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The following is an adapted and updated excerpt from my book Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority. It seems especially relevant for Independence Day, and even more so given the current debates about reparations for enslavement and the history of white supremacy.
Both matters — the July 4th celebration and the debate over reparations — call upon us to recall the past. But those who gladly rush to the first of these and revel in celebrations of long-ago events in which they played no part, bristle at the thought that we should equally recall the brutal history of racism. For celebrations, the past is worth remembering; for pain and horror it is to be forgotten and its victims told to “get over it.”
The hypocrisy is stunning, and worth reflecting upon.
I have to confess to a longstanding fantasy, the fulfillment of which I resist in part because of its impracticality, but also owing to a general distaste for inviting violence upon my person.
It typically comes to mind at this time of year, as communities across the country gear up for their respective Fourth of July celebrations, replete with fireworks and hot dogs, to say nothing of the flags and red, white and blue…
