After noticing a Doonesbury cartoon this weekend featuring “Jimmy Crow,” Marti and I realized we didn’t really know that much about Jim Crow and ended up doing some important research about the history of slavery and racism in this country.

The first thing we found out was that Mr. Crow was not a real person. He was a fictitious character whose name came to represent a major movement in the South, after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, towards reestablishing slavery and keeping African Americans segregated from white society. It was a big blow to the newly found freedom of the slaves, and a big boon to segregation and white supremacy in the South.

The wealth and power of the South was all wrapped up in the cotton industry and that wealth relied on the free labor of the slaves who had no freedoms and no rights. The war was over, but the economy could not survive without major changes taking place, but landowners didn’t want to change, they wanted the old way, and so there was major social upheaval going on for almost 100 years until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally gave African Americans equal rights as citizens of the United States.

Therefore anything that had to do with white supremacy, slavery, segregation of the blacks from the whites was done by Jim Crow laws and Jim Crow backlash.

The shocking thing is that racism and white supremacy is raising its ugly head in our society and politics once again. But it’s too late. It’s the last gasp of a European strain of Americans that is rapidly losing ground. I can go to the beach today or to an Angel game — anywhere that a large group of people are gathered — and white European people are the new minority.

As believers in Christ and those who know that every human being is made in the image of God, we accept and affirm everyone — all colors, all nationalities, all religions, all races, all genders. Every single person is one for whom Christ died and if they don’t know that, we’re here to tell them.

Bury Jim Crow. We’re not going back; we’re going forward, and forward is messy, it’s challenging, and it’s a little scary, but it’s also exciting. I don’t care what anyone says, America is more diverse that ever. Some people are acting like they have a choice in that. They don’t. Open your eyes. See the people on the street and marvel at God’s beautiful variety.