All over the nation, statues to past heroes are being taken down, destroyed or moved. Shrines to former Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt in the north are among those being replaced, as well as Confederate statues throughout the south.
What is behind most of these events is an attempt to right the historical wrong of racism. Just as our news coverage of these events represents the first rough draft of history, it will be forever subject to the action of the rewrite desk, which is the job of historians.
Most of what is going on is in response to police killings of unarmed black men, for certain, but the persistence of the demands for change are also due to the ongoing use of racist code language by President Trump.
Many of his supporters in 2016, I'm sure, were unaware of how he was exploiting their legitimate concerns about immigration, government overreach, and trade imbalances. The catchphrase "Make America Great Again" implied that the country had once been great but no longer was.
Those points can and will be debated by historians forever, but what was lacking from the phrase was how America got to be the nation it was in the period Trump enthusiasts yearned for.
On whose backs had that country been built? Two examples:
Who built the White House? African Americans, many of whom were slaves.
Who built the most dangerous portion of the transcontinental railroad? Chinese immigrants.
Of course, for European Americans who until recently formed the majority of the American population, there are deep historical contradictions well beyond slavery. This country has never come to grips with the virtual genocide of the indigenous people who had lived here for millennia when the first white men arrived.
One historical figure whose tarnished reputation is slowly being rewritten is Christopher Columbus. Perhaps the Ohio city that is home to the Ohio State Buckeyes should be renamed? Or perhaps I am a just Michigan fan.
***
This time around, Trump's political strategy is failing to rouse his base. Many have grown tired of his rants, unsupported by facts, and his desire to inflame divisive impulses when what we need now is healing.
Among his most dangerous claims is that this year's election will be "RIGGED!" (his punctuation).
Every conscious adult needs to think about what he is trying to do. He is trying to set up a scenario where he can discredit his upcoming defeat. Meanwhile, every serious study of our voting system has confirmed that mail-in ballots are not subject to widespread fraud at all.
Most ironic of Trump's claims that foreign interference will skew the electoral results. If that happens, it will be to his benefit -- he is the one who has begged Russia, Ukraine and China to help him win, not Joe Biden.
No one will steal this election from Trump but Trump himself.
***
Amidst the sea of bad news, there have been many inspirational changes in recent years. There's a high school in the Bay Area named after Fred Korematsu, one of the handful of Japanese American men who resisted going to the concentration camps set up by the U.S. government in World War II.
That is a wonderful thing.
There's the ongoing battle for women's rights, including the quest for equal pay, even in Hollywood (thanks to Jennifer Lawrence).
That is a wonderful thing.
There is the battle for equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and the support of the overwhelming majority of the American people for marriage equality.
That is a wonderful thing.
All of these struggles continue and all of them are openly on display in today's social turmoil. The common thread through it all is the next phase of the reckoning of history.
The problem for those who yearn for a return to "greatness" is what that greatness was made of, how it was achieved, and who paid the price.
That brings us to the present tense. Who pays the price for today's America? Who is getting rich and who is getting poor?
No, the real battle in the streets is not only over the past.
The real battle is over our common future.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment