Racism continues

(Left and below) The grave of James Byrd, Jr., a dragging death victim, has a fence around it in Jasper on Tuesday, April 26, 2005. The fence was installed after vandals violated the grave a year ago.

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise




Yesterday, I said I didn't think the Lamar University fund raiser was sensitive enough about costumes and song selections. I also mentioned my hesitancy about posting the Civil War reenactment group's Memorial Day activities. This created some debate in the comment section of the post. This is good.

Today, I wanted to show y'all how serious racism is in this area. There is no need for racism, jingoism, fanaticism or monopolism. The reflectivity of someone's skin has nothing to do with the person's honor. Where a person was born has nothing to do with what the person can achieve, nor how they can help all of us. Religious zealotry isn't proof of piety or righteousness. Income doesn't determine value.

As long as some judge others by their appearance, place of origin, house of worship or bank statement rather than their deeds, then humankind cannot advance.

Every person has something to contribute to humankind as a whole. PJs contribute art, knowledge, humor and hold up humankind's failures for examination. Racism is one such failure. It is not a one-way street either.

As our society becomes more globalized, it also appears to become more self-protective and greedy. While some level of self-protection and friendly competition is valid, it's illogical to store the wheat while the field goes fallow. Nor does it make sense to starve the many so the few eat well.

I don't advocate communism, socialism or any other radical agenda. I'm simply saying we must all sew the seeds of honor and reap the benefits together. Creating illusionary us vs. them situations to shift blame isn't constructive. It's destructive and needs to stop.

We must all accept responsibility for our actions. We must also try to correct problems within our society. This means we must also hold others accountable for their actions through our images.

I've been dumbfounded in recent years by the tragic repercussions of our failure to speak against, understand or even acknowledge historical failures. The problems we now face have been resolved before. Must we allow others to lead us down the path of failure again?

All the answers are contained within history books. Possibly racism is problematic to only this small region. However, I suspect it is not. I see a strong push across the planet toward several self-destructive avenues: racism, jingoism, religious fanaticism and monopolism are all roads to separation and alienation. I believe we, as photojournalists, must document – at the least – the futility of these actions. We must also document those rare, honorable few who are willing to cling to the belief that we must help each other.

None of us got into this field because we wanted to get rich. We sweat and bleed and burn and some even die to make the world a better place for everyone. Somehow, the visual priority has shifted to the easy targets. It's much easier to show starvation in Africa, dangerous religious exuberance in Palestine, corrosive nationalism in Korea or outright greed in Columbia than it is to show it in a PJ's hometown. It's much easier to show the practiced smiles of actors and socialites than it is to show the quiet honor of a person hard at work.

I challenge you, as photojournalists, to stop taking the easy route. I challenge you to create a dialog with your readers about the problems surfacing in your community before it's too late. When you can do something to prevent a tragedy, do it. When you can't, document it. Otherwise, we are doomed to relive history's failures again.

Enough for now,