Civil Rights pioneer dies. Made racial unity plea for 250th

Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Robert Woodson was a civil rights leader in America and the founder of the Robert Woodson Center who just died days ago.  He penned this final letter to the Wall Street Journal (see here) calling for racial unity.

Here is a sample:

The 250th birthday of the United States presents a unique moment to celebrate beyond flag-waving, anthem-singing and praising the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. Though meaningful, such rituals become empty without moral reflection.

Which victories, exactly, are we celebrating? And what kind of nation are we calling ourselves and our posterity to be?

Over the past decade, American history has been weaponized to convince its people that we are irredeemably defined by our worst chapters—especially the moral darkness of slavery. Black children are increasingly taught to believe they live in a country that fundamentally thinks less of them. White children are told they are inherently guilty because they are “privileged oppressors.”

Both messages produce the same outcome: a diminished sense of human value, the erosion of self-respect and collapse of social trust. A people convinced they are powerless will eventually live as though they are. The past should be a teacher, not a jailer. People don’t rise when they are taught helplessness. They are motivated to rise when they are shown examples of what is possible.

The biblical narrative offers a blueprint for this distinction. The Israelites were commanded never to forget their bondage in Egypt—not so they would remain victims forever, but so they would never become Pharaoh to another people. Memory was meant to sharpen conscience, not keep people permanently wounded.

America must remember its own Egypt in that exact spirit. The evils of slavery should never be forgotten—but neither should they be used as a permanent indictment against the nation. They should serve as a moral guardrail reminding us that greatness is neither inherited nor guaranteed; it must be earned, defended and renewed. Slavery reminds us of the capacity for cruelty within every society and why we must remain humble, vigilant and committed to justice.

America was founded on ideals intentionally left unfinished. Its true greatness lies not in claims of perfection, but in its constitutional capacity for self-correction. The painful struggle to live up to those ideals takes courage, self-discipline and, above all, grace. Not the cheap, performative grace of political rhetoric that rationalizes wrongdoing or denies injustice. The costly kind that demands something of you: discipline, sacrifice, responsibility and moral courage. The kind that chooses restoration over revenge even when revenge feels justified.

Radical grace doesn’t excuse evil but refuses to let evil define the future. This virtue has always been one of black America’s greatest contributions to the nation. Slavery didn’t build black resilience. It revealed the strength, faith, ingenuity and perseverance already present in people who refused to let oppression define the limits of their humanity. Out of bondage emerged some of the greatest examples of entrepreneurship, family formation, innovation, moral strength and excellence this country has ever produced.

Even during Jim Crow, flowers grew through the cracks. Radical grace, not victimhood, is the defining thread of black America’s story, and it is the model all Americans must recover.

History is filled with examples of this radical grace in action. Consider Robert Smalls, born enslaved in South Carolina. History rightly celebrates the moment in 1862 when he commandeered a Confederate ship and sailed enslaved families to freedom. But his greatest act came later. After emancipation, Smalls purchased the house of his former enslaver, Henry McKee. Later, as a decorated war hero and U.S. congressman, Smalls cared for McKee’s elderly widow, allowing her to live out her final days in the same home where he had once been held in bondage. Smalls refused to let the cruelty of his past dictate the character of his future. That wasn’t weakness. That was radical grace.

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