The War May Finally Be Over...Let's Not Start Another One

As a small child growing up in the 1950s I loved war. The romanticizing of military conflict had exploded after WWII. I was particularly fond of the American Revolution and the Civil War, what little I knew. When I played Civil War, often by myself with make-believe solders, I usually favored the Rebels, despite growing up an hour north of New York City. After all, they were the scrappy underdogs. I didn’t have the slightest concept of what slavery was or had been.

My love of history taught me much more over the decades with a clearer understanding of the conflict we know as the Civil War, but often referred to by Southerners as The War Between the States. The difference in title is telling. Civil War implies a conflict between citizens of the same country while the other is more simply geographic affiliation, e.g. Nationalism

When I moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1981 as an educated, employed, white male I recall being impressed with the displayed (almost) reverence to the Civil War and the allegiances that had supported the Southern cause. After all, north of Gettysburg the Civil War has a fairly small footprint across village greens. It was like going back in time.

I was also keenly aware of the results of discrimination in the South, resulting in the socio-economic deficits experienced by African-Americans. However, it was relatively easy – way too easy – not to associate the plight of poor, less educated Blacks with the conflict that had ended 160 years earlier and its foundational discrimination.

As the years past and we experience life in the South, my wife and I slowly at first and then almost constantly reacted to a societal reality. As “Yankees” we were able to objectively observe how those native to the region had embraced their heritage like a religion. Unfortunately, from our perspective, that “religion” included underlying hostilities, fears, and insecurities. Casting  African-Americans as a single lot (the essence of racism), viewing Northerners as foreigners, extolling Nationalism but with Confederate Flags were all too obvious.

Gun ownership clearly had long expanded beyond practical use and become symbolic of defiance to anything that wasn’t consistent with the Dukes of Hazard.

With a growing family, we found ourselves loving the area, the congenial nature and honesty of Virginians, economic opportunity, and friendship warmly afforded to a young family. Still, when we’d see what was happening around us, the “stars and bars” snapping in the wind everywhere, war reenactments, and what was on the news daily, we’d often say to each other, “when in the hell is this damned Civil War going to end?”

That day may have arrived. Let’s hope so.

The BLM demonstrations have been supported by a wide spectrum of individuals and organizations. As part of it they have shined a stark light on the affection given to a conflict where the origins and motivations have been so removed as to allow those that extolled the conflict to act like small boys playing with make-believe soldiers. Despite any historical reference, the removal of tributes to the Conflict (statues, flags etc) is not only appropriate, but also carries the weight of morality.

Let the Civil War surrender itself to former battlefields and cemeteries. However, I find myself conflicted with the apparent attempt to erase slavery as an historical reality, most recently in the attacking of a rash of monuments that have no representation to the Confederacy, but some connection to slavery (Washington, Jefferson, Keyes, Grant etc.). I’m afraid in doing so they are missing the point and playing into the hands of White Supremacists.

We live in an enlightened world. The immorality of slavery is no more in question, regardless that it was morally acceptable as an institution for 95% of recorded history. Embedded pseudo-slavery, as with indentured servitude, imprisoned individuals, and women generally has existed even longer, and we also know it’s wrong, though in many areas of the world it still survives.

The real crime to consider for Black Americans and ethnic minorities generally is not slavery, it’s what happened after slavery ended: the subjugation of an entire population based on race to keep them as a viable economic resource while simultaneously denying them access to the opportunities of a free society, social and economic. This was true in two essential and critical aspects: education and real property ownership and it was done through legal policy that let discrimination flourish.

The BLM movement needs to pivot from the emotional backlash against history to supporting policies that fundamentally compliment the new understanding of morality we’re experiencing today. Get rid of the Trumplicans and place in office people at all levels of Government that understand how to get policy done.  Protest those that are trying to suppress the vote, and then get out and vote the right people in. It is the issue that transcends race or ethnicity.

