But that brought to mind a local story I saw yesterday that interviewed someone about Juneteenth. It dawned on me that, if that report had anything to say about it, there were no white people involved in the events of Juneteenth. To hear the individual interviewed, it was just blacks finally and inexplicably being freed after not being able to be freed and celebrating freedom. Nothing about who actually freed them.
And this made me kick around what I've noticed before. There are no Righteous Gentiles of the Civil Rights Movement. You get who the RGs are I assume. Those are the non-Jews, both Christian and not Christian, who risked and lost their lives to save Jews from the Nazis. In Jewish culture, they are held in high esteem. There are memorials, tributes and special accolades. Oskar Schindler is the most famous, but there are many others. It's the Jewish community's way of making sure those who did what they could are remembered and celebrated.
But I see none of that in the modern BLM/Civil Rights Era. Truth be told, I've not seen such an emphasis ever. The focus within the black community seems to have ever been on the sins of America and white Americans, and not those who broke with the majority to aid the black community.
In recent years, however, it seems to purposefully downplay or ignore anything positive done by whites on behalf of black Americans. I saw on a streaming service a 'making of'' special telling how the movie Harriet (as in Tubman) was made. In fairness I didn't see the movie. But if the special about its production is any indicator, you'd never know white people had anything to do with the Underground Railroad. It was blacks saving blacks and helping blacks and smuggling blacks. Again, the movie might be different, but not if that special was anywhere near accurate.
Same with the Civil War. I saw a black professor back in February talking about the plight of blacks in America. He spoke of blacks being victims of a racist terror state, the indignities and horror of their experience being on par with Jews in Nazi Germany. When it came to the Civil War, he made it clear there were two armies of racists fighting each other over slavery, and yet not caring about slavery at all.
What is it with the black community and refusing to give credit to white Americans? Do they do so, and the press just bends over backwards to ignore it? Is there a majority of blacks who do celebrate the sacrifice and bravery and courage of white Americans who stood by them? Are there black Americans who acknowledge that without July 4th you don't get Juneteenth in any event? Does the press simply make sure it's only the radicals who want America bleeding on the floor who are represented? We know the press is capable of such tricks.
Or are those radicals the majority view within the black community? I don't know. It's just something I've noticed in recent years. And call me a troublemaker all you want, but I'm always leery of anyone who refuses to give credit where it is due, especially to an entire ethnic group, especially for those within that group who died for their cause.
If we look only to the media/bollywalkofshame type, then never fear: smear they much (as Rev shark-ton famously said while "freeing" twanya Brawley)... For the ordinary folk, they know & recognize
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that the average person knows better than to fall for this. On the other hand, I'm reminded that in 1931, the overwhelming number of Germans did not belong to the Nazi party.
DeleteLet's see now: Neither multiculturalism not pluralism ever provoked thinking that reflected their names; neither did diversity. Mostly these concepts provided endless excuse for Black America to demand that White America change immediately to suit minorities. Never once have minorities had any obligation to learn about the virtues of their white counterparts. Most white people may be (sometimes not so) subtlely accused of racism, no minority may ever be likewise charged. Even if the definition for "racism" would fit. ESPECIALLY if the definition of "racism" would fit.
ReplyDeleteI have never once, for example, heard of any obligation for anyone of Black America to learn anything about Irish, German, Scottish, French, Italian, British/English, or Scandinavian culture. Yet let any of these groups be less than "fully aware" of African-American culture, ...and the non-African descended person shall be thrashed (mostly verbally) as the racist spawn of the devil.
However virtuous the original intentions of the Civil Rights Movement, ..they have long since abandoned any concern for genuine Justice for All.
Sadly, much of the secular/progressive world has caught on to this mentality. We thus have Pride Month, Pride parades, removing Christmas from schools and public life, and general idiocy of the same sort.
I thereby cannot be terribly surprised when someone insists on vigorous recognition of Juneteenth, even as they spit on the 4th of July or demand to either kneel during or altogether change the national anthem. They've been on a tear to supplant, destroy, or alter anything of the dignity of most of White America and Christian sentiment for most of 60 years.
If it was really about educating and bringing all people into our nation's heritage and identity, then the approach would be closer to what you suggest is lacking. Sadly, it's almost impossible to believe what is being done is being done for any other reason than to create divisions, foster racial resentment, and smear the heritage of the West and all its contributions.
DeleteI saw a black professor back in February talking about the plight of blacks in America. He spoke of blacks being victims of a racist terror state, the indignities and horror of their experience being on par with Jews in Nazi Germany.
ReplyDeleteNo one will suggest he avail himself of the employment opportunities to be found in West Africa. You'll be free of all these racists making your world worse and you can live among the people whose ancestors sold your ancestors to our ancestors. You'll enjoy wage scales in Nigeria.
That falls under the old 'if you don't like it here' principle. That was always rejected when I was growing up, and I used to think it was a weak argument. But over the years I've begun to realize it isn't a weak argument at all, especially as it's obvious that the goal is not to fix America, but to burn it to the ground.
DeleteYou can still get Juneteenth without July 4th. The British Empire freed it's slaves not too long before America did.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit more complicated than that. I would say it's almost impossible to separate England's move toward abolishing of that particular brand of slave trade and the events of the War of Independence. Not to mention the ideals that were already there, and the broader differences between the British Empire and the fledgling US Government. But more to the point, the 'July 4' reference is to counter the dominant media narrative this year that suggests the end of slavery just happened, as if there were no white people alive back then. Or that out of dumb luck they were freed, despite it based upon events and sacrifices of those Americans who made it possible within the greater American Experiment..
DeleteYou'd have to flesh that out a bit more. What does losing a few colonies have to do with Britain ending it's role in the slave trade?
DeleteEngland and the colonies were closely linked remember. Even if the colonies enjoyed a certain level of autonomy, they were subjects of the crown until the Revolution. Also recall, in the colonies attempts to abolish slavery had already occurred well before the Revolution. In that way, England was a Johnny-Come-Lately. But nonetheless, shortly after the Revolution, the English abolitionist movement began in earnest. One thing that helped was the promise England made to free slaves who would join the fight against the rebellion. More than one history text I grew up reading said it was not coincidental that this preceded the rise in influence the abolitionists had in England. Not to mention that many of the ideals of the Revolution were already in the mind of England. After all, Jefferson didn’t write that Declaration out of thin air, but seized upon ideas already in the English mindset. There have been other reasons I’ve seen argued, such as the sudden shock of England losing its main destination for most of its African slaves anyway, as well as the growing English empire that saw continuing to shuttle slaves all over to its various holdings as rather superfluous, since it could simply seize upon its imperial holdings and utilize the local populations. But the idea that the centuries old English slave trade suddenly ended only decades after the Revolution (the same year the US abolished the actual slave trade itself), is difficult to see as merely coincidental. And the idea that what the Revolutionaries accomplished and the high ideals they were proclaiming also didn’t make a mark is equally difficult to imagine.
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