There are no race problems, and no races, among the people on 24th-century earth. People are all, simply, humans.
People are still different physically, and there are references that connote other differences among humans -- for example, Captain Picard is a Frenchman; Commander LeForge is black; Commander Chichote is descended from Native American Indians. From time to time, human characters engage in some ritual or practice, or make some allusion, that honors a person's unique ancestral legacy or tradition. Even then, however, they are all one race, simply humans from the planet earth, a part of the Federation of Planets.
Such racial harmony -- actually, it was more like racial inconsequence -- is inspirational for any rational human being. It is also, unfortunately, the stuff of science fiction in the last decade of the 20th century. While that depresses me, it also inspires me to renounce the divisiveness among racial and ethnic groups that is expanding rather than receding.
Atlanta's emergence as the center of the New South was built on the foundation initially proclaimed by former Mayor William B. Hartsfield. Mayor Hartsfield insisted that Atlanta was a city too busy to hate. Other civic leaders, black and white, lent their support to his bold proclamation.
The mantle of Atlanta as a city too busy to hate served us well during that critical period of evolving race relations. Now, however, it is not enough to be too busy to hate. We must make the time, and expend the effort, to touch directly, in personal and social ways, those "other" races and persons who are different from us; to introduce, at least initially, discomfort and unease to our traditional circles of personal interactions. We must make the time to work for racial inconsequence, to work on that level of personal and social interactions that ultimately defines the community of human beings.
The issue of race relations as it confronts us on the verge of the 21st century is difficult. Let us not deceive ourselves about that.
The physiological immutability of racial identity means that race is always in front of us, proclaiming a difference between us. That unavoidable physical phenomenon has led us to treat race itself as an unavoidable and often determinative factor in how we relate to each other. Why?
We are uncomfortable and uneasy with persons, things or ideas that are unfamiliar to us or that we perceive as being different from us or from what we customarily do or think. Our discomfort and unease, if left unattended, lead to suspicion and distrust, and ultimately may lead to resentment or even hatred. Our discomfort and unease will only be altered by the familiarity that comes from personal and social interactions.
I remember thinking -- both as a lawyer and a citizen -- when reading recent Supreme Court decisions ostensibly based on the color-blindness of our Constitution, that there is no such thing as color-blindness. We see color and other physiological differences that define race in this age. We cannot pretend they do not exist. We can only work to eradicate their significance and consequence for our personal and social interactions as a single race of humans.
The race issue remains so difficult for us because the fundamental problem it poses, and the solutions to it, comprise a paradox. We must confront and defeat the very discomfort and unease that is the problem we prefer to avoid.
When we put aside history and the numerous socio-economic consequences of racial discrimination in our society, and confront the pure issue of race relations at the fundamental level of personal and social human interaction, we are left with the fact that improving race relations in this era requires conscious initiatives, effort and work.
The implications of our failure to do so should be obvious. They include continuing, if not increasing, levels of distrust, suspicion and resentment for those who appear different from us. That failure ultimately will threaten our ability to survive very far into the 21st century, let alone reach the 24th century.
It may be hyperbole to say that race relations are at an all time low in Atlanta or across the country. But, it is not an exaggeration to point out that they are extremely low, much too low in light of the dangerous implications.
Talking about those implications is easy; warning about the derivative dangers is easier still. Even easier is the failure to have a vision for how things might be improved. The easiest of all are the malicious and opportunistic practices of catering to one group over another, or suggesting that problems being experienced by one group are the fault of some other, in order to advance some self-interested agenda.
I prefer to work for the "Next Generation" of humans -- to make race inconsequential to personal and social interactions. And that is my challenge to each person who believes with me that race relations must improve.
Marvin Arrington is a trustee of the University and a 1967 alumnus of the law school. He is also president of Atlanta City Council.