Published with permission of the author. A similar piece ran as an Op-Ed in the Rochester Post-Bulletin on January 22, 2022.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
― Martin Luther King, Jr.
It’s the month in which we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, his work, beliefs, and messages seem to be forgotten by too many.
His approach and philosophy were dignified and righteous. His fight was truly about human rights. Today’s social justice warriors, not so much. Too much of the theater of social justice isn’t progress, it’s pretense.
Our public schools retain an interest in solving math achievement gaps based on race. Kids short of math skills are of exactly one group: kids short of math skills.
Our mayor is trying to win a prize by helping Hispanic women become welders. Is there an anti-Hispanic-women-welders mafia? We need good welders. If some are Hispanic women, fine and dandy.
We have social justices who are not colorblind and think that those of us who are, are delusional or dishonest. They are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem.
We have parents who want their children taught only by teachers of the same color. They are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem.
We have social justices who believe that the solution to racism is more racism. They are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem.
Last month, while praising progress on a project, Rochester public school board member Julie Workman was taken to task for referring to a colleague as “a little bit of a slave driver ”.
Rochester Public School’s Executive Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (DEI), Will Ruffin, informed her that “slave driver” was inappropriate. Julie apologized. Fellow board member Jessica Garcia called it a racist phrase and thinks our children’s lives depend on outing such things.
The next bit is not unconnected.
For hundreds of years, the Barbary pirates enslaved ship passengers and crews sailing the Mediterranean. In the 18th century the U.S. Navy was formed to get them to knock it off and to rescue some American slaves. (Yes, we can see some irony in it.) The Barbary pirates were mostly not white and their slaves were mostly not black. This is not a situation restricted to the Barbary pirates but it only takes one example to make a point. Slave drivers are not of one race. Their slaves are sometimes of their own race.
Slave drivers have a reputation completely separate from race. So do puppies. Is it wrong to say someone is as energetic or playful or troublesome as a puppy?
To exaggerate, Julie’s apology wronged civilization. It was an opportunity for dialog. Perhaps she realized the effort would be lost on self-presumed superiors. Some who may feel obliged to rationalize their existence. Some who cannot help but see race everywhere.
Today, race-obsessed and historical ignoramuses are social justices who hold court over us and expect compliance. Kind of like slave drivers. They and their enablers think the work is real and important. Our children’s lives are at stake! Some is important but some keeps us from making real progress by spending time and treasure on things that don’t matter or even make things worse.
Dr. King could give a great speech about all this. Wait. He did. In 1963.
I share a dream with him: that we live according to a creed that all of us are created equal and that each of us is judged only by the content of our character.
—Bruce Kaskubar
