Where is the moral outrage? Where is the shame?

by Norman Franklin

Norman Franklin

I really grappled with the idea of this writing. And not so much with the idea but with the why. We are a quarter into the twenty-first century. We are approaching the 250th year of this great democracy. Yet we find ourselves still struggling to live out the underlying principles of the nation’s founding.

We were founded on the premise of equality—all men created equal. There are the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There is the Statue of Liberty that welcomes immigrants at Ellis Island. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free…” But the invitation has been rescinded. It is engrafted with a nationalist identity. Not all immigrants are welcomed. And some who have made this land their home discover that freedom is an abstract concept. They find that the welcome is situational.

In our eagerness to celebrate “250,” the reality that diversity built this country devalues our exception alism. Diversity and inclusion are downplayed. Programs that promote equity have become disqualified initiatives. Diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, designed to right systemic injustices, became unpopular, and then illegal. DEI became rich campaign rhetoric. One candidate labels DEI as dumb, evil, indoctrination. This egregious spin has gained traction.

And therein lies the element of moral shame that should grip the social and political culture. DEI reckoning and voting rights are blood stained victories of the Civil Rights era. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was prompted by national shame. The brutal treatment of African American protesters as the marched across the Edmund Pettus bridge was a seminal event. The evening news broadcast showed America’s shame. The ugliness of racism was on display in the nation’s living rooms. What became known as “Bloody Sunday” changed what the nation could be comfortable with.

The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the DEI policies that resulted were surgical in nature. They were designed to eradicate a cancer that metastasized over centuries. We believed the surgery was successful. There was progress in the social, economic, and political sectors of America. But the legislation and policies only treated the symptoms.

The malignancy has recurred after a period of remission. Cancers mutate. They metastasize and return more deadly. For example, the Voting Rights Act was the surgical procedure to eradicate disenfranchisement of minority voters. The redrawing of voting districts—gerrymandering— was outlawed. Section 2 of the Voting Rights legislation applied to states with a history of racial discrimination. These states must submit their redistricting plans to the courts for federal preapproval. The recent ruling by SCOTUS effectively dismantled the leverage of Section 2.

There is a famous axiom that cautions, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But history does not repeat itself. It rhymes. What we are witnessing—the scrapping of DEI policies, the assault on minority voting strength and access—are echoes of Jim Crow America. The element of national shame is missing. The moral consciousness required for experiencing shame has died.

The discontent expressed in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail is appropriate for this moral and philosophical writing. His dismay was with his white conservative colleagues. They were comfortable with the pace of social change. Protest was not needed. The needed changes will come overtime.

We view our disillusionment with our white colleagues through the lens of King’s letter. The moral lessons of the Civil Rights era lie on the conscience of all Americans. The bloody encounters, the murder of protesters, and taxpayer-supported law enforcement agencies denying justice to those who helped pay their salaries. It’s all fresh in the memories of African Americans—a shade of memory for many of our white colleagues.

We are disillusioned with our corporate partners. The Executive Order to prohibit DEI programs was met with swift compliance. Colleges, universities, and corporations shuttered departments of diversity, discontinued programs, and furloughed diversity program staff. We only have the results to weigh judgment. Was there institutional resistance? Were the policies an investment or compliance performance? The latter is dismissed without the filter of commitment to righting systemic patterns of injustice.

The rollback on voting rights and the dilution of minority voting strengths has a new context. Partisan gerrymandering is the new genre. Redistricting maps are drawn along political party affiliations. The endgame is more Republican-aligned states. The capture of more electoral votes. It is not racial gerrymandering, but it has the same results—dilution of minorities’ ballot power.

The nation’s capacity to experience shame is depleted. The quest for power overrides moral justice. Ameri ca’s exceptionalism is the banner to be raised at the 250-year celebration.

This was to be that place under the sun where freedom’s flag waved in the interest of all-but!-How bright with promise was the nation’s begin ning -,but!-What a glorious harvest it’s springtime promised, but! Every attempt to articulate the nation’s glory serves only to dramatize its shame. William Augustus Jones, God in the Ghetto, p. 13.

We are still trying to become the United States of America.