TERRE HAUTE —
As the years pass, America becomes more vulnerable to complacency about the quest for racial equality in the land, epitomized through the work of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
People start questioning the 21st-century relevance of civil rights-era laws, community awareness efforts and diversity programs. They assume the words that Thomas Jefferson wrote and King famously repeated — that “all men are created equal” — are now structurally embedded in our democratic society, and that the quest is complete, at least as much as humanly possible.
Yet, if Americans look honestly at the culture, there is plenty of evidence that the struggle “to form a more perfect union” needs to press on, even as a unique confluence occurs. The second inauguration of the country’s first black president, Barack Obama, coincides with Monday’s 28th observance of the Martin Luther King national holiday. Indeed, it will be a landmark moment, exemplifying the progress made since the protest marches King led in the 1950s and ’60s. Still, some hurdles have not been cleared.
Consider one of King’s most challenging quotations: “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o’clock on Sunday morning.”
A 2010 study at Baylor University concluded that nine out of 10 congregations in the U.S. continue to have one racial group that accounts for 80 percent or more of the church’s members. The researchers’ work, entitled “Race, Diversity and Membership Duration in Religious Congregations,” was published in an academic journal, Sociological Inquiry, and cited in an Associated Baptist Press report that year.
The study found several reasons behind the lack of diversity, drawn from a survey of more than 100,000 worshippers from 400 congregations and more than 50 faith groups, the Baptist Press stated. Racial animosity is not a primary cause, the Baylor researchers said. Instead, habit and familiarity — or the lack thereof — prompts the under-represented racial group to leave or not join a congregation. “People choose churches where they feel comfortable,” Kevin Dougherty, assistant professor of sociology at Baylor, told the Baptist Press in 2010. “Maybe they get challenged there, but they’re going for comfort.” As a result, other institutions such as schools, the armed services and workplaces, are more diverse.
Churches and worship places have not ignored the situation, and Terre Haute area congregations in particular have coordinated efforts to encourage diversity in their memberships. But, as the Baylor statistics show, the job is not finished. And, it is not alone the burden of religious bodies.
On this weekend when the United States of America honors King’s memory and marks the historic inauguration of President Obama, we should all reflect on the extent of our progress in embracing people of all races in all of our institutions, from social groups to trade organizations, golf leagues and service clubs.
The nation has advanced, but should not slow or pause its steps forward toward full realization of King’s dream.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: No pause in quest to realize King’s dream
Progress has been made, but we have far to go
- Editorials
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The celebration season
Spring has been a bit elusive at times in 2013, which is its nature.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: MVC tourney an event worth having
It’s been a long time since the Missouri Valley Conference chose Indiana State University to host its post-season baseball tournament, but Terre Haute had never been more prepared for an event such as this.
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EDITORIAL: Cleaning up voter rolls
It’s not a lot of money in the big scheme of things, but the $2 million designated in the recent session of the General Assembly will begin the messy but necessary process of cleaning up Indiana’s voter registration rolls.
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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