On Thursday, F. Michael Higginbotham, the Wilson H. Elkins professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, visited the Snite Museum of Art to deliver a lecture titled "Ending Racism in a Post Racial America."
The lecture, part of the Multicultural Student Programs and Services (MSPS) 2013-2014 Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) lecture series, was based on Higginbotham's most recent book, "Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism In Post-Racial America."
"I'm here to talk about another American tradition, and that is the tradition of the pursuit of racial equality in this country," Higginbotham said. "... It is difficult to discuss racial issues today, especially across racial or ideological lines. I feel so lucky that I'm able to teach courses and attend conferences and attend lectures like this one so we can talk about this in a way that benefits our democracy rather than undermines it."
Higginbotham said the nation has made progress in regards to inequality, but cited Lyndon B. Johnson's famous "We Shall Overcome" speech, to acknowledge the changes that still need to be accomplished.
"In my view, in many ways, as a nation, we have overcome ... these are monumental developments in the American story of the pursuit of racial development," Higginbotham said. "But don't get confused; progress does not mean post-racial."
Though Higginbotham argued that progress has indeed been made, he said the fight for equality is not over.
"If you look at the socioeconomic index, under any category," he said, "between blacks and whites you will see huge disparities ... the statistics are alarming. ... in America if you're black you're more likely to be impoverished, underrepresented politically, die prematurely and be undereducated."
Higginbotham proposed the following three steps to improve racial disparities: recognition of existing racism, empowerment of racial minorities and the elimination of disparities in education, jobs and businesses and the criminal justice system.
"The eye cannot see what the brain cannot comprehend," Higginbotham said. "And once we understand [that notion], we have to empower people."
To do so, Higginbotham said he supports the President Obama's proposed American Jobs Act, and would support similarly minded legislation for education and the criminal justice system.
"Too many of us - particularly our black youth - see limited options and as a result turn to drugs, gangs, crime and hopelessness," Higginbotham said. "We as a society dedicated to equality for all owe these people much, much more."
He said he knows many Americans are tired of talking about race, but he said he hopes people will join the conversation and work towards equality.
"Each one of us has a role in building a bridge to the post-racial America," Higginbotham said. "Don't give up on your children ... 50 years ago Langston Hughes wrote a poem which finishes with the unifying words 'This dream today embattled, with its back against the wall, to save the dream for one, it must be saved for all.'"
Contact Margaret Hynds at mhynds@nd.edu
