Race relations

On the way to dropping Lex jr. off at school this morning, I heard a local pastor say that taking a day off from school to celebrate Dr. King’s life was counterproductive and sends a wrong message. The last thing children need is another day at the mall. Two things struck me by these comments. First, here was a real pastor, with a real congregation, offering counterintuitive advice for celebrating Dr. Kings life. I wondered what the rest of the day would bring from the congregation-less race-baiting set of “reverends”. Then I wondered if we were making any progress in race relations - in some places, yes – in others, no.

My first clue that we were making progress on race came when I entered the back gate near base housing at Marine Corps base at 29 Palms, California in 1980 something. There I saw a large group of kids playing in the street. The kids were of every skin color imaginable and all were running laughing and having a good time. The next indicator came when I had to tell two of my staff sergeants, one black one white, that they had been passed over for promotion. Neither was very bright, which accounted in large part for their being passed over, and both claimed racism was responsible for their failure.

I really think that the military is about as good as we’re ever going to do with regard to integration and it is far from perfect. The military requires that people get along. It puts them situations where their well-being and at times even their lives depend upon their mutual trust and cooperation. As a result, the most ardent racist becomes more interested in a man’s job proficiency than the color of his skin.

Probably the least progressive environment in America today is the college campus. These bastions of tolerance, deep (politically correct) thinking, respect, liberal thought and love are about the only places in America where a fraud like the Duke rape case could gain traction. While our military requires that everyone in a unit eat, sleep, work and play together our universities are promoting segregated dorms, fraternities and student unions.

Then it’s these very institutions that kick ROTC and military recruiters off campus for not being sensitive to women’s or gay rights. Well if the military followed the example being set on campus today, they’d take a huge leap backwards and create all women’s units, black units, Catholic units etc. There are few things in life more tiresome than being lectured by a hypocrite. You want diversity? Stay off campus. Join the Marines