Virginia’s Governor, Ralph Northam, is being urged to resign because of the blackface photo. Isn’t this ridiculous? That was 30+ years ago. I don’t think he’s the same man he was then any more that Brett Cavanaugh is, any more than all of us are. “Racist” has become one of our default epithets. Though racism is still very much with us and must be identified and called out, use of the term “racist” has come to be used mindlessly, thoughtlessly, viciously, and if things continue as they are going, the charge of racism will become meaningless. 

I firmly believe that we are all of us racists to some extent, in some way, however one may be unaware of his racism, however well he may mask it. If we could create a litmus test to detect racism, I think very few could pass.

Some Virginians want to take down the statues of Confederate heroes, as frolicking students at the University of North Carolina took down Silent Sam. I do not think that the present can be saved by naively effacing the past. However painful the past, we cannot, must not make it go away. If we were to cater to everyone’s anger and resentment and tear down all monuments that are found somehow offensive to someone, we will very soon have no monuments left.

Father Edward L. Beck posted a tweet critical of the behavior of the Covington adolescents in Washington, D.C. He posted on CNN this account of the reception of his tweet: “The hate mail and threats I have received since my tweet and my on-air appearances about this issue on CNN and HLN have astounded me. Supposed Christians have said the most vile and uncharitable things imaginable. It is further indication of the vast political, racial and religious divides that still exist in our country.” 

I think it is, rather, a further indication of the division in our country between barbarism and civilization.

Everyone has a right to her/his own opinion. NO!