How Dallas Can Model a New Approach to Race Relations

Micah Johnson offered humanity's most violent argument, the killing of the innocent, in defense of his political beliefs. He killed five white police officers in Dallas on July 7, 2016. Johnson's nihilistic actions were an extension of militaristic visions of separatism that haunt white, black and, frankly, all ethnic communities intimidated by the human problem of racism. The sacrifice of Dallas police officer lives at a non-violent protest regarding police brutality against blacks was a powerful symbol of the forces shaping America today on the important question of racism.The primal forces shaping our national debate on racism are traceable to a Texan who effectively bridged the racial divide we seek to cross again in 2017. James Farmer Jr., the Great Debater, born in Marshall in 1920, effectively defeated the profound political demon of racial segregation between the years of 1942 and 1967.   Continue reading...