Monday, June 01, 2020

An Ugly History


I usually reserve the first posting of the month for something about my garden.  That post will go live later today.  But this morning my mind is whirling with the events of the weekend, with last Monday’s killing of George Floyd, and with thoughts of how a path forward can be paved.


I stand with the demonstrators and I believe in the power of peaceful protest.  As a student of American history, a teacher preparing a class for the fall of 2020 predicated on the idea that the promise of the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the 1787 Constitution were not made real until adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment in 1868, I know that the American story is fundamentally a story of racism and inequality.


Trump and his white supremacy views don’t help.  But they only the latest in the vein of ugly racism that is our nation’s founding truth.  Until we acknowledge that, we can’t confront or deal with it.  


We are none of us free until all of us are free.  That we ignore this truth is our great national shame.

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