Unfinished Business and the Sins of the Fathers
Trumpism out of step with 157 years of progress By James Preston Allen, Publisher
Racism is still a problem in
America. If you subscribe to the idea of “American Exceptionalism” — the belief that America is exceptional and better than other nations — you are a part of the problem. All of us who think we can claim to be the exception to exceptionalism, must now bear witness to the sins of the fathers visited upon the generations. So here we are, a week after the 244th anniversary of our nation’s forefathers declaring independence, we are still arguing over the clause, “All men are created equal.”
Clearly you thought this had been settled back in 1865 when the Confederacy lost the Civil War and the enslaved were freed or that the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution settled the issue of who were citizens and exactly what their civil rights were. And just to make sure these rights were set in stone, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Most of this was glossed over in your high school history class while you were consumed by sex and the latest music craze.
All of these things were done well before the first Confederate statue was ever erected. Gen. Robert E. Lee, when declining an invitation to erect statues on the battlefield in Gettysburg said, “I think it wiser not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife and to commit to oblivion the feelings it has engendered.” Which was a very gentile way for the Confederate general to say we should bury the past along with 618,222 soldiers who died on both sides. I would add most of which were white men fighting over whether black people’s involuntary servitude status should end.
Which brings me to the realization that since that war, and for a long time prior, white people have been arguing with each other over the status of black people (and others of color) in our country. And it wasn’t for the lack of some very eloquent and highly educated black voices to call on the consciousness of America to rectify this original sin. From Frederick Douglass down to Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Angela Davis to name just a few — the names —Euripides (c. 485-406 B.C.) of black American academics, writers and intellectuals fill volumes on the subject. These are books that many conservative Americans never read. Yet, something changed this time with the murder of George Floyd caught on a cell phone as he died at the hands of white Minnesota police officer. Suddenly Black Lives Matter wasn’t just a slogan exclusively for black activists but a rallying point for a multi-ethnic, multi-generational uprising that has shocked the collective consciousness — not just here but around the world.
Suddenly (even though it’s not really sudden), you have white students and elders marching alongside people of many shades to protest injustice. This has by its very diversity woken up America, the media and challenged Congress.
Then as a response we have Donald J. Trump on this Fourth of July giving a speech at one of the great national monuments — Mount Rushmore. Here’s his response:
One of their [the democratic left’s] political weapons is “Cancel Culture” — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America. This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life.
In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished. It’s not going to happen to us.
Make no mistake: this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would
“The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.”