In the "American Experience", historian Henry Louis Gates narrates a documentary concerning reconstruction in the United States South, post Civil War. Reconstruction was a time of highs and lows, the first African Americans were elected to congress, but the KKK was formed. African American men were allowed to vote, but were subject to violence should they go the ballot box alone. While I disagreed with its current portrayal of America at the beginning of the documentary, it brought across some interesting points, some of which, I wish they would have dug deeper on, as opposed to just calling every factor "racism" and moving on. Allow me to summarize some of the key points on which I agreed and disagreed upon.
First, what I found interesting and concurred with within the video. It is absolutely true, that African American's involvement in the civil war had a positive effect on both ends of the country. As I had stated in class recently, there are no foes who dwell together in a foxhole. When two groups of people, no matter how different their backgrounds fight and die together for a cause, the result is always a new respect for that group of people. We saw this in the 1860's and we see this now.
The United States has been at war for as long as I have been alive in the Middle East. It was wrong the day in started, and it's wrong now. One of my best friends growing up, Ty Reinhard, has fought overseas and watched U.S. and national soldiers die side by side. So it's no surprise he, and other U.S. soldiers have built comradery with these Middle Eastern fighters. So when the U.S. blocks immigration from Pakistan to allow translators to come stateside, these veterans are the first to speak up. (See this article) It is these strong relations between groups, that is often the product of great shared trauma- that bridge the gap between peoples.
The effect on African Americans serving in the Army was two-fold. First, it gave them a sense of unity with the United States army, and white comrades across the nation. Second, it gave them access to weaponry otherwise impossible for a former slave to get their hands on.
As a second amendment advocate, I stand by the idea that armed minorities are harder to oppress, especially when they themselves are threatened with violence. It was of no surprise then, that the documentary depicted groups of African Americans going to the polls together, and armed. Now, let my stance on this matter be clear: Violence does not condone even crueler violence. But, it was rather a show of force, an act of strength, to any who would dare attack them that had a great significance here. The old metaphor of a porcupine works well here; that being a porcupine does not seek to impale every animal it crosses, but rather wants to show the punishment that will come for those predators that go to take a bite.
What I found questionable in "The American Experience" , is that it portrayed an America who still was living in the racism of the past. The issues we see today stem from the economic sins of racist reconstructive history. For example, white households, on average, hold more wealth than their counterparts (See Social Security Government Website). However, with that being said, there are no laws that make anyone inferior in the country due to race in this country. Racism, especially in this generation, is something so disgusting, so vile, that those who are racist are seen on par with the villainy of rapists and child predators. It is beyond taboo, it is vile. To make the assertion that such held thoughts of racism are held in common place today, is to claim we live in a nation of sex offenders because we still see these vile people in the newspaper.
In short, do we still suffer from those sins of our past? Yes. Again, but we mainly see this in economic echoes rather than racist continuation.
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