I Wish I'd Said That

I've had the discussion often this semester -- in every class, I think. Maybe it's after watching Get on the Bus, or reading an article about BET.

"Why do they get their own network? You know what would happen if somebody tried to start "White Entertainment TV?" And I try to explain that there's still an essential difference in America between being born black and being born white.

Well, of course I'm not the only one being caught up in this discussion. Mark Olsen and David Schraub have been having it, too.

Who are they? Just two guys out in the blogosphere. Schraub is a college student, but he frames the issue of race, the past and the present, and our moral responsibility in a way that makes a lot of sense to me.

To begin with, I'd like to offer up a premise, which I think is rather intuitive but which I am open to hearing a critique of: Human beings have a moral obligation to try and remedy unjust systems of which they are the beneficiary.

In other words, the reason we're living in our pleasant suburb, where our biggest worry is a drive-by pastry-pasting, can be traced back to our immediate ancestors. The better off they were, the better off we are. And although we may not have a racist bone in our bodies, we have benefited from racist policies in the past. And, says Straub, we're morally obligated to do something about it.

If you've got a few extra moments, read through his piece.

[One of Life's Little Ironies (proof of Melville's genius) -- I'd bet that those are are most likely to read this will be those least likely to need to read it.]