People of faith, and actually some others, believe that we, and that means everybody, are created in the image and likeness of God. Our country was founded on that premise, which in those days of government-speak meant male, White property owners. Not a great start, but it does get better after centuries of war and work. Here is a statement, along with a pocket copy of the Constitution, that I carry in my purse.
It is extraordinary how much a small facet of our composition is given so much importance. People act as if skin color is a determinant of character when all it is is a reaction to sunlight. Biologically, there is actually no such thing as race —nothing in terms of skin color, facial features, hair type, bone structure or anything else that is a defining quality among peoples. And yet look at how many people have been enslaved or hated or lynched or deprived of fundamental rights through history because of the color of their skin.
Source: Nina Jablonski, quoted in “The Body” by Bill Bryson, page 14. Why skin? Because it is so easy to identify, along with gender. No wasted time here.
One of my most life-changing experiences was participation in a three-day gut-wrenching group exercise in learning about our active and visible role as oppressor of Black Americans directed by C.T. Vivian, a disciple of Martin Luther King. The group, many of whom you may know or have heard of, including a former publisher of this newspaper, were skillfully shown how we were an active, major part of our race problem in America. By lunch on the first day there was not a dry eye in the group. The reason? Mine was that I discovered that we were suckers that believed all the palaver, and hurt people and our nation cruelly in the process.
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Cotton is a really excellent fabric. However, in the beginning it was not cost effective to produce. Grueling to harvest in a hot climate, tough to ship, it depleted the soil. Cotton grew well in the south, it improved our trade balance, but how could it ever compete with linen and flax in Europe, and even Chinese silks in their luxurious beauty? Cotton became competitive by eliminating one of the most expensive inputs, labor. Wealth became the driver of what ultimately became “Strange Fruit,” Billie Holiday’s description of lynchings in the South, a climate of fear. This from a nation who believes all people are created in God’s image.
Although I am an American business type who believes in free trade, limited government industrial policy with a strong and fair judicial system to protect technology under patent law, I believe most that our country should protect its people. It needs to help those who need a hand up. It needs to help me. I love flushing the toilet and not have to worry about the consequences. As a former mayor, I hate that local government is being squeezed. Remember when our former governor Bob Ray grounded the National Guard because the feds were not paying Iowa citizens for damages? We loved it.
I don’t believe that you can divide a country into people of two simplistic philosophies. That is a mean trick to divide and conquer. I don’t believe in a country that uses our proud military — whom the taxpayers fund, incidentally — to control our own citizens. I don’t believe that masked, unidentified, ununiformed men should be hauling away those easily identified people of color, those children created in the image of God. I hate it that our second-largest city, the world’s fifth-largest economy, has been portrayed as a city of riots. I remember when it was, and believe me, these peaceful protests are not riots.
Guess what: Videos of disappearing people don’t lie. Millions of people demanding “no kings” is significant. Yelling obscenities from your lawn is not appropriate behavior for anyone. Our military just performed an amazing feat under the direction of our president, the significance of which, as always, will not be known until it is properly reviewed by the eyes of history. Under that same review, Operation Warp Speed, ordered by the same president, saved countless lives during the pandemic. One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.
Myrt Levin lives in Des Moines. She has retired as the founding executive director of the Iowa Business Council and is a former mayor of Newton.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: We can reject the artificial classifications that rend our country | Opinion
Reporting by Myrt Levin / Des Moines Register
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