The backlash of unrest on our city streets exposes two unresolved problems. The first is the immediate issue, which is an egregious absence, or at the very least, a massive delay of legal justice when it comes to felonies committed by white law enforcement against black people.
The second, deeper dilemma is a centuries-long illusion of white supremacy that began with slavery and went so far as to be codified through interpretations of the Bible. When the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, this superiority complex found a new home in the form of Jim Crow laws, which sanctioned segregation, prevented black Americans from voting, and widened the poverty gap.
Despite noble efforts by some lawmakers to extinguish the discriminatory practices, they continue to operate de facto today. To practice the equality written in our Constitution over two centuries ago, our leaders — both political and religious — need to put an end to the blatant acts of injustice, reject the pretense of racial superiority and recognize a true sense of brotherhood and sisterhood in our nation.
In an address in 2012 to congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, the head of my Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, his Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, offered hope with the words, “the United States, as the world’s largest power, should play its role in acting with true justice … . If it does so, then the world will always remember with great admiration your great efforts.”
If we do not adopt justice, I fear that we will not have moved past a terrible Civil War.
Sohail Husain, M.D.
Mountain View, Calif.
The writer is a former Indiana Township resident.