Racism is America's social pandemic, and it is spiking once more
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., posed a question in the title of his final book, "Where do we go from here, chaos or community," published just before he was assassinated in April of 1968 by a white supremacist.
Fifty-two years later, we have chaos, from Westlake Park in Seattle to Union Square in New York.
The majority wants community, but powerful forces pour salt into the social wounds of our nation. Discord is a path to take and hold power. Riots can be milked for fear. Never mind that 99% of folks taking to the streets are protesting peacefully.
Racism is America's social and political pandemic. The vast civil unrest of this weekend comes on the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, in which white vigilantes murdered 300 African Americans and set fire to 35 city blocks.
No antidote for endemic racism has been found, not even the election of a Black president. The man who succeeded him spread to falsehood that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. It "spikes" with periodic killings by police. The news media cover protests and riots, but give far less attention to what makes even nonviolent protesters angry.
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