I, like most Americans, am of "mixed" parentage. Primarily German-American on my paternal side, French, German and Lakota on my mother's. A "mutt", like many Americans, product of this big distillery of a country. I grew up in "mainstream", "heartland" suburbia. For all intents and purposes, that makes me a white man. By blood, I am primarily a white man. In my heart, I am conflicted, and growing up, I tried mightedly to identify more with my Lakota heritage, even though I never visited the reservation until I was in my teens.
One might ask why I felt the need to do that. My white ancestors were good working folks, farmers. I wasn't raised in a racist home. The answer is in my schooling. Like many children raised in the sixties, my school books were still full of stories of brave calvary riding against savages. I had little understanding of one side of my heritage. Then, in fifth grade, I got ahold of a copy of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and my heart broke. I loved school, and I was crushed that I'd been lied to for all of my young life.
crossposted at Liberal Street Fight
We still lie to ourselves, about our history, about ourselves and about race and its role in the growth of this country.
Dissention breaks out on the left when race enters a conversation. Some feel that to bring up injustices delivered upon one group by the majority white culture is disrespectful, especially on days like today, Memorial Day. I would argue that what makes this country great, as well as sometimes a terrible danger to the world, is our conflicted history on relations between the races. We have had great leaders who've tried to lead us onto more righteous paths, though they've faced mighty opposition. Our continued unwillingness to deal with it poisons our politics, and our unwillingness as a people to look into that deep, dark, truthful mirror of a full accounting of our history all-but guarantees that venal, jingoistic racist men like the current administration will continue to cause more blood and needless suffering.
We need to speak clearly and plainly about our history, and not just the admirable parts of it. Some on the right would argue that we on the left want ONLY to speak of the bad. Perhaps, in some cases, that is true, but I've seen little evidence of it. What I know I want is a full accounting, and honest interchange, a bright light on the good, bad, shameful and hopeful. Most of all, we need to acknowlege that our political parties have exacerbated these problems, usually for short-term political gains. I won't belabor the Republicans recent shameful history of voter suppression, of the ugliness of voter-purge lists in Florida and the shameful actions of the State of Ohio. One should also acknowlege that the Republican Party's roots are in abolition, at least partly, and that their recent behavior does dishonor to that history.
It is also important to recognize that the Democratic Party has for many years built political machines on the backs of the black neighborhoods and the barrios and the reservations of this land. That crumbs were often thrown, and power bases by the likes of Mayor Richard Daley maintained, by appealing to the prejudices of white "ethic" voters. That when confronted by the shady dealings in Ohio and Florida, the Democratic Party offered little or no fight for the enfrancisement of black voters, and were quick to concede those defeats rather than fulfill promises to "count every vote."
Now, in this time of reborn talk of Manifest Destiny, assertions of American Exceptionalism and Bush's weird use of a 21st version of the "White Man's Burden" to justify our ongoing crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and the new American gulag of "detention" centers, we must confront this essential part of the American Experience. While Lynne Cheney and David Horowitz go about trying to muzzle schools and educational publishers, we have to confront this. Our mixed heritage as a country, our great crimes and great triumphs, our openness and our exploitation, have ALL gone into making this country what it is at the dawn of the Twenty First Century. If we don't confront it, we will continue to repeat our crimes. If we don't have this vital conversation, we will have another generation that will stumble upon books unsuspected, their hearts broken and another generation ashamed by what we've done, yet not paid the freight on.
We need desperately to confront race in this country, before it finishes us off, burned by it's dark light from within.
note: I "fly" the flag above in the inverted position because I feel our country is in great danger, and our unwillingness to deal with the truth of our history is the root of that danger. I "fly" it thus as a symbol of distress, as allowed in the flag code of this country.