BY the mid 20th Century, racial discrimination in the United States of America remained entrenched and seemed intractable. But just a little after the turn of the same century, racism in America had regressed to the point of permitting the election of a Black man as the president.

This was mostly due to the selfless leadership of Black American men of God. It was their struggle for racial equality that brought profound changes in racial attitude and relations in America.

Ironically, American racism was more obstinate than what was found in Europe. It was a historical paradox that America, the bastion of freedom and equality, remained a more racist society than Europe, a more conservative and socially stratified society.

The United States of America was found on the creed that “all men are created equal”. So, more than in any other slave holding nation of the world, slavery in America tweaked the national conscience because it was very difficult to justify the holding of Blacks as slaves in a country which statement of belief is the equality of all men. Consequently, the justification for slavery in America demanded sweeping and far-reaching racial theories.

So, American racism was erected on, and reinforced by centuries of dehumanizing racial theories and stereotypes that portrayed Blacks not as human beings, but something of animals that happened to look like human beings.

The social environment of the post-Second World War America provided the stimulus for Black Americans to assault this embedded and seemingly impregnable racism. A study of the Black American struggle for racial equality reveals an interesting phenomenon. Its leadership was dominated by preachers: Christian and Moslem.

On the Christian side were Marthin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, etc, and  Elijah Mohammed, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, etc were all Moslem clergymen.

That fight against racial injustice could not have been led by university professors, businessmen or government/corporate employees. A university professor who challenged the system will readily get into trouble and lose his job, even if he taught in a privately-owned university.

While private universities may not be subject to direct government control, they generally receive grants and other subventions from the government, big businesses and other mainstays of the status quo. For opposing the system, a businessman will have his business interests endangered.

He will lose contracts and business engagements from the government and corporate bodies. The local government can revoke his licenses and make the operation of his business almost impossible. And a government or corporate employee will readily be fired from his job.

Unlike members of most other professions, the preacher man’s income is not directly susceptible to government or corporate sanctions. And in addition, they were armed with the moral authority of the word of God and the sacrosanctity of the pulpit. Therefore, they led the way in the struggle for racial justice in America.

In the process some were jailed, and a number of them were assassinated. But finally, their endeavours yielded copious dividend. It got the government to enact series of laws against racial discrimination.

Mr.  Tochukwu EZUKANMA, a commentator on national issues, writes from Lagos.