A guest blog: Making sense of the past

The following post is from an email I received (and have permission to post) from John in response to my last post. I feel that he expresses the internal debates many of us go through as we try to make sense of the past and the role we can play today to make things better.

Thank you, John.

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I don't know if it helps any (it probably doesn't), but here's where we agree... In your reply to SP, you said: "So, lets agree that we (white society) have caused a lot of intentional damage, that we need to stop thinking that our values are the only ones of consequence, and that we need to begin listening to what is being said with open minds and hearts." I agree with every part of that statement. In my comments I didn't mean to downplay any of our history, or deny white society's culpability.

I can't honestly say that I was familiar with all of your historical references, but none of them surprised me... nor do I have any doubt that they occurred in the fashion described. I consider myself fortunate to have had what I considered to be an exceptional American History teacher in high school, who unlike some of the other teachers - taught all of our history, warts and all.
I know there are better places to start (going forward), but I've always thought it was something that needed to be addressed: that all of our history needs to be taught in high school. I don't know that this is true throughout the U.S., but in Florida (over the last 10-15 years) there's been a push to "get back to basics" in school... to the detriment of humanities. I find this frightening.

As for our disagreement? I'm hesitant to go there at all, lest I do any more damage, but I'll try anyway. When I speak of understanding, I'm thinking of society at large rather than individuals and their actions. When I consider individuals behind the atrocities, their many (many, many) actions, and their government which encouraged it, I think of greed. You're absolutely right. There's little wiggle room there. There were many, many people directly involved in genocide, and their motives were indefensible. What plagues me is, why did society at large allow it to happen? Although most Americans did not actively participate, they were just as culpable by either allowing it to happen, or actively endorsing it. Here's where I thought understanding came into play. Not the kind of understanding where you think you know someone's motives... but to be sympathetically aware of the character of another culture, and everything that makes it up (their values, their history, etc). When I speak of understanding, I think that part of truly "understanding" another culture is knowing that our values are not the only ones of consequence. You mentioned the genocide of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, two examples of genocide which punctuated years of suppressed ethnic tensions. When I posted my comment I was thinking of another example of genocide, the holocaust in Nazi Germany. It may not be a perfect analogy, but I thought was another example of a population that went along with a genocide (sometimes eagerly). Germany had a little more baggage going into the holocaust (the economic depression following WWI), resulting in more emotional fervor, but I thought the gist was the same. Individuals of unspeakable evil used lies to breed fear and mistrust, to convince a population to go along with their terrible actions.

I think of my country's current involvement in the middle east. I think of the lies my government told to get us involved. I think some of my friends, who supported it (despite our spirited debates, and my best efforts), whom I know aren't motivated by greed (some of the nicest, most generous, and selfless people I know).

I know it can be dangerous to draw too many conclusions from one anecdote, but the thought of my friends during the build up in Iraq has been on my mind. How much did white society's lack of understanding of indigenous culture allow them to be duped? How much did greater Germany's lack of fundamental understanding of Judaism and Jewish tradition allow them to be swept up in the emotional fervor, distrust, and hatred that became the holocaust? How much did a lack of understanding of middle east politics, Islam, and Arabic culture lead my friends into being duped into supporting a war in Iraq after 9/11?

Is it possible that I'm still pulling all of this out of my ass? Absolutely. All I have are my high school history classes, a degree in psychology (which is nearly useless), Hollywood, a couple of bad analogies, and a weak anecdote to support my conclusions. Since I read the original posting, and thought about commenting... it occurred to me that my motives could be self serving. I am very much a part of white society. There are many things my country and it's inhabitants do which is wrong... which I've done little of real consequence to stop.

Perhaps my greatest fear is that if we implicate society at large, I must implicate myself. I'm not talking about a simple matter of shame, bemoaning the actions of fellow countrymen; but personal responsibility.

Finally, that bit before, referencing your research (the historical references to specific atrocities)... I hope I didn't give the impression that I was dismissing it. I did find it informative. You crafted a well considered reply, and I do appreciate the effort. It looks like it was considerable.

John Kauffman