Did you know that racism was not a recognized word until the early part of the 20th century?  Of course, you didn’t.  But, in fact, the word ”racism” was derived from the word “racialism,” which first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1907. The fact of racism, depending upon the degree to which you subscribe to the literalism of the Bible, first arises in the time of Noah when one of his three sons, Ham, “was cursed by being black.” Further, the offspring of Ham, of which there were many, were likewise considered, in addition to their blackness, to be both sinful and degenerate due to their blackness.   Hmmm.  Is it possible to be degenerate without being sinful?  The curse of Ham is the rootstock of the two underlying assumptions of racism.  First, there is a correlation between physical characteristics and moral qualities; and second, that mankind is divisible into superior and inferior stocks.  As you will see later, this story of Ham is but the beginning of a long and inglorious relationship between religion, particularly the Christian religion, and racism.

First, some definition is in order. Racism: “A belief or doctrine that inherent differences between the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others, or that a particular racial group is inferior to one’s own. ”  In other words, racism can be seen as an irrational bias towards members of a particular racial group not your own.   If you are different than me, racially, you are not as good as me, and I am entitled to rights and privileges to which you should be denied access… based solely on your race.  I think that about covers it.

No, this is not a subject that you or I think about every day, and I probably would be writing about the mating habits of monarch butterflies were it not for the recent tragic killings in the Charleston church and the aftermath.  Even this tragedy, even Obama’s extraordinary eulogy, even the announcement that one of the local chapters of the Ku Klux Klan has reserved a time at the South Carolina statehouse grounds to spread their particular brand of venom… might not have spurred me to the keyboard.  In fact, it was merely a Facebook posting from a young person I know and respect that caused me to ponder more deeply on the history, as well as my own thoughts on racial animus in America.  This young person commented to the effect, “somebody tell me why we have to give up the Confederate flag.”  Then there was the thread of comments agreeing that there could be no rational reason for such an affront to Southern manhood and that anyone who supported such an effort must be a liberal moron.

The connection between the so called Battle Flag of the Confederacy and racism may seem tenuous to some, as it did to these young people on Facebook, but one doesn’t have to look too far to find support for the notion that the flag has at least been co-opted to become a symbol for racist thought and action.  Look, I get it.  Flags don’t cause racist behavior, but it is undeniable to most that this particular flag has come to symbolize the evil of racism, and whatever can be done to erase its stain, past and present, should be done.  It’s a very small price to pay.  Numerous studies on racial lynchings in the American South from the time of reconstruction to the early 1960’s find that approximately four thousand blacks were lynched.  What were the common ingredients?  A scared black man, a white mob, and often one or more Confederate flags.  When James Meredith risked his life in 1962 to enroll at the University of Mississippi, what symbol represented the anger of the mob?  Yep, you got it.  The aforementioned flag.  When nine frightened black children sought to integrate Little Rock High School three years after the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, what was the backdrop for Governor Faubus and the raging white parents?  You bet, the stars and bars was there.  And when Bull Connor and his goons beat, berated, and sicced dogs on the marchers at Selma in 1965, the flag was waving.  You know it was. And to be sure, these manifestations of racial animus and hatred have not been eradicated by the passage of time.

But I can hear the apologists now.  “Yeah, that stuff happened but it was so long ago –  We have progressed since then – Today’s generation is more enlightened and would never let that happen.”  You think so?  You really think so.  What about the frat boys at the University of Mississippi, who only last year drapped a noose around the campus statue of Meredith and shrouded it in the state flag of Georgia because it “incorporated the confederate flag.” And today, if you care to look at the website of the Loyal Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Pelham County, North Carolina, you, not surprisingly, will find it decorated prominently with, guess what… the Confederate flag.

So for me, ‘nuf said.  Let’s get rid of it, and while we’re at it, let’s get rid of all of the other symbols which purport to give honor to our fallen, heroic ancestors, but, in reality, only serve as a reminder of a dark, dark time in our past, when fighting for the cruel institution of slavery for one’s state was considered the gentlemanly thing to do, even if it required treason to the republic.

Flags and monuments may symbolize certain prominent aspects of racism, but again, they are not the cause of racism.  As best I can figure out, the roots of racism lay deep in the human desire to live in the false comfort of our own tribe or sect or religion or race.  Oddly though, the concept of the “oneness of humanity” is supported by both the biblical story of Adam and Eve being the parents of us all, and the Darwinian notion of evolution tracing us all back to a common glob of protoplasm.  We should all be one, but are not; and perhaps can never be.

Here’s a trick question for you.  Which of the following is the most racially segregated: 1) the work place, 2) schools, 3) churches.  You should know this… it’s churches.  In fact, according to one recent academic study, less than half of all Christians are a member of a church community that has races other than his own.  Far more alarming is a 2010 study led by Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at USC College and the USC Marshall School of Business.  The results published in the peer reviewed scholarly journal, Personality and Social Psychology Review will strain the credulity of many.  Wood wrote, “…it is no surprise that the strongly religious people in our research, who were mostly white Christians, discriminated against others who were different from them–blacks and minorities.”  Her analysis also found that there is “significantly less racism among people without strong religious beliefs.”  Don’t shoot the messenger here.  While the data and findings have the ring of truth to me, I’m always skeptical of academic studies, or at least the ones that I didn’t do myself.  And I’ve done none.  It’s not a pretty picture, but our religious institutions are not without guilt here.  The Catholic Church, in many areas in the South had segregated confessionals, for chris’ sakes.  Mormons wouldn’t permit any black member and then later, in an attempt to backtrack, wouldn’t allow a black elder.  Bob Jones University did not allow black students until 1970 or so, and later only if married, and later still would allow blacks to enter regardless of marital status, only if they agreed to the dictum of no interracial dating.  I won’t even go in to the biblical support for slavery.

After reading the Facebook post that motivated my rethink of the history of racism and racism in our times, I had flashbacks.  I recalled wondering out loud to my parents why there were “Whites Only” drinking fountains in the Sears store.  And as a teenaged traveler, being mystified by the “Whites Only” waiting room in the Continental Trailways bus station. I recalled my mother’s admonition to “be nice to the black boy in my third grade class, but not to play with him.”  I remembered traveling as a thirteen-year-old to Pasadena for a baseball tournament, and being turned away from our motel because of Roy Clark, our black catcher.  I uncomfortably remember good friends telling me virulently racist jokes and only walking away.

These then, and many more unspoken here, are the reasons I would like to give to my young friend telling him why it makes perfect sense to me for the flag to go.  I think he might even agree.