“OPEN YOUR EYES, AMERICA!” We Changed the Laws. Why Haven't We Changed Our Minds?

An Editorial on Race, Humanity, Spiritual Accountability, and the Generations We Continue to Fail

By James W. Jenkins
Award-Winning Author | Creator of The THINKER Method™

 

THE WARS WE FOUGHT ABROAD. THE WAR WE NEVER FINISHED AT HOME.

America, I have a question.

After all the wars we have fought, the lives we have sacrificed, the nations we have helped defend, and the freedoms we have proclaimed to the world, why are we still struggling to recognize the humanity of the people standing right beside us?

Think about that for a moment.

We have sent our sons and daughters across oceans to defend the principles of freedom, equality, justice, and democracy. We have celebrated victories over oppression in foreign lands while generations of Americans have continued fighting for dignity within the very borders of the country they call home.

And somehow, after all these years, we still have people who believe the color of their skin gives them the authority to determine another human being's value.

Who gave you that authority?

Seriously. I want an answer.

Who appointed you the judge of another man's existence? Who authorized you to determine which culture deserves respect, which family deserves acceptance, or which child deserves an equal opportunity to succeed?

Was it God?

Was it your ancestors?

Was it the neighborhood you grew up in, the money in your bank account, or the political party you support?

Because I have spent years writing, observing, learning, and examining human behavior, and I still cannot put my finger on who gave another human being the authority to decide that someone else is somehow beneath them.

And perhaps that is because the authority they claim never belonged to them in the first place.

I AM A BLACK MAN. MY CHILDREN HAVE A WHITE MOTHER. NOW WHAT?

I am a Black man.

The mother of my children is white.

Our children did not enter this world carrying the prejudices that society has spent generations teaching people to defend.

They entered this world as human beings.

Yet we live in a society where the relationship between a Black man and a white woman can still awaken deeply rooted prejudices that should have been buried generations ago.

Why?

Why should the existence of our family require an explanation?

Why should our children inherit the burden of understanding discrimination before they have even had the opportunity to understand themselves?

Why should two people from different racial backgrounds have to confront the narrow-mindedness of individuals who cannot comprehend something as basic as human connection?

Love never needed permission from racism. Humanity never needed approval from prejudice. And my children should never have to apologize for the bloodlines that brought them into existence.

There are people who will read those words and understand them immediately.

Others will become uncomfortable.

Good.

Sometimes discomfort is the first indication that a conversation has finally reached the place where change must begin.

CONGRESS PASSED LAWS. BUT WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO CHANGE THE HEART?

Here is something I find absolutely astonishing.

America had to pass laws to establish protections for human beings whose humanity should never have been questioned.

Think about what that actually means.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in major areas of American life. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 addressed racial discrimination in voting. In 1967, the Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

We celebrate these milestones, and rightly so.

But I want to ask a deeper question.

Do you understand what it says about a society when its government has to intervene to make its citizens treat one another as human beings?

A law had to tell people that discrimination was unacceptable.

A court had to recognize that people of different races possessed the freedom to marry.

Legislation had to confront barriers that prevented Black Americans from exercising rights supposedly guaranteed by their own Constitution.

And after all that, some people still found ways to discriminate.

They simply became more sophisticated about how they concealed it.

The words changed.

The behavior adapted.

The doors that once closed openly began closing quietly.

And the prejudice that once stood proudly in public learned to operate behind professional titles, financial influence, institutional practices, and carefully constructed language.

Now, I am not suggesting that every disagreement, setback, or rejection is racism.

I am saying something much more important.

We cannot pretend racism has disappeared simply because society has learned to disguise it.

The law can prohibit discrimination.

It cannot automatically produce compassion.

Congress can pass legislation.

It cannot force a person to examine the hatred they have inherited.

And a nation can change its policies without changing the mentality of the people responsible for carrying those policies into everyday life.

That is where our unfinished work begins.

THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE THAT THE NATURAL MIND CANNOT COMPREHEND

Now, I want to speak on a spiritual level.

Because some of what we are witnessing goes beyond economics, politics, and cultural differences.

