Guest Writer Spotlight: Skin Color is a Learned Difference – by Robert Socha
Guest Writer Spotlight: Skin Color Is A Learned Difference – By Robert Socha
“Neither law, learning, nor religion, is addressed to any man’s color or race. Science, education, the Word of God, and all the virtues known among men, are recommended to us, not as races, but as men. We are not recommended to love or hate any particular variety of the human family more than any other. Not as Ethiopeans; not as Caucasians; not as Mongolians; not as Afro-Americans, or Anglo-Americans, are we addressed, but as men. God and nature speak to our manhood, and to our manhood alone. Here all ideas of duty and moral obligation are predicated.” (1)
A great man made this statement during a speech at Hillsdale College on January 21, 1863. He was a staunch abolitionist, having escaped the chains of slavery and begun his life’s work in 1838. He knew of the moral failings of our Founding Fathers, but also their moral courage in creating the documents he exhorted all American’s to emulate.
I do not excuse apartheid’s implementation in South Africa. On the contrary, I believe it to have been a gross injustice and aberration to the Christian Faith, the men who ran the country espoused to follow. I pity the men who suffered under its enforcement and the enforcers themselves. This stain on human history is a terrible reminder of the depths of depravity man will fall to control another. However, the history of its beginnings is more complicated than the simplistic view that inherently racist white men viciously conquered the nation and implemented the scourge upon its native populations. Unfortunately, this view matriculated across the pond castigating all those of European heritage as such. One of the most perplexing anomalies is the self-deprecating language of the leadership in the West.
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Where are the men courageous enough to speak to the things that unify us as human beings? Presently, they are shunned from the public forum, castigated as misanthropists. I remember when President Trump was criticized as a disingenuous hack when he dared to say, “we all bleed the same red blood of patriots…” In a dark stain on our nation’s character, we have devolved to post “Brown vs. Board” (2) segregation (3). In this there is no honor.
The idea that systemic racism exists and is inherent in lighter skin tones is anathema toward our founding charter and the character of most Americans of any heritage. Furthermore, the constant churn maligning the majority population within our borders as intrinsically racist should offend the moral compass of every American as it does mine. American companies engaging practices against whites (4), movie producers stating (5) they would not cast a white person for a role, and politicians saying (6) whites cannot interview them for a particular issue, reeks of discrimination that men bled and died to overturn.
This continual drumbeat perpetuating a color-based divide in the United States is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The animosity exists because the culture bombards its existence. However, suppose the language reflects our similarities and the fact that we all descended from one man. In that case, it will usher in healing and restoring the unity we should all embrace as Americans; one race.
“From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth…” Acts 17:26a
We are all “sons of Adam, daughters of Eve.” (C.S. Lewis) We are all created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We should embrace our similarities: life in the blood, necessary nourishment, water, breath, one heart, two lungs, eyes, hands, feet, etcetera, and a brain that will unlock the mysteries of the peanut if we will simply put it to good use.
“Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough.”
― George Washington Carver
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Let us endeavor to embrace this greater love that does not seek to divide between ethnic lines but looks to lay down its life for the other. We will all be held to account for our actions in this life one day. It is my constant endeavor to breed e pluribus unim, “and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes” (from Revelation 7:9).
The man who declared the opening statement is Frederick Douglas, and his inspirational life is immortalized in bronze at Hillsdale College’s Liberty Walk (7). His life inspires me. And the beauty of the statue is its ethnic ambiguity.
- https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/blessings-of-liberty-and-education/
- https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment
- https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/american-colleges-segregated-housing-graduation-ceremonies/
- https://greatamericanpolitics.com/2021/02/coca-cola-forcing-employees-to-denounce-white-people-or-be-fired/
- https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/07/12/insiders-warn-wave-of-anti-white-reverse-racism-is-toxic-in-hollywood-everyones-paralyzed-with-fear-945779/
- https://nypost.com/2021/05/19/chicagos-mayor-refuses-to-give-interviews-to-white-reporters/
- https://www.hillsdale.edu/frederick-douglass/
Robert Socha (so-ha), was born in southern California. He served 5 years 3 months active duty in the United States Air Force; honorably. After his service he took an Associate’s Degree in Practical Theology, where, through his studies, developed a deep love of God and Country and sincere appreciation of the value of Liberty. Robert and his beloved wife of 20 years are raising 4 beautiful Texan children. They moved to Hillsdale, Michigan, in 2013, to put their children in Hillsdale Academy. For almost 5 years he has worked in sales. He and his wife consider Michigan a hidden gem, and absolutely love this city and state they’ve adopted.
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Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.