Racism: How to Bring this Rat Race to an End

Could there be any link between "race" (running) and "race" (pigmentation)? I w ondered or wandered about that recently...

According to some etymologists, the term "race" as a "tribe, nation, or people regarded as of common stock" was not used prior to 1600. Prior to that, "race" was used in the 1500s to mean "breed, lineage, a group of people with common occupation." In that sense, a clan could be called a race because the entire clan practiced one occupation … carpentry, farming, sailing, shepherd, or blacksmith.

The related term "race" (the act of running) is much older (around 1300), and it referred to "rushing water".

So how has "race" in athletics become like "race" in anthropology? Well, for starters, Americans won't get off the race track. Not even the landslide election of a black-and-white president has been able to sidetracked the competing lanes.

Just recently, Dr. Laura (the radio talk-show hostess) slipped and got run over by other runners of the perpetual race. Dr. Laura's fall from grace … that's race preceded by a G … comes barely a month after Shirley Sherrod lost the race and was forced to resign her post at the Department of Agriculture. This race can be cruel and ruinous, but the runners are determined to forge full speed ahead until the finish line, which could be a dead end for all the runners. Good heavens!

There is a way in which race-based speech captures the tenacity of a competitive racer. For every race there is a prize to be won, and the race of the races is no exception. What is the grand prize of the race-based race for life? The gold medallion of this Olympic is to keep society angst and divided on the issue of race. It is to keep the pot boiling, sizzling, simmering until it spills over like blood in the streets, which may still be the dream of a handful of really extreme racists.

"We need more seminars," the more sensible racers say. "We need to talk about racial issues more. The fact that we can't talk about it without enraging one another is proof that we need to talk about it more."

My response is, "What? Why? What am I missing? It's giving us road rage, so let's prime up the arguments?"

If talking about race keeps the racial frenzy steaming ahead full speed, doesn't it make better sense to chill, to just let everyone take a break to catch their breath? What good is it if race talk brings society closer to a clash or crash? Is that how badly we want to keep the race going? Why the rush to conversations about race?

I suggest we engage in less speech-making about race relations. Instead, let's put our minds, time, efforts and resources into the race to becoming the best humans we can be to one another. Let's associate across so-called racial divides without saying one word about how and why the "races" need to come together. Once we embrace each other, we see no need for lectures, seminars, conferences, and sermons about how and why we are one human race.

And while we are at it, let's drop that "What race are you" question from the school registration forms of our kids. Let's not stain their innocent minds with our twisted notion of "races"; let them grow up knowing there is just one human race with diverse ethnic groups or colors … a thing of beauty.

If we will run the race until we run race into the ground, let's get busy or continue worshiping together, dining together, dating and marrying one another, mixing up our families, our schools, our sports and entertainment, etc. We keep doing that and pretty soon, there will be no need for heated racial exchanges on radio, television, blogs, or other media outlets. Too much race talk has been the problem lately. It's time to cut back.

Otherwise, our insistence on "racial dialogues" that keep turning into racial debates will only fan the flame for greater widespread racism that may overtake this civilization by surprise. Why the mad dash to pontificate about race? I say, away with the philosophy of race relations. Let's shake hands. Give me a bear hug! Let's go have coffee, my European kin … next week's lunch will be on you, and come prepared to share something about your precious culture.