Anyone who aspires to love his neighbor or love his country should fling bigotry away like a scorpion on the back of his hand.
1. Bigotry’s destructiveness.
Bigotry is wildly destructive. It harms individuals, and it harms the nation.
a. Individual harm.
Bigotry harms people socially and in their livelihoods. The law provides few if any remedies for social discrimination. The law provides imperfect remedies for occupational discrimination.
These remedies are costly. And defendants often invent pretexts to justify discrimination. Only the rare employer will admit that he failed to promote a Muslim, or fired her, because she was Muslim. With any foresight and a modicum of cunning, the employer will justify his action based on some employee failing or fault; few employees have none. These obstacles to justice can be overcome, but they make justice more difficult to attain, and sometimes impossible.
Also, bigotry can lead to wrongful conviction. This is true because bigotry toward a person’s race, religion, or sexual orientation can make jurors eager to believe the worst about him. As a longtime lawyer, I know that a even a defendant’s looks can influence jurors, or whether he is substantially overweight. Clearly racial, religious, and like factors can, too.
Some say that the most important right is freedom of speech. Some say that it’s the right of the ballot box. But maybe the most important right is the right to sit on a jury. I’ll be blunt: sometimes a person gets more justice from people of his own race or religion than from people of other races or religions. That’s just reality.
These social, occupational, and penal harms defy the golden rule – a rule anchored in the earliest parts of the Bible. Deuteronomy 10:19 says: "Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
But instead of the golden rule, nowadays people want to apply a reverse golden rule. People remind us that Baptist churches aren’t welcome in Riyadh. That supposedly justifies opposition to the proposed mosque near the former World Trade Center Twin Towers.
I am less concerned about bigotry’s consequences for those who incite bigotry than about the consequences for their victims. But there are consequences to them, too. Now they may have their day. I do not believe that their day will last forever.
Eric Sevareid, in his final CBS broadcast, said, "There is in the American people a tough, undiminished instinct for what is fair." I think he’s right, but that instinct waxes and wanes. Controversies over mosques on both coasts and in between reflect its waning at this moment in time.
I have faith that this instinct for what is fair will re-surge. And when it does, those who inflamed bigotry will pay a price.
b. National consequences.
In a sense, bigotry’s consequence to individuals is a consequence to America, because the individuals are a part of America.
And as a nation, we believe in justice; so, as a nation, we must be appalled at injustice to any part of us.
Also, as injustice broadens, the gap narrows between What Is and some evil What Might Be. Lynching became rare only in the 1930s and 1940s; it declined to about ten a year in the 1930s and three a year in the 1940s. As such, only four generations separate us from the time when lynches became relatively rare. Four generations do not make a practice culturally irretrievable. (I do not imply in any was that there is such thing as a "tolerable" number of lynches.)
About the same number of generations separate us from the World War II internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry.
I do not take for granted justice, democracy, or the rule of law. History is unpredictable. Hard as it is to remember those times, on September 10, 2001, no one expected that we would spend nine-years-and-counting at war in Afghanistan, and seven-years-plus in Iraq. Because history is unpredictable, we cannot know what circumstances might come that make widespread iniquity arise within our shores.
I can’t predict what apocalyptic circumstances might arise. But nobody can promise that they won’t arise. Therefore, I would like our national morality to be strong and taut to empower us to resist national iniquity, whatever circumstances might arise. But mainstream bigotry implies a lax morality, which would not protect us in truly terrible times.
Between justice as practiced and injustice as feared, I prefer a wide moat. Bigotry narrows the moat.
More immediately, as we become known as an intolerant nation, we risk diminishing the flow of educated, intelligent foreigners to fill positions for which there are insufficient numbers of qualified American candidates. In truth, American depends upon attracting talented scientists and engineers from overseas. We cannot even fill our schools only with qualified American-born candidates. Anything that threatens to diminish the flow of talented foreigners to our schools and companies directly threatens our national well-being.
c. International consequences.
I yearn for America to be a beacon to all nations, admired and respected. We cannot be admired or respected if we embrace bigotry. National bigotry dims our prestige in the eyes of any nation worth being respected by.
America hasn't always stood for democracy and justice in her foreign policy. But she has in those times for which I am most proud of her. I yearn to be proud of America. But if we stand for democracy and justice in our foreign policy, we are hypocrites if we embrace bigotry in ourselves. I want America to stand for democracy and justice, and I don’t want America to be a hypocrite among nations.
