Walk in History

[Martin Eden]

4. History is essential to understanding who we are as a nation ...

... including what we did wrong in the past and what we need to do better in the future to build that "more perfect union" and to more fully realize the highest ideals at the heart of America's greatness.

I can't help but think of the controversy in recent years over the removal of Confederate statues from places of honor in public squares. Those who still cling to the Lost Cause cried this was tantamount to erasing history. What they fail to acknowledge is those statues were erected to assert White supremacy during the Jim Crow era. Such symbols -- like the Confederate stars & bars on state flags -- have no rightful place in positions of honor where citizens walk by who were the objects of racial oppression as the struggle still goes on to bend the long arc of the moral universe towards justice.

The rightful place for those statues is in museums and historical parks where our nation's history can be preserved and presented in all its unvarnished truth. The necessary objective is not recrimination but enlightenment, casting light on our past to better illuminate the path we must walk into a better future.

Today we are facing a surge of efforts to erase our history. This is not coming from those who would move Confederate statues to more appropriate venues, but from those who want to eliminate the teaching of history which sheds light on our past. Critical Race Theory has become a bogeyman and a rallying point for people unwilling to acknowledge the unvarnished truth of American history, ostensibly to shield their children from feeling bad about themselves.

Utter nonsense. Children are resilient, with young minds capable of learning without feelings of guilt. Any emotional baggage they may have about this has been unloaded onto them by their parents, who would erase history rather than be discomfited by it.

We must not let our history be flushed down an Orwellion memory hole. Such is the path to fascism.

H2O Man, thank you so much for sharing the poignant history of your family and community. Oral traditions are wonderful, but the American people (especially children) also deserve and need a systematic and thorough education about who we are, where we've been, and where we're going.

Peace,
Martin