Earlier this month, Archbishop Wilton Gregory wrote a column for CNS on racism:

Racism — the belief that one group is superior to another due to race — is a grave moral disease whose recurrence, aggressiveness and persistence should frighten every one of us.

Like a serious medical disease that may seem to have been brought under control, racism, people had hoped, was on the wane. The election of our first African-American president created a confidence that we were surely moving beyond our racist history and that the epidemic itself was on the decline. Others were not so convinced.

The venom of and the reaction to our recent presidential election have caused many to believe that whatever progress we thought we’d made was only illusory.

The recent rash of killings of men of color by law enforcement personnel and citizen vigilantes is a reminder of the blatantly racist lynchings and bombings of the last century that went unsolved and too often unnoticed. The disease of racism has clearly not been cured in our nation and in far too many other places on the globe.

Whenever one can play on the fears of some people and depend upon the ignorance of others, racism flourishes. As a political strategy, such taunting may win votes, but it destroys national unity and our future.

You can read the full article here.