Several questions were presented by the editorial team in The Augusta Chronicle's editorial "Why is this so hard?" (Oct. 21, about naming Augusta's new judicial center for attorney and judge John H. Ruffin). Due to space constraints, I will have to be brief with something that likely, for most today, would take volumes to get them to the point of understanding.

- It is not inconsequential to name locations -- whether buildings, streets or parks. In today's political landscape -- and especially for medium to large urban areas -- group politics is so pervasive and divisive that all of these actions of naming have symbolic value for all parties concerned (some positive, some negative).

- The selection of Ruffin, although deserving in his legacy and actions as an individual, was based first and foremost on the fact that he was African-American, and whatever he did historically was a secondary consideration. This makes the selection of Ruffin symbolically divisive and the actions of the black commissioners, who were united in getting the judicial center named after Ruffin, racist.

- Those commissioners that wanted to name the center using the name "Augusta" were actually being less divisive and striking the proper tone in naming the center because only the most unreasonable would find the name of "Augusta" as symbolically divisive or offensive.

The editorial team asked the question, "Why was it so hard?" Why didn't the other commissioners just easily relent and basically say, "If you want this so bad then we're glad to do it"? I respond: If the other commissioners wanted to name it "Augusta," why didn't the black commissioners who were united in the effort to name it after Ruffin just relent and say, "If you want it so bad, we're glad to do it"?

That is the conundrum, isn't it? The problem is that our communities are experiencing a weakened collective state. In other words, we are, as a community, sick. We are diseased with group politics and have a lack of community politics.

Every time a decision is made on a basis of race first -- like the Ruffin naming, but to include many decisions that are made by governments spread across the span of this nation -- within the group-politics landscape, symbolic divisiveness, intolerance and diminishment of solidarity intolerance is spread.

This leads to most large urban communities not getting anything done, and the general morale of the people goes negative as well. No decisions ever should be made with race in mind first, or it is a divisive decision that is being made that always will cause more harm than good for the community and individual, group relations.

In the current group political landscape, we should support only neutral changes that most obviously are not racially motivated -- in any way. If our communities continue down this road, there will be tit-for-tat race, sex and class wars as far as the eye can see, and no community sense of kinship will be found.