It's STILL About Politics

White America: get one thing straight. The demonstrations taking place in the US and around the World are not only proper but are steeped in moral authority. The only questions that come to my mind are why this social response is unlike those for similar incidents and will it make a difference?

It is certainly different in scope.

Six years ago Tamir Rice, an innocent 12 year old boy, was arbitrarily shot to death by a policeman in Cleveland. I say arbitrarily because no effort was made to assess or mitigate the situation before ending Tamir’s life. Instead of rendering aid, the only thing the two policemen did after shooting the boy was to tackle his 14 year old sister running to his side, handcuff her, and put her in the patrol car. Nether police officer was charged or even fired as a result of the incident.

The human tragedy that befell a child and his family, by any reasonable gauge of compassion, certainly equals or (in my opinion) exceeds that which was inflicted on George Floyd. So what made Floyd’s death set the world off while the crime of Tamir’s death was thrown on the 155 year heap of racial injustice and essentially forgotten?  I believe the answer can be summed up in one word: reality.

There was grainy distant video of Tamir’s death, but the vivid video of Floyd’s homicide has taken the plight of African Americans beyond the abstraction lodged in the heads of most white Americans. His death was no different than if he had been hanged, with all of America watching as his feet slowly left the ground. Add to that the methodical and apparent indifference of his “executioner” (dear God, the cop had his hands in his pockets) and there was no wall for the viewer to hide behind.

This may explain the open floodgate of revulsion coalescing a movement that could possibly have legs. I also believe the tension and disillusion created by Western Democracies mishandling of the Corona Pandemic has instilled a degree of empowerment to populations wanting change. But what would that change look like and how could it happen?

The “Greatest Generation” (those Americans born 1900-1925) had, like most generations, several characteristics that were less than great. That generation was the last to live their formative years in an America where racial discrimination was not only prevalent and tolerated, but was also considered ethically correct. There was virtually no moral imperative for the vast majority of white American to combat racism or most ethnic discrimination. Nationalism trumped post-Civil War inequality. It was how things were and, as most white people felt, how they were supposed to be. The success of WWII was used as justification.

The white Baby Boom Generation grew up in a transitional period regarding discrimination, experiencing both the clash of civil liberties against moral injustice, but also the carryover of their parents world view. As adults enjoying material growth, boomers along with their parents didn’t (or wouldn’t) comprehend the painfully slow cadence of social change.

A relentless surge of economic inequality separated the two worlds of those landed and educated, and those who were not. The police, in a very real sense, evolved into a domestic army “defending” one against the other.

However, an important transformation took place since 1960 and it accents the significance of the demonstrations we are seeing today. There are no corners left in this Country where racial, ethnic, or sexual discrimination is considered morally and ethically correct. Opposition to the necessary changes or bravado that supports White Supremacy is now only founded in contrived fear; fear of losing power, property, lifestyle, and hubris.

I have great faith that as the ethics of Millennials and their children drive the social structure in the US, real decline in ethnic, racial, and sexual discrimination (including immigration) will occur. However, systemic inequality needs help and protesting by itself won’t do it.

Economic inequality, veiled white supremacy, and even response to natural disaster (e.g. pandemics) exhibit real flaws in representative democracy. We can’t avoid the System and we shouldn’t, given its merits and history. However, a real political tsunami is needed and it can be done within the System.

The Republican Party, at all levels, needs to be voted into insignificance, where it rightfully belongs. The Republican Party has totally lost its moral compass and has become bonded only by limited special interests and the type of self-aggrandizement personified in Donald Trump. It survives primarily through disinformation, which is consistent with a Party that truly represents a precious few.

Special interests by definition are not bad. The Democratic Party is diverse enough to corral large numbers of interests into a coherent set of policies. It could actually enhance the possibility of a viable new ethically based major party.  My hope is that Biden chooses his VP and Cabinet based on their proven ability to get things done…to compliment the emotions of the times, not wallow in them.