Content of Character

Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. in 1963 said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

This is my dream too. But I asked myself why are we always divided by race? We are grouped by union membership, by race, and by sex. The Democratic party has long courted and won the vote of blacks, Hispanics, unions, and the poor. One would think they were the party of Lincoln. One would think they were the authors and cause of the passing of the Civil Rights Amendment. One would think union membership caused a conversion experience.

Yet, smack at the end of the inaugural on Tuesday of our first black president, Rev. Lowery, prayed solely about race: "...when white will embrace what is right." Evidently white is not right.

Our new Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, said this week, "I am concerned, as I’m sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high-skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers…" He continued to purport that the funds would go to "others" and listed who he meant by group (i.e. women, minorities, poor). White is not right for the $.

Two Republican senators (Kyl - Ariz. and Bunning - Ky) drilled Timothy Geithner upon his confirmation hearings this week. They asked the hard questions while others just nodded understanding the misunderstanding in regards to unpaid taxes. Mr. Geithner is now our new Secretary of the Treasury. His duties include overseeing the IRS.

Mr. Geithner should have been judged by the content of his character which is a tax cheat but he was not. He was easily confirmed. When asked why he did not pay taxes he owed for the mistakes he made the years he did not get "caught" by the IRS, he all but affirmed he didn't because he wasn't asked to. Some character.

Please judge not on skin color but content of character. However, except when awarding jobs, scholarships, government positions, underwritten forgiveness of mortgages, and bailout construction work. White is not right. Talk about race discrimination.

'til later