Tuesday, Lafayette, Indiana

It was 140 years ago today that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was made into law. Along with the thirteenth and fifteenth amendments, this most famous constitutional provision came about in the aftermath of the Civil War designed to rectify the scourge of slavery. It required every state to guarantee equal protection to everyone regardless of their race or other bases for arbitrary discrimination “under the law.” And although it would take almost a full century to be fully implemented, it did finally put teeth into the effort to rid the legal system of openly racist practices.

Now many question how effective we have been as a government and society in actually overcoming the immorality of racial prejudice. Fair enough. But there is no question that the system is more effective in redressing the wrongs done to people of color than they were just a few decades ago. But listening to the testimony of black and Hispanic people, it is obvious that they are often still the target of the ignorance of racial hatred.

And of course this is an embarrassment about our society that too many people seem to be unable to distinguish between people of good will, regardless of their color and those who assault society. I have very little patience for those who cannot distinguish between an engaged citizen, who happens to be a person of color, and the antisocial morons who chronically make life difficult for all of the people around them, who occupy an inordinate amount of attention from the police. White or black, I have little tolerance for the antisocial.

But I also have lost patience with those who seem to be so ignorant that they cannot distinguish between antisocial personalities, white or not white, and those who are engaged citizens. As we approach this year’s presidential election, if you cannot distinguish between that character of people like Colin Powell,Michael Jordan, Condoleezza Rice or Barack Obama and your stereotyped image of a criminal, urban gang banger who happens to share their skin color, in my opinion, you are too dumb to vote. And it is in fact ignoramuses such as these that give rise to the need for a 14th Amendment in the first place.

God save us from the stupid.