We need to be powerful in the world. The world is dangerous, and there is safety in power. We can be grateful that our military is more powerful than any the world has ever known. But it makes no sense to rely solely on military might. If we can persuade our international adversaries, we don’t have to engage them in warfare that is costly in blood and treasure. Like military might, persuasion is power.
As persons, we are persuaded by others of goodwill more readily than by persons of conspicuous moral defect. That’s why politics is so occupied with destructive accusations. That’s why politicians are eager to project positive images of themselves. Nations largely are no different.
Therefore, goodwill is a source of power among nations. It makes no sense to slough off a source of national strength. But bigotry undermines our image as a nation of goodwill.
2. Solutions.
The first step to overcome bigotry is recognize that we have a problem with it. I hope that these essays have contributed to that step.
The second step is wanting to overcome it. That means examining the morality of bigotry and its practical consequences. It means evaluating what it means to love our neighbor. It means cultivating a deep concern for our country in this generation and in future generations – in a word, patriotism.
The third step is holding on to the ground we already have – never yielding to popular pressure on this issue. Some politicians have been conspicuously brave in the face of popular opposition to the proposed mosque near the former World Trade Center Twin Towers, for example. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg comes to mind.
Others have yielded to pressure. But we must have faith that the world will turn, and that the innate sense of fairness and justice that Americans have will reassert itself in time. When that happens, that will be the time to reap the rewards of virtue. But that requires patience and the willingness to undertake political risk in the near term. Politicians might take heart that some members of the public admire political courage above conformity with their own position on any given issue. If done with conviction, rowing against the tide can take you to near-term as well as far-off benefits.
Someone once said that righteousness and success go a long way together; but that eventually they go in different directions. When that happens, we learn about our character.
Someone else said that for most of the time, we can muddle along without making hard choices. But times arise when the grey of the everyday world separates into black and white. In those times, hard choices must be made. This might be such a time.
The fourth step is expanding tolerance. The best way to do this is to set a good example. This requires us to be strong in the conviction that tolerance is a virtue. This strength comes from a variety of sources.
Spiritual depth is one source. Earnest spirituality opposes bigotry. I come from a Christian tradition, so I know books on spiritual growth in that tradition. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
is a modern classic. Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
is also recommended. Don Postema’s Space for God : The Study and Practice of Prayer and Spirituality Study Guide (Bible Way)
is good for group study. Foster’s book recommends other books.Education is another source. Education can take the form of studying other cultures, particularly cultures you would not otherwise be open to. Also, ethnic studies can be valuable. Ethnic-studies departments in colleges and universities should be encouraged and supported for our national well-being.
Language study should not be overlooked. I find myself more interested in people when I try to learn their language. That has been true with learning Spanish. The same was true when I lived in China and spent time learning Mandarin.
I started studying Spanish a few years ago, in my late 40s. My efforts have ebbed and flowed. But over the years I have improved to the point that I am no longer helpless when a Spanish speaker calls my office or drops by. By the way, I have no gift for learning languages, but I do it anyway.
Travel can be a form of education. This is particularly true if you can find a way to engage the locals, instead of sitting in a high-priced hotel where the only local you encounter serves your margarita. Not everybody has the gift of travel. But everybody can learn to do it better. I recommend Alain de Botton’s book The Art of Travel
. Great travel books can shake you out of any seven-cities-in-six-days mentality that you might have, though I don’t want to disparage those kinds of vacations. All travel is good. But even if you will never, never imitate Rory Stewart’s walk across Afghanistan, his book
The Places In Between might nudge you to more adventuresome travel, if you have any inclination in that direction.Good novels from foreign or ethnic or religious authors increase knowledge of other cultures, races, or religions. Foreign cultural, historical, or religious books are valuable to read.
Ditto foreign DVDs.
All of this, of course, is just a beginning.
It’s never inappropriate to quote Lincoln. So this from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; . . . – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
End note:
Where I mention a book, I provide a link to that book on Amazon.com. This is only for your convenience. If you are interested in a book, great, but it truly doesn't matter to me where you get it.
Sources:
U-Tube video of Eric Sevareid’s 1977 farewell broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGHm8iPeUY
Lynching: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html#b
America’s dependence on foreign engineers and scientists: http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13654/
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