Class War or Race War?

Ralph Bunche welcomes Rev. Martin Luther King to the U.N. Headquarters in New York City on December 4, 1964. Coretta Scott King looks on.
(Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York, Graduate Center)

In 1936, Ralph Bunche authored a pamphlet entitled A World View of Race. In it, Bunche wrote: "And so class will some day supplant race in world affairs. Race war will then be merely a side-show to the gigantic class war which will be waged in the big tent we call the world." Ralph Bunche was a political scientist and diplomat. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for mediation in Palestine during the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

I’ve said this before and I do sincerely think that a class war can happen. Look at the division between Wall Street and Main Street. The rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. Social benefits are being cut and education isn’t important. Teachers are being cut and schools are closing. Public schools and teachers are not making the grades. Technology has advanced to the point that uneducated people can not be hired and sources of cheap labor are found overseas. The economy isn’t progressing as fast as any of us would like. Foreclosures are at an all time high and buying a home is now harder than ever. The American dream is about to become history. It is true that hatred is in the bottom of many peoples’ hearts. But it is more prevalent in those people that are uneducated and don’t have very much. Some may feel resentful and others don’t need a reason at all to hate. Then, you just have some folks who simply just don’t know why they feel the way they do. I can tell you this, while different factions are trying to separate this country using race as a smokescreen, we better be vigilant before we all end up on the same economic level. Either we will have (wealth) or will not (poverty). These factions see using race as an excuse to cause this country to fail. We can’t let this happen. Let’s be aware of what’s happening around us. Let’s take an interest in what can we do to make this country a better place for all us to live in.