There are spiritual dimensions to the way human beings treat one another.

There are battles taking place within the hearts and minds of people that cannot be resolved by another political argument or another public demonstration of outrage.

I believe God created humanity with purpose.

Not one race.

Not one nationality.

Not one privileged bloodline.

Humanity.

And if we truly believe that God is all-seeing and all-hearing, what makes anyone think the prejudice they conceal from the public remains hidden from Him?

You can disguise your hatred behind a smile.

You can attend church every Sunday.

You can hold a position of influence, wear expensive clothing, quote Scripture, and speak beautifully about equality.

But what is inside your heart?

What do you say when the people you discriminate against are no longer in the room?

How do you treat the child whose complexion differs from yours?

What do you teach your children about people who do not look like them?

What thoughts consume you when someone from another culture achieves something you believed should belong exclusively to your own?

You may fool society, but you cannot hide the condition of your heart from God.

And let me make something perfectly clear.

Spiritual blindness does not recognize a color.

Black people can be spiritually blind.

White people can be spiritually blind.

People from every nation, every culture, and every economic class can allow pride, resentment, hatred, and greed to corrupt their judgment.

Evil does not need a particular complexion to operate.

It simply needs a willing heart.

And when people exchange their convictions for money, influence, acceptance, or political favor, they must eventually confront what they have surrendered.

WHEN THE OPPRESSED BEGIN THINKING LIKE THEIR OPPRESSORS

Now comes the part that may cost me a few friends.

And quite frankly, who the hell cares?

I did not become a writer to make everyone comfortable.

I became a writer because there are things that need to be said, and sometimes the truth does not arrive wrapped in language designed to protect everyone's feelings.

We have to stop pretending that the damage caused by oppression ends when the laws change.

It doesn't.

Oppression can leave behind a mentality that continues long after the original chains have been removed.

And I am not talking exclusively about white America.

I am talking about Black America, too.

I am talking about individuals within communities that have experienced generations of discrimination who now find themselves participating in the very patterns of exploitation, division, and exclusion they once condemned.

I am talking about those who understand suffering but have become so consumed with personal advancement that they no longer recognize the suffering taking place around them.

I am talking about people who have traded principles for financial rewards.

People who mistake proximity to power for actual freedom.

People who believe that because they have achieved personal success, they no longer have a responsibility to challenge the systems that continue limiting opportunity for others.

And I am talking about individuals who have allowed themselves to be manipulated by the promise of wealth, recognition, and acceptance.

Let me explain something.

Financial success does not automatically mean mental freedom.

You can possess millions of dollars and still remain imprisoned by a mentality that requires someone else's approval.

You can occupy the highest office in an organization and still lack the courage to defend what is right.

You can escape poverty and still carry the destructive beliefs that helped keep generations before you trapped within it.

This is not an accusation against successful Black Americans.

Success should be celebrated.

Black achievement should be celebrated.

But success without accountability can become another form of captivity when preserving status becomes more important than preserving principle.

The same standard applies to every culture.

Because oppression does not become acceptable simply because the person practicing it once experienced oppression themselves.

If we know what suffering feels like, why are we so willing to become responsible for someone else's?

That is a question every community must confront.

WHITE SUPREMACY HAS NOT DISAPPEARED. NEITHER HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO CONFRONT IT.

There are still individuals and movements in this country that openly embrace white supremacy.

There are people who view racial equality as a threat rather than a fundamental human principle.

And there are those who use fear, resentment, and misinformation to convince others that someone else's advancement must come at their expense.

That mentality is dangerous.

Not because one race is inherently dangerous.

But because the belief that one group is entitled to dominate another has repeatedly demonstrated its destructive consequences throughout human history.

White supremacy is not a legitimate expression of cultural pride.

It is an ideology built upon racial hierarchy.

And when people give that ideology influence, excuses, or institutional protection, they create conditions in which discrimination can continue.

But let us also understand something else.

You do not defeat supremacy by replacing it with another form of racial hatred.

You defeat it by refusing to participate in the mentality that made supremacy possible.

