An idiosyncratic brief history of racism

What follows is my own idiosyncratic history of racism in America, with hint of irony.

During the period of chattel slavery (~1600 - 1865) and continuing through the Jim Crow era, blacks were more-or-less universally regarded by whites as physically weak, mentally deficient, spiritually degraded, and morally bankrupt. Slavery could be justified as a benevolent institution:

The parsons also brought Christian dialectics into the business. They proved by the Bible that slavery had been ordained by God, and cited countless passages to show that slavery was the natural condition of the poor black man. At this point the planters picked up the idea and carried it along to aid in conjuring up the Big Heart of the South. This Big Heart, said the planters - and they believed it - was the only reason the planters held to slavery at all. In his natural state the black man had been a pagan, an outcast. Slavery made of him a Christian, much to God's happiness. Slavery would get him into heaven, much to his own happiness. It was only becasue of his sense of Christian duty and love for the Negro that the planter condoned slavery.
[Lost Men of American History]

One of the best and most popular histories of America, The Growth of the American Republic (Commager & Morison), first published in 1930, had this to say of the African slave:

As for “Sambo,” whose wrongs moved the abolitionists to wrath and tears, there is some reason to believe that he suffered less than any other class in the South for its “Peculiar Institution.” ... Although brought to America by force, the incurably optimistic Negro soon became attached to the country, and devoted to his white folks.

The authors finally removed the passage in the 1962 version (fifth edition) of their text book.
[full disclosure: I'm a fan of Samuel Eliot Morison; I own and have read - and re-read - all his books about Columbus and the European Discovery of America.]

With the integration of professional sports, the "physically weak" characterization became untenable - the Big Three American sports (baseball, football, basketball) are replete with African-American players of great physical ability.

That left "mentally deficient", "spiritually degraded" and "morally corrupt" for the white racist to hang onto.
In fact, the obvious mental deficiency of blacks was a clear reason there were no black quarterbacks or coaches in the NFL! - so said the white commentators. Then came Buck O'Neill (Chicago Cubs), Bill Russell (Boston Celtics), and Doug Williams (SuperBowl winning QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers).
... tho' Rush Limbaugh & his ilk still think the only reason Donovan McNabb is praised - and draws a hefty paycheck in a salary-capped league - is that he's black.
Add in Thurgood Marshall and, more recently, African-American CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and the "mentally deficient" characterization gets harder and harder to maintain.
(But, of course, all recent 'exceptions' are clearly attributable to "affirmative action" - there's just no way an African-American man or woman could succeed in the cut-throat worlds of business, or academia, or politics without it!)

So - what's left? "Spiritually degraded" and "morally bankrupt".
Sadly, these two are still with us.
From D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation till today, the image of The Black Man as the ravager of white womanhood, addicted to drugs, lying his way to the top: this image is still alive and well.
The "birthers" who question Obama's citizenship ("He's lied about his birth certificate!") are members of this crowd.
When Rush cites basketball as the preferred sport of gangs, he's advancing this stereotype.

But, my fellow white folks - let's be honest.
On the playing fields of MLB, the NFL, and the NBA, our African-American brothers have proven themselves to be the superior race. Maybe, just maybe, they're also our superiors in spirituality and moral rectitude!

Bell Curves notwithstanding, how 'bout we call a truce: if you think you can tell a person's intelligence, physical strength, standing-with-God, or moral code by looking at the color of his/her skin... well, you're mistaken!

[... last I looked, the idea of 'race' had no basis in our DNA!]