I'll never understand bigotry

     This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and 2015 will remind us of the
passage of the Voting Rights Act. These two federal mandates reaffirmed 2 of this nation's most fundamental rights. But it literally took an "act of Congress" to establish the civil and voting rights for those being discriminated against in this nation of "equal opportunity."  With the US Constitution on the books since 1789 and bolstered by its twenty-seven amendments, why such Congressional action had to be taken in the first place is still a mystery to me.

     The 1960s were speeding along with the civil rights movement. Names like Roy Wilkins, George Wallace, the 16th Street Baptist Church, Selma, Lester Maddox, Martin Luther King, James Meredith, Watts and the Freedom Riders, became familiar, garnering media coverage virtually everyday. If you didn't know what was going on, you were a hermit, lived on another planet or were dead.

     Over time, it became less clear why not only white supremacists like the Ku Klux Klan but the everyday Joe had embraced not only illegal but morally un-American views. Backed by bloody violence, these people had found it not only unreasonable but impossible to share restrooms, lunch counters, buses, schools...water fountains...with American citizens of a different skin tone.  I may be naive, but why such unholy convictions were allowed to stain this nation's history in the first place is still a mystery to me. 

     For too long, Constitutional amendments and acts, owning businesses, paying taxes, dying in wars for a nation that has its roots in the concepts of " life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and "equal justice under the law" just haven't been enough. And America should have a heavy heart because of that injustice.

     In general, those views still infect this nation. Being, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or of the "wrong color" or ethnic background still warrants risk to life and limb. Moreover, being a "foreigner" has always been a favorite excuse for extremists to cheat, threaten and kill in the United States of America. 

     My grandfather was 16 when he emigrated from Europe, "the old country." Grandpa entered this country through Ellis Island in 1909, eventually putting down roots near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the Great Depression he worked hard to provide for his family. 

     One night, his eldest daughter witnessed men dressed all in white as they paid the family a visit. Her father was informed that, as a "foreigner", he was not welcome, The men then proceeded to burn a cross and set off a blast of dynamite to drive home their point. Grandpa was a stubborn Serbian. He defied the threat and stayed. 

     But the irony is that all who have such bitterness and hatred for those from other lands or different backgrounds didn't actually arrive here by spontaneous generation. With the exception of the Seminole, Apache, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Lakota and the more than 500 hundred other Native American tribes who have lived in...and died...for this country, all of this nation's ancestors have come from somewhere else. There are no exceptions.

     Robert E. Lee 'Bob' Ewell of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the ugly face, the vile heart of hatred and bigotry. He's as poor as poor can be, with barely a nickle in the pocket of his faded overall's...but he's white. In his eyes and those of a Southern white jury, that makes him better...superior... and more worthy than defendant Tom Robinson...because he's black. 

     Wake up America and look around you. This is the 21st century. That divisive, disparaging "I'm better than you" attitude hasn't really changed a whole heck of a lot, now has it? And why this is so is still a mystery to me.

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