You defeat it through accountability, education, equal opportunity, lawful protections, and the courage to challenge injustice wherever it appears.

I refuse to teach my children that they must hate another race to defend their own dignity.

That is not freedom.

That is another prison.

WE ARE SO BUSY FIGHTING OVER POWER THAT WE ARE LOSING OUR CHILDREN

Here is where this conversation becomes even more serious.

While adults argue over race, politics, wealth, and influence, another generation is watching.

Our children are watching.

They are listening to the language we use.

They are absorbing our attitudes.

They are observing the way we respond to people who disagree with us.

And they are learning what leadership looks like from individuals who often have not learned to lead themselves.

We talk endlessly about economic growth.

We celebrate financial markets, corporate profits, investments, and political victories.

But what about the growth taking place inside the minds of our children?

What about their emotional development?

Their judgment?

Their character?

Their ability to think independently instead of automatically inheriting the prejudices, insecurities, and bitterness of the generations before them?

What good is a wealthy nation if we continue producing generations of emotionally impoverished thinkers?

A child does not need to inherit a parent's hatred.

A child does not need to carry the consequences of a grandparent's prejudice.

A child does not need to enter adulthood believing their potential has already been determined by race, social status, or the failures of their family.

But children cannot break cycles they have never been taught to recognize.

That is why education must involve more than memorizing historical dates or preparing for standardized examinations.

We must teach our children how to reason.

How to challenge destructive beliefs.

How to resolve conflict without surrendering their humanity.

How to take ownership of their decisions.

How to understand history without becoming prisoners of it.

And most importantly, how to recognize that the person standing across from them is another human being whose dignity does not depend upon agreement, appearance, or cultural background.

If we want a different tomorrow, we must begin teaching a different mentality today.

PARENTS, YOU CANNOT KEEP PASSING DOWN BROKEN LEGACIES

I want to speak directly to parents.

At some point, we must stop using the mistakes of previous generations as permission to repeat them.

Yes, some of us inherited difficult circumstances.

Yes, some of us grew up surrounded by prejudice, poverty, conflict, broken relationships, and destructive examples of leadership.

Some of us were taught to distrust people before we ever had an opportunity to know them.

Others inherited silence, resentment, and emotional wounds that became part of their understanding of family.

But there comes a moment when we have to decide whether those experiences will continue controlling the direction of our lives.

Your parents may have handed you a broken legacy. That does not mean you are obligated to hand the same broken legacy to your children.

You can acknowledge what happened without continuing to participate in it.

You can honor your history without allowing it to dictate your future.

You can love your parents and still recognize that some of what they taught you needs to end with you.

And you can raise children who are stronger, wiser, more compassionate, and better equipped to face society than you were at their age.

But none of that happens automatically.

It requires accountability.

It requires sacrifice.

It requires the courage to admit that some of the beliefs we have defended for years may have been wrong.

And that is where many adults struggle.

They want change without examination.

They want respect without responsibility.

They want their children to become better people while refusing to confront the behavior their children are learning from them.

That is not leadership.

That is hypocrisy.

THE THINKER MUST RISE ABOVE THE COMPLAINER

This is one of the reasons I created The THINKER Method™.

Not because I believe I possess every answer.

I don't.

And certainly not because I believe I have never made mistakes.

I have.

But I believe human beings possess the capacity to recognize destructive patterns, examine their decisions, and develop a more responsible way of thinking.

The Complainer identifies everything wrong with the world while often refusing to examine the role personal choices play in sustaining those problems.

The Thinker recognizes the problem, confronts uncomfortable realities, and begins asking what can be done differently.

And here is something important.

There is a Complainer and a Thinker within the walls of every human being.

Neither exists exclusively within one race, religion, or social class.

Every one of us possesses the capacity to become consumed by resentment.

And every one of us possesses the capacity to examine that resentment and choose a different response.

The question is not whether you have ever complained.

The question is whether complaining has become more important to you than thinking.

Can you acknowledge injustice without becoming consumed by hatred?

Can you recognize your own suffering without dismissing someone else's?

