In the light of recent events, the clear need to really understand race, to restore balance is paramount .The constitution of our country is a wonderful document, that once written ,we have strived, albeit slowly ,to live up to. Here I am quoting one of the greatest pen smiths of all time.

William Shakespeare is a tough read~ you almost have to learn another language to understand him. He can connect the dots of the human condition so clearly that it is well worth the trouble. Many common phrases come from his works. The quote below is on par with Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, each of these speech’s are eloquent rebuttals to any form of racism.  

    All of Antonio’s ventures have failed, the bond has come due, Shylock sense’s his revenge .His daughters loss is driving him, the weight of abuse by others on him, his people is too much to bear .Antonio’s friend asks of him, fearing the pound of flesh that is the bonds forfeit..

Salerno: Why, I am sure if he forfeit thou will not take his flesh. What’s that good for?

Shylock: To bait fish with withal. If it will feed nothing else ,it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me a half a million: laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what is his reason? ----- I am a Jew.

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs dimensions, senses, affections ,passions; fed with the same food ,hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases ,healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.    If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

The events that follow clearly shown what one reaps with hate ,ruin. Shylock loses all he holds dear, Antonio loses everything also, and must watch his friend love another. Portia gives the wondrous speech that begins ”The quality of mercy is not strained..” in it she notes, mercy is a god like quality, blesses both the giver and he who receives. She points out that”… in the course of justice that none of us shall see salvation”, that both Jew and Christian pray the same prayer for mercy.

Listening to the black community’s leaders outrage I was reminded what I had written in my review of Emmett Till. With out addressing the harm, the hurt, the atrocity done, no one can move forward .We will all remain trapped like wasps in amber, locked in a cycle of hate and revenge.

That is why the speech of Imus is intolerable ~in 1598 these words were written clearly describing what one does to oneself, ones community adhering to bigotry and hatred. During Imus’s lifetime the words of Dr. King rang over this land ,again clearly showing what one reaps with racism. It is a shame and a disgrace to America. And to Mr. Imus. It is  past time for us to learn we are all one.