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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Pay the paver sooner, or pay more later ... City doesn't endorse company's testing offer ... 'River Bride' a deep dive into longing, love and loss ... Pay the paver sooner, or pay more later ... City doesn't endorse company's testing offer ... 'River Bride' a deep dive into longing, love and loss ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: Facing our demons Comment By Ron Hertz DailyTidings.com By Ron Hertz Posted Aug. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Ron Hertz Posted Aug. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News After the gruesome recent tragedy in Charleston, S.C., people seemed to finally recognize the racist symbolism of the Confederate flag, demanding its removal from prominent public display. For those of us long fed up with racism, the question remains: Why did such an epiphany take so long? How could we for so long fail to understand the flag’s message of hate and injustice? Surely most Americans — even ones who insisted the Southern flag was a symbol of historical pride, not racism — would find offense in the flying of a Nazi flag by contemporary Germans. Is the swastika, with its implications about the Jewish “problem” and “final solution,” any more disgusting or immoral than the Confederate flag with its implicit justification of slavery, the Southern cause in the Civil War? Maybe some of the pain and drama over removing the Confederate flag results from our denial of lingering American racism. Even our Supreme Court suggested we’ve moved beyond racism when last year the justices removed federal protections guaranteed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Perhaps the black-robed men didn’t notice that our first black president received only 10 percent of the white vote in the Deep South or that the number of white-power hate groups has grown exponentially since his election. It’s not easy to face our demons, whether we’re speaking of our personal ones or those that plague our nation. Although its horrors were inflicted by many other light-skinned, Christian peoples, racism was our country’s deepest original sin. Even though it took its cruelest form in the South, where enslaved blacks counted as three-fifths of a person, the entire nation, North and South, regarded brown-skinned “heathen” native peoples as part of the natural environment, not worthy of voting, owning land or counting as even one-fifth of a person. If we reflect on our recent endeavors in the Muslim-dominated Middle East, we see that our inclination to invade and rule over darker-skinned non-Christians persists today despite our general failure to recognize any racist or xenophobic patterns in our behavior. It is not without cause that we’ve been called “the United States of amnesia.” Thankfully, we do move forward occasionally, progressing along that arc of history that bends toward justice. We pass a Voting Rights Act, end an unjust war, or move toward greater gender equality or more equality for those with different gender preferences. We open more widely our eyes and our compassion. This beautiful concept of waking up to an expanded, more enlightened outlook forms the core message celebrated in the cathartic hymn “Amazing Grace.” When President Obama spontaneously sang from that song in his amazing Charleston eulogy, the effect was profound. A man plagued by insidious enmity and fatuous claims that he’s secretly a socialist and a Muslim born in Kenya, our first black president sang of spiritual transformation in a church where a hate-crazed, Confederate flag-loving young white had just murdered nine blacks studying the Bible together. After the President in his solid baritone voice shared the immortal lyrics written by the veteran slave-trader who himself had just awakened — some long-overdue realizations may have touched some race-scarred hearts. Justifications diminished and the Confederate flag was removed from its hallowed Charleston location and from many other places as well. Moral truth gained strength over stubborn denial: “I once was lost, but now I’m found — was blind, but now I see.” Like needless war, our other most destructive national nemesis, racism must be clearly acknowledged before it can be overcome. Ron Hertz lives in Ashland. By Ron Hertz DailyTidings.com By Ron Hertz Posted Aug. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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