Article November 1, 2013

Erasing the color line

Originally published in the February 6, 1978 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

In parts of Asia and Africa, as well as ghetto areas in the United States, a white man is a stranger rarely to be trusted. In other nations and neighborhoods, the black- or brown-skinned man is mentally cordoned off as inferior and threatening.

Such perceptions, and the resentment they often lead to, have shaken and agonized human society throughout much of the history. But today, particularly, there’s an outcry against the evils of prejudice. Human rights has become a political and diplomatic rallying call. The question, however, remains: Can new laws or enlightened diplomacy by themselves free humanity from racial hatred, from destructive, unjust views of man?

Send a comment to the editors