To combat the terrorism in Charlottesville, we at least need to be honest. While it is great that most people are outraged, I am disturbed by the lack of institutional memory and discourse on American exceptionalism. For example, Elizabeth Warren said: “someone was murdered at a Neo-Nazi rally today. That happened. In America. In 2017. It is time to make clear where we stand – all of us.”
1). It is not shocking that a nation founded on slavery and genocide is hosting white nationalist rallies. The only people who are surprised are those who falsely believe there was a magical or radical event that transformed the American system.
2). I have seen a lot of messages and memes suggesting that Nazi ideology is incompatible with American principles. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are more synonymous than we like to admit. The Nazis were directly influenced by the United States. In Mein Kampf, Hitler praised America as “the one state” making progress toward racial purity. Years later, when the Nazis were crafting the Nuremberg laws, American jurisprudence (i.e. laws about segregation, immigration, second-class citizenship, etc.) became their inspiration. This is why the president of the Nazi People’s Court declared that the American example “would suit us perfectly.” When Nazi defendants were put on trial, they referenced Buck vs Bell – a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld forced sterilization – as a justification for their actions.
3). Here is a fun fact: Prescott Bush – the father and grandfather of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush – was a director at the bank that financed Hitler. Nonetheless, he was elected to the Senate 7 years after the Holocaust.
4). The United States began as a nation striving for racial purity. This country is, was, and always will be a project steeped in white nationalism. Every time we salute the flag, stand for the anthem, or say we are “patriots” who respect the cops and “support our troops” – we are engaging in white nationalism. Fascism is not simply “creeping” or arriving on America’s doorstep … it has BEEN here. The Black Panthers were condemning the United States as fascist almost 50 years ago. Catch up! What we are experiencing/witnessing is the latest manifestation of an old, structural problem.
Failing to address it as such will only exacerbate the matter.
August 14, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Excellent piece Darryl. We should definitely be doing a lot of looking in the mirror when we denounce racism. It is integral to every system of power in our country.
Thanks for the great work you do here.
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August 14, 2017 at 1:53 pm
Thank you Bill for the positive feedback and for the share on Twitter!
You are right: we need to do some serious soul-searching as a collective. It is deeply hypocritical to talk about racism and Nazism but to be simultaneously immersed in it. This is standard operating procedure, the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can stop it.
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August 14, 2017 at 1:47 pm
I believe we are watching what is called Historical Revisionism. By destroying all the statues, books, flags and other remnants and EVIDENCE of an ugly and disgraceful past we are revisionist our past. In 100 years slavery will have slipped from the pages of history books, the civil war will be rewritten to have been about taxes. It’s the same tactic ISIS uses when taking over a country to remove anything they don’t want included in the new, rewritten history, that they control. There is something extremely dangerous in destroying these things. A history erased will be repeated…eventually.
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August 14, 2017 at 2:01 pm
You have raised an excellent point about historical revisionism. I absolutely agree that the books are being wiped clean – and now people have very little sense of institutional memory. This makes me think of Sigmund Freud’s argument about “the return of the repressed:” the more we run away from something, the more we will run TOWARD IT.
America can remove the statues, flags, and books all it wants – but all this does is engage in a superficial game that fails to interrogate the STRUCTURE beneath it.
I wonder, though: is it a valid argument that it is necessary to remove these symbols because they are an open endorsement of hatred? In other words, is it beneficial to remove the Confederate flag?
I wrote a bit about this in another post that you may find of interest: https://zoneofnonbeing.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/remove-the-american-flag-too/
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
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August 14, 2017 at 2:05 pm
I will definitely read this this evening (I’m short on time at the moment). I believe it is dangerous on so many levels to blot the evidence of historical injustice from society. We should allow these things to remain as a reminder of what we have done, the error of it, and with a promise to ourselves and our children to not repeat it. I feel like we are all United in the fact that our government is using us to do their dirty work for them.
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August 14, 2017 at 2:07 pm
That is a great and valid take on the matter. Removing these symbols becomes a form of political amnesia, that is then used to disavow the continued oppression of marginalized groups.
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August 14, 2017 at 2:14 pm
How do you know what happened 100 years ago? Imagine if all the concentration camps had been demolished, all the Nazi flags and propaganda burned, statues pummeled. The day the last holocost survivor died…so would the holocost…in 2-300 years no such thing as Nazi’s would exist. We really need to stay smarter than this government.
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August 14, 2017 at 2:15 pm
I understand. Do you think, though, that preserving these symbols can also be a way of maintaining the hatred? At what point does the need to maintain history devolve into maintaining oppression?
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August 14, 2017 at 2:20 pm
The pyramids of Egypt were built by slaves. I don’t look at them and think hey slavery is great. I look at them and see how horrible the conditions can quickly become under a King who is wicked. I think it can be a tremendous tool for edification if implemented correctly.
Some may look at the pyramids and say wow what a great and mighty King. I look at them and pity the slaves backs that heaved stone all day. I know my chances of identifying with the worker is far greater than I ever identifying with the King today.
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August 14, 2017 at 2:25 pm
I love this point. I suppose it is simply assumed that viewing oppressive symbols provokes the same thought for everyone … when it doesn’t.
Sure: the symbol is gone, but the impulse that inspired still lives on. We cannot outlaw or ban hatred, or love for that matter. We need a transformation in the way we think and act. Anything less than that is nonsense
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August 14, 2017 at 2:27 pm
When I look at the pile of shoes from the Jews slaughtered during Hitler’s reign…
I weep, not only outwardly, but deeply….
And the last thing it inspires me to do is repeat that behavior.
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August 14, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Damn, I have never heard this position before and absolutely dig it. You should write a post about this – basically saying what you said. This is potent! Greattt point
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August 14, 2017 at 2:35 pm
I have enjoyed our conversation I look forward to many more!
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August 14, 2017 at 2:15 pm
I think you are a very intelligent young man. Keep up the good fight. God bless you šš»
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August 14, 2017 at 2:16 pm
Thank you! Speak soon, my friend. God Bless as well š
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August 14, 2017 at 2:22 pm
Yesterday I had a daydream that when Marshawn Lynch sat during the National Anthem, after about five seconds the people next to him sat down and then the fans all began to sit down. The possibility that the same epiphany could occur to a mass of people at the same time? Anything is possible. People like yourself help the process. Great post.
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August 15, 2017 at 9:43 pm
This was a good read. There were some facts here that even I didn’t know.
Here’s another (not so) fun fact–Trump’s dad was arrested at a KKK riot in New York in 1927.
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August 16, 2017 at 3:04 pm
Thank you Brendan! Wow I did not know about Trump’s father!
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August 16, 2017 at 8:43 pm
“Sure the symbol is gone but the impulse inspired still lives on”.Because I agree with The Way Online. As a matter of fact I have just started an article to submit to Huffpost and one of my thoughts is this: “Tearing down statues may be cathartic but it will not erase the reality of the past.” I have no doubt someone will not appreciate my opinion but I need to get over what “someone” may or may not think. Thanks for your posts, Darryl.
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