In Katrina I Didn't See Racism, I Saw Brotherhood
by Rabbi Aryeh Spero
Posted Sep 7, 2005
In New Orleans,
beginning Tuesday morning, August 30, I saw men in helicopters risking their
lives to save stranded flood victims from rooftops. The rescuers were White,
the stranded Black. I saw Caucasians navigating their small, private boats in
violent, swirling, toxic floodwaters to find fellow citizens trapped in their
houses. Those they saved were Black.
I saw Brotherhood. New York Congressman Charlie Rangel saw Racism.
Yes, there are Two Americas.
One is the real America, where virtually every White person I know sends money,
food or clothes to those in need -- now and in other crises -- regardless of
color. This America
is colorblind.
The other is the America
fantasized and manufactured by Charlie Rangel, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton,
who constantly cry racism! even in situations where it
does not exist, even when undeniable images illustrate love, compassion and
concern. These three men, together with today’s NAACP, want to continue
the notion of Racist America.
It is their Mantra, their calling card. Their power, money, and continued media
appearances depend on it.
Often, people caught up in accusing others of sin neglect to undergo their own
personal introspection. They begin to think they alone inhabit the moral high
ground. It is high time these men peered into their own hearts at the dark
chamber that causes this unceasing labeling of their fellow Americans as
racist. They may find in that chamber their own racism -- against Whites.
There is only one real America.
Beginning Friday morning in Houston, thousands of regular citizens poured into
the Astrodome offering water, food, clean clothes, personal items, baby diapers
and toys, love and even their homes to the evacuees who had been bused in from
New Orleans. Most of the givers were White, most of
those being helped were Black. But there was Jesse Jackson, busy on TV,
accusing the country of not putting Blacks -- i.e., him -- on some type of
Commission he is demanding. Where was he early in the week? Not sweating with
others from around the country who had scraped their
last dollar to come help. With Jesse, its always about
Jesse.
After decades of hearing accusations from Jesse, Al, Charlie, the NAACP and
certain elitists about how racist America is, it would have been
refreshing to hear them for once give thanks to those they for years have been
maligning. These self-anointed spokesmen for the Black community lead only when
it comes to foisting guilt and condemnation, and not when it comes to
acknowledging the good in those they have made a career in castigating.
As a Rabbi I have a message I wish to offer to my fellow members of the cloth,
Reverends Jackson and Sharpton: It is time to do some soul searching. Your
continued efforts to tear this country apart, even in light
of the monumental goodness shown by your White brothers, is a sin.
There are no churches in the world like the American churches. And there are no
better parishioners and members of churches anywhere in the world. These
churches are saving the day. Their members -- infused by the special and
singular teachings of our unique American Judeo-Christian understanding of the
Bible -- are, at this moment, writing an historic chapter in giving,
initiative, and selflessness. They are opening their homes to strangers. They
are doing what government is incapable of doing.
America
works because of its faith-based institutions. It always has. That is what
makes it America.
So next time the ACLU tries to diminish and marginalize the churches, saying
there is no role for religion in American public life, that an impenetrable
wall must be erected separating the citizens from their faith, cry out Katrina.
Next time the ACLU goes to court asking that U.S. soldiers not be allowed to
say Grace in the Mess Hall and that communities be forbidden from setting up a
nativity scene, ask yourself: without the motivation of Goodness sourced in
Faith, would people offer such sacrifice? Where else does this Brotherhood come
from but the Bible which teaches Thou Shall Love Thy Neighbor as Yourself.
I saw brotherhood on Fox News, where 24/7 reporters used their perch as a
clearing-house for search-and-rescue missions and communication between the
stranded and those in position to save. In contrast, the Old-line networks
continued with their usual foolish, brain-numbing programming. Those who always
preach compassion chose profit over people.
The New York Times has utterly failed America. Its columnists could have
used their talents and word skills to inspire and unite a nation. Columnists
such as Frank Rich and Paul Krugman, however, revealed their true colors by
evading their once-in-a-lifetime chance to help and instead chose to divide,
condemn, and fuel the fires and poison the waters of Louisiana. In them, I saw no Brotherhood.
The newspaper always preaching compassion verifies Shakespeare’s They protest too much.
Similar elitists here in the northeast and on the west coast have over the
years expressed their view of the South as unsophisticated and Texans as
cowboys. Well, the South has come through, especially Houston and other parts
of Texas, whereas, as I write this on Labor Day, the limousine moralizers are
lying on east and west coast beaches thinking they’re doing their part by
reading Times editorials and calling George Bush racist. How sanctimonious life
becomes when proving you are not a racist depends not on living in a truly
integrated neighborhood, but by simply calling others racist.
Like so often in history, facts trump platitudes. Reality reigns. Those who
always preach brotherhood, thus far have acted devoid of it. Those who for
decades have been accused by elitists of not having compassion are the ones
living it. They are: the churches, the military, and the sons and daughters of
the South.
Rabbi
Spero is a radio talk show host, a pulpit rabbi, and president of Caucus for America.
