In my opinion, one of the most iconic and profound statements uttered by President Ronald Reagan during his tenure as President of the United States of America was directed to the then President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Mikhail Gorbachev. Mr. Reagan’s statement, that continues to reverberate even to this day, was “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!” It is quite interesting to note that the Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump, who has made claims to continue the Reagan Revolution, has gained popularity with many of the conservative extremists in the Republican Party by promising to build a wall along our border with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out. My aim today is not intended to endorse or to denounce Mr. Trump’s political rhetoric, but to provoke some thought and discussion about the walls that have divided, polarized, and weakened us as a nation. The basic purpose why walls are built is to either keep something or someone in or out. Walls are constructed to be a barrier like dam walls to contain water or to be a barrier to contain people from escape or entrance like those of a prison or mental institution. Then there are the abstract and ideological walls that divide and separate people into factions. These walls are not made of steel, concrete, or razor sharp barbed wire. They are made of ideas, traditions, attitudes, and practices that people have embraced for centuries. They are religious, racial, generational, cultural, and tribal in nature. These are the type of walls that have divided and weakened our nation. I do not have the space in this article to discuss all of them, but I will briefly present and comment on a few that I have identified as being the most threatening and detrimental to the well being of this nation. If we as a people and Americans are not willing to deal with these walls and begin the immediate demolition of them, then our refusal to act will ultimately be the ruin of our culture and nation.
The Wall of Ignorance
In his book, “Let Us Get to Know Each Other,” Pastor Tony Evans, of the Urban Alternative, identified ignorance as one of the things that has divided so many people and groups in this nation. Ignorance or not knowing one another has fostered so much division and discord between the races in our nation. This is especially the case when it comes to the great divide between African-Americans and European Americans. I believe that much of the misconceptions, stereotyping, and other negatives that exist between the races will dissolve when we truly get to know one another. Behind the wall of ignorance lurks age-old prejudices and hostilities that if brought to the light of truth would immediately vanish. Behind these walls, the venom of hatred, malice, and other evils have infected far too many. Arguably, the greatest and most detrimental thing that ignorance and not knowing one another has done is to create another wall that divides us in this nation when it comes to race relations. This wall is the catalyst and reason for much of the distrust, stereotyping, profiling, and other unfounded and unfair treatment that is inflicted upon African-Americans, especially Black men, in this nation.
The Wall of Fear
There is a divide that separates African-Americans and European Americans in this nation that has been primarily developed by ignorance, as we have already briefly considered. This wall is fear. The fear of African-Americans by many (not all) European Americans is perhaps as old as this nation. It can be traced all the way back to when the first Africans were brought to these shores as slaves and were dehumanized and classified as chattel and beasts of burden. Out of this system of exploitation and dehumanization sprung many misconceptions, myths, and lies about Blacks that gave place to fear, distrust, and the great divide. Down through the years, racist groups, like the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), the American Nazi Party, and other White supremacist groups fueled and perpetuated the lies and fear that many whites have toward people of color, especially blacks. In all fairness and historical accuracy, we (African-Americans) have a more legitimate and proven reason to be more fearful, distrustful, and suspicious of
Whites than they should be of us. There are incidents and a preponderance of historical facts to validate that White men, through lynchings, hangings, and other brutal and violent acts that were perpetrated on African-Americans throughout the history of this nation, have been the real threat and source of division between the races. If truth be told and the facts and statistics be considered, we will discover that Whites have no real reason to fear us. Regrettably, through black on black crime, violence, and homicides, we are our own worst enemy and destroyer, regardless of police profiling, abuse, and unjustifiable killings. Now, I know that the previous assertion will not set well with the present outcry and protest by those who embrace the undeniable truth that “Black Lives Matter,” of which I am a proponent of; however, until we can convince that to certain misguided, violent, and murderous blacks who are the perpetrators of black on black crime and murder, the protests will continue to come up short. Demonstrating charity and valuing black lives must begin with blacks, not with whites or even with policemen.
The Wall of Ethnic Pride
In a book I wrote many years ago entitled, “Free At Last: The Reality of Racism in the Church,” I considered and expounded on the four basic types of pride that exists in our nation and culture.
First, we have place pride that causes people to be prideful about their position or status in life.
Secondly, we have face pride that causes people to be prideful about their appearance or looks. Then there is race pride that moves people to feel proud and even superior to people of other races. Hitler and his Nazi regime were master proponents of this type of pride that became the catalyst of World War II.
Finally, there is grace pride that is a product of religions sects and denominations that causes those who embrace their dogma to feel that they are truly better and superior to others.
There is even much division and contention within many Christian circles where people supposedly embrace the same tenets and foundational truths.
I am of the opinion that if we are to be a part of the destroying of the walls that divide us as Americans, then we must be willing to pull down all of these walls of pride and superiority. There must not be left one stone upon another. In the sight of our Creator, all pride is wrong, evil, and invokes His anger and opposition. Regardless of how we, finite, fickle, frail, and erring humans, may seek to justify our brand of pride, God calls it rubbish. Could it be that one of the things that maybe preventing God from intervening and healing our land is our stubborn pride?
“…..for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (I Peter 5:5b).
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
