Striving For A More Perfect Union
Mount Rushmore is a remarkable piece of art. But it sits in the Black Hills of South Dakota on land sacred to the Lakota that was stolen from them in the 19th Century. We can't take it down, but we certainly can acknowledge the mistake and provide better resources for the tribal lands that the Sioux still live on. We can also stop destroying the ecology around the monument, further damaging what the Sioux Nation believe is sacred ground. Fireworks had been banned there for almost ten years to protect the land, until President Trump brought them back this past week.
By Hank Silverberg
Did you see a fireworks display this 4th of July? Many were cancelled because of the pandemic. The traditional one on the National Mall in D.C. took place, but the 100 thousand people who usually show up were NOT there this year, advised by the city's government not to come because of the the Coronavirus. It was broadcast as usual on national television. I was going to watch that until the explosions started in my Virginia neighborhood. Two of my neighbors, a bit too close for comfort, where having a fireworks competition. There were several more around the corner.
It was fun to watch, though I spent part of Sunday picking up pieces of spent fireworks from my driveway where they had landed after flying over my neighbor's s house. But it is clear we all missed the official celebratory fireworks displays.
Neighborhood displays were apparently rampant in many American communities. It was so bad in Los Angeles that the police and fire departments stopped responding to calls about illegal fireworks.
Earlier in the day I had watched the musical "1776" on television. Yes, it's a fictional and somewhat comical look at those months back in 1776 when the Second Continental Congress was debating whether "the colonies" should declare independence from Great Britain. I have read several books on the real debate, and despite the songs and a lot of made up dialogue, the musical's story line is basically accurate. For example, it's true nobody liked John Adams.
In reality, toward the end of the debate on July 1st, South Carolina's delegation objected to a single long paragraph in Thomas Jefferson's original version of the Declaration of Independence. It was about slavery.
Among the many grievances against King George III, there is this one. But it never made it into the Declaration.
"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither. This piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. [Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold.] He has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce [determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold]: And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another."
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Jefferson, a slave owner himself, wanted to abolish slavery in the new country as it was born. The above paragraph was removed from the Declaration of Independence because the southern states would have voted "no" on independence if it remained, and the United States would never have been born.
Benjamin Franklin, who was one of the signers of the Declaration had negotiated a compromise between the factions, was asked as he exited Independence Hall on July 3rd, what kind of a government the Congress had just created.
He was quoted in the press of the time:
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| (Ben Franklin) |
"A Republic, if we can keep it!"
The USA paid for that original sin of omitting Jefferson's paragraph with blood 85 years later. The Civil War killed more than 700,000 Americans.
Today, 244 years later, Franklin's assertion remains. Our Republic is once again at a turning point.
Though slavery was legally abolished with the 13th Amendment in 1865, it would be another 100 years before The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act made discrimination against people of color illegal.
Laws, however, don't change minds. Systemic racism remains in many places and institutions across this country. The targets of this racism include not just Black people, but also Native Americans, Immigrants, Jews and other minorities.
Today we question whether the United States will ever come to grips with its' past.
Our President and many others rant about statues being torn down without understanding why they need to go. Trump in particular has a warped view of who should be a hero enshrined in stone, marble or iron.
Here's just a few examples of what history teaches us and why we need to put it all into perspective.
Andrew Jackson may have won the Battle of New Orleans and redefined the office of the presidency, but he also forced hundreds of thousands of Native Americans from five Indian nations to leave their ancestral home in 1830. Many died on the five thousand mile "Trail of Tears" to the badlands of Oklahoma where they were forced to resettle.
Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest and many other confederate generals betrayed their country and rebelled against it to PRESERVE SLAVERY by fueling a war that killed 700,000 Americans. We can study that, but statues of them do not deserve a place of honor in our communities, nor should they be honored by having forts named after them--forts housing the very military they fought against.
Woodrow Wilson may have preserved democracy with the War to End all Wars, but he also re-segregated the Civil Service and refused to integrate the U.S. Armed Forces as he sent Black Americans to fight in World War One. He is notorious for screening the racist movie "Birth of a Nation" at the White House, of which he said:
“It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.”
The film was loaded with stereotypes about Black people and glorified the KKK. Princeton University made the right decision removing his name from their renowned School of Public Affairs. But you have to wonder what took so long.
