You Are A Racist!

If you are not a racist, you have either educated yourself into being a perfect human being who truly believes that all men are created equal.  Or, you are a saint or a prophet who has ascended to the heavens to experience that the creator indeed has created all men equal and imprinted in them his own image. 

But truth be told, most of us, specially in Asian cultures, will confess that we carry within some recesses of our hearts the racial tendencies of one kind or the other.  If not consciously and philosophically, these tendencies show up in some unconscious and pragmatic ways in our daily living; the language we use to describe people who are different from us, the gestures we exhibit in dealing with people who are different from us, and the sarcasm we resort to in demonstrating our superiority over others may easily be betraying our masked racism behind our futile efforts to hide it.

Thomas Jefferson coined (regardless of its origin) the term “all men are created equal” before immortalizing it by engraving in one of the finest human documents affirming human equality and freedom, the US Declaration of Independence.  The irony however is that even Jefferson could not escape the ridicule of living off of the back of his many slaves.  Here was a great mind who saw all humans equal but could not overcome the cultural shackles of slavery that treated some men as less than the others and took away their God given rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. 

Ho Chi Min, who opened the floodgates of communism into Vietnam and the surrounding nations that would later obliterate millions, when declaring his country’s independence from a century old French and five-year old Japanese occupation, quotes the US declaration of independence in stating how the French had violated the basic human principles of equality and freedom.  The French and the Japanese had exploited Vietnam but Ho holds the French more responsible because, unlike the Japanese, the French constitution affirms the equality of all human beings.

Whether it is a Jefferson, a Ho or a French constitution, before we experience the equality of all human beings in practice, it has to be conceived in the human mind.  Unless we are convinced in our minds that “all men are created equal”, we will never be able to put it into practice; the animalistic survival instincts will always deceive us in thinking that our race, our religion, our tribe, our caste, our clan is better than others. 

How could Jefferson think that “all men are created equal”?  How come the French constitution rather than a Japanese affirms the equality of all men?  How come some of the most advanced economies of Asia and Middle East are still abysmal when it comes to human rights and freedom?  Why do we always look to Geneva for peace, freedom, human rights, and so on?  Why not to Cairo? Why not to New Delhi? Why not to Beijing?

Whether it is a Jefferson, a France or a Geneva; their roots go back to the Biblical teaching that all men are created in God’s image and therefore, all are equally worthy of respect, love and service.  Jesus summarized the whole Bible in two imperatives; love God and love your neighbor.

Therefore, if you are not a racist, you have not only understood the teachings of Christ, you have actually emulated his teaching in respecting all men as equal and created in God’s image worthy of respect, love and service regardless of the differences you share.