(Letter to the Editor - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

Today we are continually bombarded with “race” as a wedge issue to divide people. For full disclosure, I am a fundamentalist Christian with a biblical worldview. I am a widower after 46 years of marriage to a Vietnamese lady. While stationed at Marshall University from 1973 to 1977, my wife and I continually experienced racism and anti-military prejudices during the anti-Vietnam era backlash. The injustice of racial prejudice is real to me.

Interpreters of the Bible often have used today’s view of race and applied it to biblical times. The word ethnos actually referred to “groups of people” with commonality such as language, religion, moral values, etc. In other words, they had a common “culture.” we find such cultures with the Babylonians, Samaritans, Jews, Romans, Greeks, etc. As an illustration, the stories about the “woman at the well” and the parable of the “good Samaritan” showed the traditional contempt among the cultures. These feelings were not based upon skin color or physical features of the people. Upon encountering a person from another culture, there was immediate animosity.

Today we use race (physical features such as skin color, shape of the eyes, texture of the hair, etc.) to categorize groups of people. From the Bible, we see one race, the “human race.” Everybody descended from Adam and Eve and after the flood, from Noah and his family. Having lived overseas for over 16 years, I will attest to the fact that there is no “superior race.”

God loves all of us equally. There have been superior cultures, i.e. ancient Egypt, Israel, Roman Empire, Grecian Empire, Western Civilization, etc. Because of their cultural values, they have thrived and advanced socially, scientifically, educationally and have prospered. When their cultural values changed (eroded), their prosperity also waned.

Critical Race Theory, White Superiority and White Guilt are all being used as wedge issues to divide our citizenry, and, as Barack Obama declared, “fundamentally transform America.” Additionally, attacks on family and Christian values are targeted at cultural change desired by “the ruling class (politicians and wealthy aristocrats.)” Our Constitution establishes our cultural values based on Judeo-Christian values.

It is evident that the [Eastern] culture has emphasis on “learning,” as evidenced by their college entrance scores. It is also evident that the Black culture does not have that same emphasis. Make no mistake, there is a Black culture different from the other races, with different values. As Biden said, “If you don’t vote for me you ain’t Black.” Or “you are acting white.” Often cultural values are maintained by peer group pressure. The Black culture was greatly affected by The Great Society program, which Star Parker said created “Uncle Sam’s Plantation.”

Make no mistake, the outcome of the program was intended by the white politicians. The government welfare impacted the Black nuclear family, creating single parent homes, created a dis-incentive to the work ethic, and consolidated Black neighborhoods with inferior schools.

The problem is not white superiority. Racism exists because of prejudging (prejudice) people because of the assumption that they embrace the negative culture we envision.

Martin Luther King Jr. said it best ” … they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.” There are thousands of examples of successful Blacks, but they embrace a culture of success, not the culture of the “hood.” Focus on the positive, not “victimhood.”

Lance K. Hickel

Lt. Col. U.S. Army (retired)

Parkersburg