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| (Courtesy NPS) |
Then there is Stone Mountain in Georgia, not too far from Atlanta, with its huge carvings of confederate icons. It is the biggest tribute to the "lost cause" anywhere and is a site that has often been used for KKK rallies. It is said the modern KKK was born at the site in 1915. This past weekend, a few hundred Black people, most of them armed, walked into the park for a peaceful protest near the carvings to remind us all how provocative the monument is. The carvings can easily be blasted away, but perhaps what's needed is an educational program talking about the "myth of the lost cause" and its' continuing degradation of Black Americans. Or maybe it's simple. Close he park and let nature wipe out the carvings as the myth fades into oblivion.
History is important. Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it. Perhaps America needs to take some lessons from Europe.
Some examples:
There are no statues to Adolph Hitler in Germany, and the Nazi flag is prohibited outside of museums. The Holocaust is on the curriculum in German schools.
Poland has preserved the concentration camp at Auschwitz as a reminder of the Holocaust and the millions who died there.
At the same time though, France, which teaches its children all about the gallant French resistance movement during World War Two, teaches little about the complicity of the Vichy government with Nazi atrocities. France has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitism.
With the 4th of July behind us for another year, let us all strive to correct the sins of the past and create a more perfect union by acknowledging what went wrong. We must teach the real history of people like Lee, Jackson or Wilson. If not, then Ben Franklin's warning will become foresight rather than history.
Then there is this:
A new poll out this week shows pride in America is dipping fast. The Gallup Poll started measuring "pride" in the U.S. in 2001. This latest survey shows 70% of American adults are proud to be American, but only 45% said they are "extremely proud".
It's the second straight year the "extremely proud" number has fallen. In past years, that "extremely proud" number had been much higher, between 81% and 92%, but the number has fallen sharply since 2017 during President Trump's term in office.
As with many recent polls, the numbers vary drastically based on political affiliation, age and gender.
Just 22% of Democrats say they are "extremely proud" to be an American, a ten point decrease from 2019, and half of what it was before Trump became President. At the same time, 76% of Republicans says they are "extremely proud". Men expressed pride more than women--5 points higher at 48%, while only 33% of people between 18 and 29 expressed that pride.
News Notes:
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I could not let the week pass without noting that MLB players have returned to training camp and will begin playing a shortened season on July 23rd. The rules will be a bit different. There will be no fans in the stands at venues like Fenway Park and Dodgers Stadium, and the players won't even be able to hug or slap hands when they hit a home run. Everybody from the grounds crew to the GM will be tested twice a week for Covid-19, and the schedule has been modified to limit travel. Either way, unless something else happens, the boys of summer are back and I am very pleased. Die-hard baseball fans like me have really missed the game. Summer evenings just don't feel the same without it. I'm ready to argue if the Designated Hitter is good for the National League and why it has almost made the sacrifice bunt irrelevant. Let's hope the season is not interrupted again.
The real downer is the cancellation of Minor League Baseball for the summer. Hundreds of players, stadium workers, announcers and vendors will stay out of work and many communities will suffer financially because there will be no season. Bowie without the Baysox? Durham without the Bulls? Pawtucket without the PawSox?
Here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the "Double A" FredNats have lost their inaugural season in a brand new stadium, and that's a real shame. Here, Minor League Baseball will be delayed until 2021, but I suspect a few minor league teams in other places will fail--still more businesses killed by Covid 19 and a slow federal government response to it.
Final Thought:
As I sat down to write my blog this week, I thought I would do a breakdown of President Trump's Mount Rushmore speech the same way I break down my students work in the Public Speaking class I teach. But that wouldn't be fair to him.
After all, he didn't write the speech, so pointing out that he had many inaccuracies that were poorly sourced would be unfair.
I could point out that he used a great prop (the mountain) to try and create a feeling of pride and emotion for our countrymen on America's 244th Birthday. Emotion is a good thing in a political speech at such events as I have told my students, but like I wrote above, the location just created controversy and negative emotions.
I could have looked for imagery, which is always a good technique for making your point, but Trump's imagery was poorly thought out and poorly delivered and sent the wrong mental picture to much of the country.
I could have pointed out that he has a unique style in his speaking pattern which can often be memorable. (Think JFK and MLK.) but in Trump's case his style is short sentences and mixed thoughts that often make no sense. So I would give Mr. Trump a "W" for my class, as in "withdrawal". I hope he gets the message. But I suspect the voters will give him a well deserved "F" in November.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome )
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Hank, always an informative read for me.
ReplyDeleteRon Stern