By MARK GILCHRIST

Three good rules about newspaper commentary are; avoid the obvious, don’t annoy everybody at once, and stay away from religion. I’m about to trip over all three.

The point I’m about to make is so obvious it hardly needs making, but it has been like the elephant in the church, so to speak. The problem is race, and segregation of races in one place in particular that we just can’t seem to – we really don’t seem to want to – straighten out.

After centuries of domination of one race over another here in America (and much longer around the world), we have been struggling for the past few decades to really get things right.

We made progress in the mid-1800s when we, at least on the books, made it illegal for one man to own another.
A century later, our governments improved our society further as they began requiring that people of all races have equal opportunities in employment, education, housing and the military.

Even with the clarity of retrospect, this movement makes great sense, both socially and economically – but enough with history, for I am confounded with the present and with the frustrating understanding that, after decades of vigorous marches for civil rights, that two centuries after our nation’s founders declared “all men are created equal,” we still live in a society where a person, for the most part, chooses between attending a “black” church or a “white” church.

Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham have been known for saying, “Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.” They said this a half-century ago, so why is it still so true today?

I hear there is no racism in churches, that we just have a self-imposed segregation of two groups of people who practice religion differently. I get it. But those groups happen to be of the two races with a strong and lasting conflict.

We can legislate equality only so far. We can insist on equal opportunities all week long, but then on Sunday we divide into our two groups and reinforce the notion that we are all different.

Am I overestimating the influence church environments can have in our communities? I don’t think so.

This can be very powerful, and not only socially, but in business and civics. How many people are hired, promoted or given favors because of relationships that begin in the pew?

Is attending the churches that have greater connections just another advantage that white people enjoy? If so, why are black people so content, even diligent, about keeping it that way?

I’m not saying at all that secret deals are made in churches, but the effects are finer than that.

We are at the point in the civil rights movement where we are studying the nuances of racism.

A recent national study has shown that black students are often treated more harshly by white teachers for infractions than are white students – would this happen as much if those black students shared pews, or churches, with those white teachers? Would black teachers treat white students differently?

Teachers, administrators, law enforcement officers, district attorneys, even newspaper reporters, would easily deny this, insisting that they are color blind, and I’d like to think we all are.

But watching the situation in Jena, Louisiana reveals we are not always the people we like to think we are.

This self-imposed segregation affects people on an even deeper level. A young black child asks his parent; “Are we all created equal?” The parent answers yes. Then they leave their church and walk past a white church. “Can I go to that church?” the child asks.

Now, in many ways, the answer is yes, that church is for anybody.

We have made great progress in that the black child would not be thrown out, abused or even threatened if he walks into a white church. But if he does, he could break the comfort zone of some people, including himself, and I don’t know how we’ll ever get past that.

We are well beyond the point of discouraging racial integration in churches, but are we at the point of encouraging it?
Realistically, the mother would likely say “no, that church is for white people,” whether that is true, or – as important – just her impression.

My point is, our society will never be fully integrated, and we will all never be completely free, until we pass this speed bump on our march for civil rights.

I’m compelled to note here that I do not belong to a church. You might think that this should require me to shut the heck up about this subject, but sometimes issues like this are best viewed from the outside – it’s been said that reporters “can’t be in the parade and report on it.”

But my nonparticipation does stop me at another good rule in commentary; to offer solutions with the issues you discuss. I’ll remain in a community where everybody wants equality, but can’t seem to figure out how to fully reach it.