Can 'gracism' overcome racism?

• Author: Anderson, Matt
• Position: Life in America - Essay

MY WIFE AND I recently watched the movie "42," which chronicles the story of Jackie Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball as the first African-American player but, as I watched, something did not seem right--something was missing. Then it hit me; there was a noticeable omission in the way Robinson carried himself while facing the evils of racism. Instead of displaying the reactionary fury that animates many would-be opponents of racism today, Robinson carried himself beneath the banner of an often forgotten word--grace. In fact, that display of restraint and graciousness is precisely why Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey chose Robinson as the individual most suited to break baseball's color barrier.

Robinson realized that racism in his day only would be inflamed should he seek to fight fire with fire, returning undeserved hatred with its retaliatory counterpart. Instead, he chose to let his playing speak for itself, turning the other cheek rather than repaying evil for evil. Rickey knew that Robinson would choose grace--both men understood that time and patience eventually would liberate troth and equality. He chose the high road, rather than the swinging pendulum of vengeance.

What was noticeably missing when Robinson confronted his own racist culture is all too prevalent today. Race has become an unending game of "gotcha," where self-appointed "experts" seek to insert themselves into any situation where race could be an issue, often distorting the details beyond recognition and leaving a wake of polarized bitterness behind them. They often seek to portray blacks in a perpetual state of victimhood and to cast any accused whites as the perpetrators--too often without the benefit of facts and sound reasoning.

Such an aggressive posture simply was not an option in Robinson's day, because the cultural tide had not yet turned against the segmentation of humankind by skin color, but the mere fact that it is possible in today's politically correct context nonetheless should require us to question whether it is helpful.

Indeed, a subject with such historical gravitas as racism requires careful and constant reflection regarding the means by which we address it in order to ensure that our methods are effective and moral. To that end, we do well to question whether an aggressive and punitive reaction to perceived racism only serves to inflame racist tensions today just as it would have done in Robinson's time.

Examples of this...