Conservatives often claim that those of us on the left hate America. They mistake our continuing desire to create a more prefect Union for hatred of America, itself. On the issue of race in America, we have a classic "glass half-empty/glass half-full" problem. Yes, there's still racism in America. No doubt about it, but we have made enormous progress on this issue--progress that no other country has made (from what I can tell in my limited experience). Rather than criticize the United States for work that is not yet completed, I prefer to celebrate the work we have done and the progress we have made.

1) Race was an issue that was discussed during our Constitutional Conventions.
2) We fought a war over this issue from 1861-1865.
3) We enacted the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (directly to address this issue) shortly after the conclusion of said war.
4) We integrated our military in the 1940s.
5) We got Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
6) We enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
7) We enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965

And we have done a lot more that I did not have the time to research and list. No country on Earth has this long, legal history of dealing with the issue of racism. As a civil rights attorney, I have litigated cases (as an advocate for Plaintiffs) under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and while the law's not perfect, it is a good law, and it has had the desired effect of limiting racism in employment decisions.

I am proud of my country for the progress it has made, and my experience tells me that other countries have not made the progress we have on the issue of race--not even close. It's your choice if you want to continue to see this as a "glass half-empty" problem. Certainly, we have not yet reached the promised land. There is much more we should do to combat injustice. That said, I am quite proud of the progress we have made, and I would like to argue that those of us on the left could benefit from taking some pride in this country and recognizing the progress we have made while we continue to work together to make America even better.

just a thought ...



-Laelth