Assessing Progress

SOME COMMENTATOR SAID that it is a definite sign of progress that in the deep south, namely Georgia, a jury consisting of eleven white foks and one black folk convicted three white dudes, good ole boys, of the murder of an African-American gentleman who made ths mistake of going jogging on public streets. The evangelical conservative Trump community must be terriblly disappointed, just as they were elated at the exoneration of Kyle Rittenhouse. White men who carry powerful weapons and enter public places striving to bring justice, truth, and liberty to America and the world are among the heroes of the far American right, even if they carry weapons into public places hoping to use said weaponry against people of color protesitng for racial justice or getting a good workout. Many observers following the trial in Georgia were convinced that the three white rednecks would be allowed to walk, that their flimsy justification that they were attempting to make a "citizen's arrest" and that the young black man would have been fine had he merely acquiesced to the civilian arrest instead of resisting it, would prevail. Thus, it seems justice has scored a split decision, and that the culture of "To Kill A Mockingbird" is at least dying, if not quite dead yet. On Christian radio, a talk show host was telling the story of how a white male corporate executive was "let go" and replaced by two woman in an apparent move to facilitate cultural and ethnic diversity in the workplace. The man decided not to take it, filed a lawsuit for reverse discrimination, won, and has bee awarded mmillions of dollars in compensation. The conservative evangelical Christian thought that all this was just fine and dandy, of course. Nobody should ever lose his or her job becuase of skin color or gender, proudly proclaimed the talk show talker; people should never be discriminated against on account of characteristics over which they have no control, one should be judged according to the "content of one's character", and so on, and so forth, talked the radio talker. How profound an observation! One might wonder how often, during the talk show host's career or for that matter during his life, the talk show talker has expressed any outrage over discrimination against people of color (black and brown color), or women, or gay or transgender people. Never, might be a good guess. He might argue that gay people choose to be gay, and that transgender people choose to be transgender, and that they therefore do not deseve protection against discriminatory treatment. It would be interesting to measure, and it probably has been, how many times white men have been discriminated against because of their white-maleness, compared to how many times, (millions), black and and female people have been discriminated against throughout the grand scheme of American history and society, past and present. Also, it would be equally interesting to measure exactly how many times conservative evangelical Christians have complained about discrimination against minorities, compared to how many times they have complained about the people who complain about discrimination against minorities. Folks who condemn reverse discrimination seem to be far less willing to condemn discrimination.