The human experience begins with and is primarily about the individual. However, if it stops there, there is no humanity. Humanity is the persistent condition when in the end the individual is driven towards the greater composition of individuals. Put another way, the individual's first responsibility begins with oneself, then to another, then to others (i.e. the family), then to the entire community and group of communities, and ultimately to the whole country of communities. At which point the greatest number must account for the greatest good. The responsibility of the many is to seek, work and aspire for the good of the many.
When American democracy was born in 1776, it was hailed as a noble experiment by many around the world and an inspiration to those from the outside looking in who sought freedom from the bondage of monarchies and oligarchies that were then the prevailing systems upon which societies were held and under which individuals were the subservient entities. American democracy not only survived its birth, it grew and flourished for almost two and a half centuries today. And today millions from around the world still consider it one of the places, if not the top destination upon which to anchor their hopes and aspirations for a better life than what they have at the present moment, wherever they are.
Two years from now in 2026 America will be 250 years old. It will have reached that age of maturity when empires and regional civilizations attained their peak before waning; all of them ruled either by monarchy or oligarchy. Indeed, America was the first world power to have achieved empire status that was not a monarchy or oligarchy and will likely, hopefully anyway, defy the common path other world powers ended up with. Before then, it was Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the Caesars, the Tzars, the Queens and Kings of Europe that powers were projected from the thrones where they sat.
America made possible for the will of its people to be collected and collated through regularly held elections to fill both legislative houses of Congress where laws are written, signed by the president (also elected) who then wields power through the executive branch while the judiciary decides when and where there are legal disputes. It is important to have a quick review of how a republic government works lest we forget. Worryingly, civic classes are not exactly in the top 10 list of today's high schools' priorities. And there lies the danger.
However, the greatest peril in a democracy is when the majority no longer realizes that it is what constitutes the greatest number and that its greatest responsibility is for the greatest good of the whole.
Today, America is the most diverse in terms of the makeup of its population when compared to every other nation in the world. You will not find such diversity anywhere else - not in Russia, China, a lot less in N. Korea and Japan, and clearly not in many places in Europe. Of course, that does not say a lot if the rights of its citizens are not equally protected. In the early stages of its inception, for a new nation, its record for allowing for the rights of those in the minority to be recognized and given equal treatment under the law was not one of its proudest moments, i.e. in the treatment of the indigenous people and blacks during the years of slavery, etc.
However long it took, and however the many ways tried, the country made amends. It did take some time. A century and a half after its founding, the country made unprecedented changes.
For the record, because this is not well known, long before the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) had already been established long before then; the earliest was in 1837, first as African Institute and now named the Cheyney University in Pennsylvania. Of the 101 HBCUs today, most were founded by Protestant religious leaders. Martin Luther King and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall were graduates of HBCUs.
By the time of the Civil Rights Act, the country's racial healing begun. Long before Michael Jackson and Beyonce and so many black luminaries who received the embrace of the general population, lest we forget, Nat King Cole was singing Christmas carols in the 50s that sold well in record (pun intended) number and Althea Gibson became the first African American to win the French Tennis Open in 1956 and 1958 and was voted the Best Female Athlete in that year by the Associated Press; before Arthur Ashe had his signature on what became a sought after composite tennis racket in the 70s and 80s.
The Civil Rights Act cemented the country's will and determination to end racial discrimination. Despite that, there are still too many seeds being sown today - seeds of doubt, discontent and faithlessness in the system - and the danger is that the soil upon which the seeds are thrown are being cultivated and nurtured. But we must ask, "Why?" But first we ask why today's political divide is still fueled with combustible ingredients of racism and ideological differences that has kept the chasm so far apart and ever widening.
Today, if we look around, read the headlines, listen to political and social pundits, scour the social media for named and nameless proponents of one cause or another, we see and hear a multitude of grievances and aggrieved pockets of population who feel oppressed or offended. What was created was a panoply of numerous minorities - though no longer about skin color or ethnicity - who claim to be oppressed and discriminated against who want attention and relief by special accommodations and specific legal and moral protections. However, what is not often discussed is that there are already laws in existence protecting them and everyone else simply by being citizens and law abiding members of American society.
We should recognize that equality and equity are not synonymous. Nowhere else than here that equality of opportunity is available to anyone willing to work but it must be recognized that equality of results is not guaranteed. Equity is only available to those who have already willingly invested something they have already earned; hence equity is not a guaranteed result unless one took the opportunity to invest.
Forty five years ago a family of four from one of the Pacific Islands came with nothing but four suitcases of clothes and a few children's toys to avail of the same opportunity available to everyone willing to take it. I can proudly say that we are enjoying the equities earned from all those years of investing in hard work and every opportunity available but always mindful that all along we knew that results were not guaranteed except for a chance to take part in one of the greatest experiments ever tried. And it still works.
How many more "less-than-one-per-cent" pockets of groups that the majority must create special accommodations for? It is reasonable to conclude that this country has dealt with one too many already. But the perceived wounds are often created not from a blood-gushing injury but from what starts as a small itch, rash or inflammation that could have easily been mitigated by a simple salve of common sense. But as always the case, people find a way to turn it into an infection.
No wound will heal for as long as we keep scratching the scabs. Old wounds will seem fresh every time we scratch them and it is as if we will not stop until it bleeds once more. And there will be no end if we keep creating new rashes and itches to add to the collective sensitivities.
I hope the reader will see that in between the lines of these musing are many snippets of common sense that are often missed or ignored.
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