It was a very divided time for the nation. The economy was crippled. Buildings were burned out. There were shortages of food and other necessities. Surveys of the nation show that the country was deeply divided by political ideologies. Some remained heavily invested in Nazi Era politics. Some wanted a restoration of the former democratic government. Some just didn’t know what they wanted other than a better life. The time in their history is now referred to as “the big silence” as people focused on survival. Konrad Adenauer arose as the chancellor of what was then West Germany. A devout Christian, the Biblical mandate of equality for all people guided him. He led Germany into a period of reconciliation with their past, an admission of the guilt of the sins of Nazism and anti-Semitism, and worked to form a new identity for the people of West Germany. There are no monuments to Nazis in Germany today. They are not viewed as heroes. Instead, under thoughtful leadership, Germany entered a process where there was honesty about the sins of the past, an admission of guilt, and a new way forward was forged. Has that solved all the problems in Germany about racism and nationalism? No. But the reconciliation resulted in a country unified around principles of equality.
A more formal process took place in South Africa after the downfall of the apartheid regime. In modern history, apartheid was the most rigorous and intensely racist system created. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission worked for years to bring reconciliation between Black Africans and whites of European heritage. This was the foundation for a new nation that is now the most developed on the African continent. Yes, problems of corruption and economic equality remain. But the history of the racist past has been openly addressed and ways forward continue to be found.
What about the United States? Is it possible for the United States to get beyond its own deeply racist history – a history that echoes throughout daily life in this country? What we know from the experience of Germany and South Africa that overcoming a bitter racist past requires commitment and leadership. It’s not an easy task. It also takes time. But more than anything, it requires the will of the nation to move forward.
Canada, which shares a very similar history to the United States, maintains a culture that is much less racist and nationalistic. What makes Canada different? A key difference is that Canada invests in maintaining a diverse culture. Within the Canadian federal government is the Ministry of Diversity and Inclusion which works to assure diversity throughout the country. This Ministry (similar to a cabinet level position in the US) works with clear goals to maintain diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.
It’s not because of the history of the United States that we currently maintain a systemically racist structure woven throughout our daily life. Instead, it’s our present choices. Many white Americans equate racism with the KKK or unlawful acts of violence. Since they limit their understanding of racism to the actions of hate groups, they are blind to their own racist actions. Consider the false narratives that are commonly held in the US:
1. Black on black violence: Do you know who is most likely to kill a white person? Another white person. An Asian person? Another Asian person. A Black person? Another Black person. Most Americans live in segregated communities. Violence is most often perpetrated in the community in which we live, whether that’s domestic violence or acts of murder.
2. Valuing property as more important than human life. Many white people become incensed when property is damaged in demonstrations. (It’s been interesting to see report after report that in recent demonstrations, it’s been white people who started the violence and initiated looting.) When property is more important than human life, when people are more outraged that a brick was thrown through the window of a storefront than they are about the Black man killed by the police, white people are acting out of a racist set of values. This is the same set of racist values that stole land from Native American people generations ago.
3. Telling members of another racial group how they should dress, wear their hair, or the kind of music they should listen to are all forms of racism. This should be quite evident, but whether someone wears polished wing-tipped shoes or the latest Air Jordon’s says nothing about their value as a human being or the content of their character. These are merely choices in fashion.
Our everyday actions and attitudes betray the racism that is woven through this country. Because of that racism, white people believe it is their right and privilege to stop Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern people as they routinely go about their lives to question what they are doing. By simply not being white, non-white people are under suspicion. This is systemic evil.
Racism will end when enough people in the United States demand it will end. Based on our history, social movements that bring change often start with demonstrations. Those demonstrations often erupt into violence. I know this too well in my own life. As a gay man, I know that my rights and freedom today are because, in June of 1969, the patrons of Stonewall bar took to the streets and rioted to end oppression. That event is celebrated today around the world with festive parades. But it’s a movement that started with violence. Appropriate treatment for people with AIDS finally came after a march of one million people on Washington in 1997 along with continuous street activism throughout the country led by ACT-UP. For reasons I don’t fully understand, the American system seems to only respond to violent action. Routinely, a reasonable discussion is dismissed. Am I advocating violence? No, I deplore violence. But I recognize that social change in the United States most often comes as the result of violence.
Racism runs deep in the United States. In the 1860s, we fought a civil war that pulled this country apart because of racism. Yet, just a few years after the Civil War, American leaders doubled-down on racism and disenfranchised freed slaves from the land they were given following the war. Can the cycle of racism end? Or we have the will to do the hard thing and overcome racism? It’s truly up to us.
Photo by Wonder woman0731 on Foter.com / CC BY
As long as human beings are herded into “us” vs “them” we all will continue to be pawns of people in power.
Cass: You are so very right! Lou