OPINION:
America will work only if immigrants coming to our shores assimilate by embracing our values, customs and ideals. One of the most consequential ideals comes from a Judeo-Christian tradition that warns against tilting the scales of justice to favor one individual or group over another.
Rich or poor, lowly or great, all are to be treated equitably before an omniscient God and a blindfolded Lady Justice. Although America has certainly struggled to maintain this ideal, it’s not because the standard was faulty. It’s because of the fallen nature of mankind. There’s no better relevant illustration of this than the corruption of justice during the Jim Crow era. Few Americans today would dispute that the era was a blemish on our history.
Yet here we are again as we watch the blindfold on Lady Justice flung off, this time because toxic ideologies such as critical race theory and identity politics view impartiality and equity before the law as impediments to achieving a new understanding of justice. In it, “aggrieved” groups are favored above others in an effort to atone for past grievances, real or imagined and irrespective of when they occurred.
As in the era of Jim Crow, one group is deemed inherently guilty because of immutable characteristics while others are deemed innocent and deemed noble.
The malfeasance uncovered in Minnesota is fraud, pure and simple. Justice needs to be meted out to those responsible, regardless of their race. Excusing the blatant theft of our tax dollars to assuage a guilt that is the fruit of liberal ideology will only lead to the very type of tribalism that brought many Somalis to our shores in the first place.
When we abandon a Judeo-Christian tradition that has made us the envy of the world, we do so at our own peril.
THOMAS M. BEATTIE
Mount Vernon, Virginia
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