When will America shed its racist past?

In the wake of the brutal killing of George Floyd by policemen in Minneapolis, MN on Monday 25th May, 2020 one is forced to question many many things we have once read and learnt.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal": These are the first words of the United States’ Declaration of Independence. It was a document written for the secession of the United States from Britain.

The obvious problem is, of course, the freedoms it argues for “men” are specific to land-owning white men most of whom were owners of African slaves. One can assume, therefore, that the intention of the document was to safeguard the rights of those privileged men to the exclusion of all others.

This remained the case for nearly two centuries until the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed racial segregation and made racism illegal.

Despite such a law why does systemic racism still persist in America today? Why is such a law still not able to protect blacks, latinos and other visible minorities from being treated differently? Why is the color of a person still more significant than the color of his eyes?

The answer to this may lie in the original intent of the document.

The time may be ripe for the re-writing of the document of Amarica's independence. This time it should not be based on the secessation from a physical empire, but rather from the empire of hatred which colonizes the hearts of men.

Unless and until such an internal reformation of America does not take place, racism in America will live for another two hundred years. Something which no true American wants.

The mural above is by Syrian artists Aziz Asmar and Anis Hamdoun depicting George Floyd in the town of Binnish in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on June 1, 2020. Photo by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images.