To the Editor:

The expression “a shining city on a hill,” which we generally associate with Ronald Reagan, was actually first used by John Winthrop in 1630 as he explained to his Puritans leaving for America how they and fidelity to their principles would be seen by God and the rest of the world. For Reagan it was America’s principles that would be a beacon for all the world to look up to. It’s a beautiful image, probably pictured differently by each of us but always elevated, always shining day and night from some inner energy of pure goodness. It was there in fledgling spirit as classrooms of children recited the pledge of allegiance, it steeled many a soldier marching toward the front lines and later when he gave a chocolate bar to a kid whose world had been turned upside down without any regard for principles other than force. We were proud of what we stood for and proud of ourselves because “We the people” defined what we stood for. In the unholiest of circumstances and darkest of times there was always that illuminated sense of civil rightness as sacred as anything etched in stone. 

Do we still have that justified pride or has it become eroded little by selfish little into something that we rationalized along the way into “winning” until now we aren’t sure of the difference? Winning is what we’re all about these days and, simply put, that’s gaining an advantage for yourself or over a perceived enemy without concern for how much of the future or our conscience had to be sold out to get there. We watch Little Leaguers today hold up a trapped ball and pretend they made a fair catch for the out. The umpire may not have had a clear view but the player and guys on the field did and that bit of chicanery is celebrated over ice cream at McDonald’s under the glib justification “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.” It seems like a small thing but it’s part of the training ground for becoming a society of winners not worthies.

We have two major crises in our country today--COVID 19 and racial upheaval. How are we handling them? Our chosen leader has been so concerned about winning at election time that he’s subverted medical guidelines from the beginning so he could pretend all was in control under his administration. Our 120,000 dead lead all the world in that category and now he wants to cut testing because the number of recently contracted cases is embarrassingly high. This is what willful ignorance looks like on a presidential scale. “Winning”. He said we’d all get tired of winning. I think we are. 

The racial strife we now have was ignited by filming a blatant case of excessive cruelty to a Black man. Why did it have to come to this? We all know how racism got started. We brought Blacks over as slaves, used them as property, denied them education and in every way we could, reasserted that they were our inferiors. We put a knee on George Floyd’s neck but it’s been there on his race for hundreds of years. Any fair minded person recognizes that all people should be afforded dignity. A little Black girl clutching her fresh box of Crayolas on the first day of school who comes home crying because she was bullied and called names should have been reason enough right there to end racism. If that had happened to one of our White kids the principal, school psychologist, and the guidance counselor would all be soon talking to some irate parents. Imagine generations of such treatment and how it warps the outlook and attitude of a race. 

Every problem we have with race we put there ourselves. The racists who feel they have someone to look down on, who don’t want to compete fairly for the same jobs and who don’t want to admit that living in generational poverty and hate won’t have it’s long term ill effects are also willfully ignorant. If somehow they can manage to conjure themselves as winners, they deserve only our pity.

The pandemic is making a bold resurgence in America today because we wrote down an effective policy, but didn’t sustain it. The same can be said about racism and phrases like “All men are created equal.” Principles shine only when they are practiced.

There’s great momentum behind the push for racial justice now, but it’s still not a given. There is a substantial body of opponents who have learned their hatred from isolation, their family’s long standing outlook, and reading the crime page in the newspaper. Which brings up another point. We’re not seeking sainthood for Blacks. They are not a monolithic society any more than we are. They have good and bad and their own issues of racial dislike and distrust. There is much work to be done on both sides and we do not have a President with the inclination or foresight to bring us together. Like it or not,this will be a matter of each of us, one by one, reaching deep within ourselves to find the dormant justice and goodness that can restore our personal and national pride and reilluminate a city on a hill for everyone to see.

Gasconade County Democrats Club

gasconadedems.org