Race to the bottom
We’re not guilty for crimes of history
LEFTISTS hurl rocks at America, claiming it is an irredeemably racist nation. But what happens when they discover they live in a glass house, and are as much a part of that messy, flawed history?
Activist, communist and former fugitive Angela Davis was shocked to learn she is a Mayflower descendent on Tuesday’s “Finding Your Roots” episode.
Now 79, Davis was the latest to appear on the PBS show where celebrities and public figures learn about their ancestry.
Near the episode’s end, after discussing multiple members of her family, the former Black Panther learned she’s descended from William Brewster, one of the 101 people who came to the colonies in 1620 aboard the Mayflower.
“No, I can’t believe this,” Davis replied, laughing. “No, my ancestors did not come here on the Mayflower.”
She continued to protest while Gates confirmed the findings, then responded, “Oof. That’s a little bit too much to deal with right now.”
“Would you ever in your wildest dreams think that you may have been descended from the people who laid the foundation of this country?” he asked.
“Never, never, never, never, never,” she said.
Our villainous selves
Activists like Angela Davis have spent their entire careers excoriating America’s ancestors for their supposed participation in or benefiting from a system of white supremacy since the first Europeans landed here — and now Davis has realized she descends, at least partly, from those very villains.
As horrified as Davis may be at finding out this information about her lineage, she shouldn’t be. Even if she were right about her interpretation of “old America,” she has nothing to do with it and she has nothing to be ashamed of. The sins of the father shouldn’t be paid by the son; likewise, we shouldn’t judge Davis’ grandchildren for having a commie as a grandmother.
Leftists have a hard time understanding that we shouldn’t encourage people to behave like the communist regime in North Korea, which punishes all descendants with imprisonment for up to three generations for a single action of someone who happens to be in their bloodline whom they may never have met.
America’s glass house
History is complex because people are complex. We should stop being overly critical and simplistic about the behavior of our ancestors, who were people of their time, by comparing it to our present-day norms and social expectations.
As clean as we think our hands are, in a couple of generations, our descendants could easily look back and shake their heads at some of the barbarism we think is completely normal and remains legal.
Just because we know how to utilize far more advanced gadgets than our predecessors doesn’t mean that we are any less humanly flawed than them.
Rather than constantly litigating and debating the past, why don’t we continue to build a better country together?
You’re not supposed to throw rocks while living in a glass house because you’re not the only one who has access to rocks, and the motivation for vengeance gives people herculean strength as well.
But in this case, you shouldn’t throw rocks because you may accidentally damage your own window.