I believe it is time to redefine the civil-rights battle. The battle for civil rights as presently understood has been won. The oppression of 1960 no longer exists today. We cannot move forward umbilically tied to that past. The civil-rights battle of the 21st century is for America. To continue today as in times past is attempting to advance mired neck deep in quicksand.

Blacks /minorities can immiserate and whites can wallow in guilt, but the fact remains – there is nothing in our country today preventing anyone from doing, being or attempting anything they choose, save the lack of preparedness, lack of education and lack of vision. Working hard at sports and rap music is not commensurate with working hard at science, math and geography, but I digress.

The guarantee of opportunity must be understood in context. It is not the guarantee of success, but rather the guarantee of opportunity to succeed as defined by the skills, preparedness and determination of the individual so inclined. The battle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as accorded by the Constitution has been won.

While I am unapologetic in my contempt for race divisionists – I have the utmost respect and admiration for the civil-rights warriors who fought so gallantly to secure the freedoms of our Constitution for all. But it is important to note that history is replete with examples of great warriors, generals, militiamen, etc. who did not recognize when the battle was over and the war had been won.

Such is the case with far too many who are respected in the civil-rights movement. America needs them to refocus on the 21st century. Unlike the progenitors of immiseration and division, they must not fall victim to fighting for that which has been won. As I have often stated, the problems that concern America today are not color sensitive – they are American sensitive.

The president and his administration must recognize this as well. Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is wrong and contributing to the racial divide to say Republicans must do a better job of reaching out to blacks. His statement is divisive and specious on its face. I did not join the party because someone reached out to me. I joined because I observed what I was being denied under Democrat tyranny.

I observed what liberal Democrats were doing to black men and women I considered role models for my child. I realized that the Democrat message was one designed to keep me dependent upon them for daily sustenance, while discouraging my dreams. And I realized that the only thing I needed to succeed was to apply prioritized principles to my life and use the education I had received. I realized that contrary to Democrat dogma, many careers are rejection-based and same is seldom today synonymous with race rejection.

Republicans must do a better job of reaching out, but to all Americans. Is home ownership, retirement income, education, health care and homeland security a black concern or an American concern?

Does it not send a message of childlike need to suggest that blacks in 2005 cannot achieve without paternal instruction? To suggest as Mehlman has is to send forth an unambiguous message that the liberals who imprisoned the minds of minorities in the first place, have been sending since the New Deal.

President Bush, Ken Mehlman, et al., must be dogmatic in their assertion that all have access to the same foundational opportunities, those being first and foremost education. Get the National Education Association, liberals and the radical homosexual agenda out of education so real learning can take place. Insisting on elevated expectations pursuant to education should not cost the tax payers $87 billion dollars – it should cost those teachers and school systems that foster environments absent of same their jobs and charters. Mehlman's words may tickle the ears of blacks with a feel-good message, but all he / they are doing is promoting and supporting a subgroup status.

In the strongest possible terms, I repeat: "The problem in the so-called African-American community, as defined, is the community itself." It is time to stop being an African-American community and be an American community. Racial division continues because it is encouraged and financially rewarded.

If we are viewing things through a prism of Americanism there can be no minority status. It is time to stop trading and trafficking in race. A mindset built on holism will sanction the end of race hustling.

Civil-rights leaders of days past, the president and Republican spokesmen are no doubt well-intentioned, but in the final analysis, their methods of accomplishing a united America are no better than those methods we oppose.

Every American is confronted on some level with the same concerns – color notwithstanding. So why render the battle for a few – when all are affected?