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We live in a nation, the very founding documents of which assure freedom of thought and expression. As long as people are allowed-as they should be-to hold and express their own individual viewpoints and beliefs, racism will exist. And, as shocking as this statement may sound, it should ALLOWED to exist.

People must be permitted to hold and express their own opinions and beliefs, no matter how ridiculous, absurd or offensive those beliefs may be to the general populace. To squash this right is to undermine the very foundations of freedom.

This is not to say, however, that people should be allowed to ACT on every belief and thought they hold, and this where legislation like the Civil Right Amendment comes into play. An individual may be allowed to hold, and even express, racist views, but that same individual is not allowed to act upon those view to the extent that such action infringes upon the rights of another.

"Oppression" is another matter and, in the truest sense of the word, it does not exist in this country. While there certainly are, and always will be, those who would trample the rights of others based on irrelevant issues such as race, color, religion and the like, there are laws in place to protect the victims of such actions.

Do some people wantonly violate those laws? Of course, much the same way as some people still commit rape, murder and robbery. Laws cannot prevent crime, they merely assign a punishment to crime to act as a deterrent for those who might contemplate committing a crime. But there always will be those individuals who will nonetheless commit crimes, despite the potential for punishment.

If we, as a society, attempt to criminalize the very expression of viewpoints we find offensive, we begin down a slippery slope from which there is no recovery. Who determines what is "offensive?" Where do we go from "offensive?" Shall we foray into the area of the merely "distasteful?" And "distasteful" to whom?

It should not astonish anyone that racism still exists. As long as individuals are allowed the freedom of thought and expression, ugly thoughts and the expression of those ugly thoughts will continue. But this is the thorn that coexists with the rose of freedom, and that one flower embodies the very heart of this nation.

Learn more about this author, C S Slockbower.
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