a system that had become part of its DNA and it would continue to give birth to one system after another system of racism and discord based upon privilege for White people and exclusion and oppression of Blacks and other people of color, but primarily Black people.

Immediately after the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, so-called Black Laws and Black Codes were passed by Southern states to perpetuate systemic racism. This further infused the DNA of race and division into the bone structure of America.

With the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) giving equal protection under the law to Blacks the same as Whites, it appeared that things might be changing for the better. Unfortunately, it was not the case.

Then came the era of “Jim Crow”. Jim Crow was a derisive slang term for a black man. It came to mean any state law passed in the South that established different rules for blacks and whites.

Jim Crow laws were based on the theory of white supremacy and were a reaction to Reconstruction after the Civil War. In the depression-racked 1890s, racism appealed to whites who feared losing their jobs to blacks.

Politicians abused Blacks to win the votes of poor white people. Newspapers fed the bias of white readers by playing up (sometimes even making up) black crimes.

If this sounds familiar with the stories and news reports that you see and hear today, now you know the system that got it all started and why it exists currently.

The ultimate blow and further entrenchment of systemic racism occurred in 1896 with the infamous U.S. Supreme Court case of Plessy v Ferguson where the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality. This doctrine became known as “separate but equal”.

The decision legitimized the many state laws re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed in the American South after the end of the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877)

Once the DNA of systemic oppression and racism took place it became an incident of heredity. It has been inherited, fostered, and encouraged in every generation since, and its progeny is still being born and grown every day through government legislation, law enforcement, political rhetoric, corporate practices, healthcare delivery, social services, and through every vital organ of the country.

So when the question is asked what caused or is causing the problem of racism, look to the country’s history. It tells the truth.

Many White Americans fail to understand and many refuse to accept the fact that the answer is “White America, if you want to know who’s responsible for racism, look in the mirror.”

This not to say that all of White America is racist. Far from it. However, its silence is part of the problem. Black people cannot solve or get rid of racism by themselves.

The Closest Thing to a Vaccine for Racism: A Resolution

Once a problem has been identified and the most likely thing that caused it is known the next step is to develop a response and a solution to solve the problem.

In this case, what is the closest thing to a vaccine that can be provided to inject into America’s systems to remove the cancer of racism?

The answer is a huge dose of “Anti-Racism.” Anti-racism is the process that challenges one to look introspectively as well out outwardly and call into question the things that don’t look right about how persons who are different based on their color are treated.

It also calls for one to take action that is against anything racist and do the best thing to stop it.

Emphasis should be placed not only on how someone becomes a racist but influences can be used to create an environment where people are motivated to become anti-racist.

As sociologist and author of the book Racism without a racist, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva has said “The main problem nowadays is not the folks with the hoods, but the folks dressed in suits.”

The Family Is the First Place to Start

Make no mistake about it the family is the first place to start to vaccinate America against the virus of racism.

Aristotle, one of the world’s greatest and renowned philosophers, opined that the family is the basic unit of society, and all government and social values are immensely affected and built upon the family unit. It is the association for the supply of mankind’s everyday wants.

The Bible, which contains the Word of God, speaks directly to the importance of the family unit and how society is ultimately shaped by the environment in which children are reared. In God’s Word it is stated:

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. This is the vaccine for racism. This is the anti-racist environment that must be created to over some time eradicate racism.

Children are not born with racist attitudes. They are not born with the immediate thought that just because there is a difference between the color of one’s skin or a different culture then a distinction should be made as to how they should be treated.

Such thoughts and the ultimate actions they produce are taught. When children are taught that all people matter and they should be treated the same, given the same measure of respect, dignity and opportunity, and equal access to the pursuit of happiness, children will grow up with that training within their cultural DNA and when they are old they will not depart from it.

It may take some generations for it to happen but God’s Word as it relates to training and rearing children is the antidote and vaccine for racism.

How Should the Resolution of Racism Be Implemented?

As identified, the process must start at home. Systemic racism has centuries of a head start. It will not be overtaken with sprints of giving money to underprivileged communities and making a few changes every time there is a crisis due to the police killing Black people.

It will not retreat because of marching and protests in the many streets of America when injustices occur. It will not be buried by a change of political parties that cater to money and people in power rather than the masses who cry out for and yearn for relief from racism’s heavy burden.

All of the above efforts that are put into place are steps towards addressing racism and they are needed as part of the process to get rid of it. However, to win the race, it must be understood that it is not a sprint we are in but a marathon.

It will be long, hard, and painful, but getting to the finish line is assured if America starts now to train its children in ways that reject racism, implements effective policies and procedures that give the power to break down systems that perpetuate racism, and becomes diligent to snuff it out.

Then we will see real change and America will indeed live up to its creed of being the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Positive Results That Remove Racism Must Be Measured and Multiplied

Problem-solving requires measuring results and then repeating those that solve the problem and remove the pain.

Some of the positive results that are helping to combat racism and should be replicated are measured through Corporate Social Responsibility.

Opening up opportunities for minorities and women through supplier diversity initiatives from the corporate level is another model that should be multiplied by more corporations.

Corporations have a huge opportunity to change America through an initiative designed to remove racism. A change in corporate culture concerning race, equality, diversity, and inclusion is one measuring stick that is starting to make a difference.

The challenge is will it continue at a pace that will make a difference. An initiative like Gallup’s Compliance is a Culture is a concept that should be adopted and made part of Corporate America’s social responsibility policy.

Every person who desires to make a difference can also create models that can be measured and replicated. A mindset and a checklist for ways and actions that can move the needle toward removing racism and its ugliness is provided in a CNN article where there is a list of 18 different ways that racism can be challenged and removed by simply making small changes in the way we think and how we act and react when faced with the subject of racism.

Bottom line a mindset of eliminating racism and confronting it the right way will go a long way to alleviate it.

Unification has a common theme, a binding thread that stitches togetherness and inclusion into a finished blanket. That common theme is equality. America’s race problem will never be solved until equality becomes a reality.

Here’s what you can do to help make a difference

Start a conversation. Get to the truth about what racism is. The truth is hard to keep a secret once you know what it is. Don’t be afraid to challenge racism when you see it. Without you and others like you, it will continue to persist.

Tell a friend, share it with a relative, educate people that you know that racism is real and we all need to fight against it to bring it to an end.