Can you celebrate your culture without degrading another?

Can you recognize the mistakes of your parents without allowing those mistakes to become the foundation of your children's future?

Can you admit that a belief you have defended for decades may need to change?

Because real transformation begins when the individual stops demanding that everyone else change while refusing to examine themselves.

Stop complaining. Start thinking.™

And understand that thinking requires something that prejudice cannot survive:

The willingness to question what you have always believed.

TWO SIDES TO A COIN. ONE HUMANITY.

There are two sides to a coin.

There are different perspectives, different experiences, different histories, and different ways of understanding the world.

America is made up of many cultures, and the world extends far beyond the experiences of Black and white Americans.

Every culture has a history.

Every community carries traditions.

Every generation inherits both accomplishments and mistakes.

And no single group possesses exclusive ownership of suffering, wisdom, or human dignity.

Recognizing that reality does not require us to pretend every group has experienced the same historical circumstances.

They haven't.

It does require us to recognize that pain cannot be the only inheritance we leave behind.

The objective should never be to erase our differences.

The objective should be to ensure those differences no longer determine whose humanity deserves protection.

You do not have to abandon your culture to respect mine.

I do not have to surrender my identity to acknowledge yours.

Our children should be able to embrace the fullness of who they are without being pressured to choose which part of their heritage society will allow them to celebrate.

And no individual should have to prove their humanity to someone who has confused personal prejudice with moral authority.

I AM NOT HERE TO MAKE EVERYONE COMFORTABLE

Let me close with this.

I am a Black man.

I am a father.

I am a writer.

I am a man of faith.

I am someone who has experienced setbacks, witnessed human suffering, made mistakes, learned difficult lessons, and continued searching for a greater understanding of the world around me.

I do not claim perfection.

And I certainly do not claim to speak for every Black man, every interracial family, or every person who has experienced discrimination.

I speak from my own experiences, convictions, and observations.

Some people will agree with me.

Some will disagree.

Some may decide they no longer want to associate with me because of what I have written.

That is their decision.

I would rather lose the approval of people who are offended by accountability than surrender my convictions to preserve their comfort.

I am tired of watching people who understand suffering become indifferent to the suffering of others.

I am tired of watching adults defend destructive behavior while expecting their children to somehow develop better judgment.

I am tired of hearing people celebrate freedom while quietly maintaining attitudes that deny others the dignity they demand for themselves.

And I am tired of a society that seems more interested in protecting its ego than examining its conscience.

We have accomplished extraordinary things as a nation.

But technological advancement is not the same as moral advancement.

Financial prosperity is not the same as spiritual maturity.

And political freedom means very little if we continue teaching our children to become prisoners of prejudice.

God gave humanity the capacity to think.

To reason.

To love.

To examine.

To choose.

And perhaps one of our greatest failures is that we have spent so much time defending the divisions we inherited that we have forgotten the responsibility that comes with possessing those abilities.

The question is no longer whether America has the capacity to change.

History has already answered that.

The question is whether we have the courage to change what legislation alone cannot reach.

Our hearts.

Our minds.

Our homes.

Our leadership.

And the legacies we leave behind.

Because the next generation should not have to spend its lifetime fighting the same battles that previous generations possessed the opportunity to end.

So I leave America with one final question.

If our children must inherit the future we are creating today, what exactly are we preparing them to inherit?

More division?

More resentment?

More excuses?

More carefully disguised discrimination?

Or a society in which accountability, education, compassion, faith, and independent thinking finally become stronger than the prejudices we have allowed to survive?

The decision belongs to us.

And this time, we cannot blame the children for the consequences of what we refuse to change.

OPEN YOUR EYES, AMERICA!

We have changed the laws.

NOW IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE MINDS.

 

James W. Jenkins
Award-Winning Author & Creator of The THINKER Method™

Transform minds. Build leaders. Create legacies.™

The THINKER Method™
www.thethinkermethod.org

An independent editorial reflecting the author's personal experiences, spiritual convictions, and perspectives on humanity, racial equality, education, leadership, and generational change.