POETRY

OP-ED

The United States of Hostility: A Legacy of Racism

Paul R. Abramson

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. 

Great stuff, no doubt, but here’s the problem. How do you reconcile those fine sentiments with the fact that right out of the gate, three out of four of our first American Presidents – George Washington (1789-1797), Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809), and James Madison (1809-1817) – owned black slaves? Or, for that matter, that Thomas Jefferson, an avowed slave owner, wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence? And let’s not forget about the United States Constitution which stated that enslaved blacks would be counted as 3/5ths of free persons for the purposes of representation in Congress.

Put whatever spin you want on these facts, but when the United States Supreme Court ultimately ruled on the question of race, in Dred Scott v Sanford, this matter was finally settled. Or should I say imploded? Either way, on March 6th, 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney declared that black people had always been regarded as beings of an inferior order…with no rights which the white man was found to respect. 

With people like Taney in our closets, why the hell would anyone expect black people to get a fair shake in the United States of Hostility? And despite all of the progress that we’ve made in the 20th and 21st centuries, racism still reigns supreme. Just look at the metrics-incarceration rates, sentencing, health outcomes, and income, too. 

What can we do now? I have no idea, except to say that it better be perpetual and restitutive, while keeping a close watch on inertia. Inertia is the true enemy of racial equality. My fear is that when all of the clamoring settles down, the rights of black folks will do the same. Tweets and attending protest rallies aren’t going to get the job done.

Thurgood Marshall was a great warrior in the fight against racism, but he wasn’t a believer in protest marches, certainly as a viable strategy for productive change. Marshall, an attorney, took his fight to the courts, where his many victories, and their tangible repercussions, began to take hold.

Today, the same could be said of Bryan Stevenson, another attorney, and a MacArthur Award recipient no less, who continues to work relentlessly towards racial justice. For my money, it’s hard to imagine a more befitting antidote to racism than the memorial that Stevenson has now constructed. Known colloquially as the Lynching Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice is a profoundly unsettling, yet thoroughly riveting, testament to the gruesome history of lynching in the American South.

If I had the power, I’d make attendance at this memorial a requirement for graduating high school in America. And for that matter, I’d also move the memorial from Montgomery, Alabama to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. If you haven’t been there yet, it’s the best window into the history of racism within the United States of Hostility. 

Fight on. Our job is far from done. And beware of inertia, it is the silent assassin of hope.

Paul R. Abramson, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at UCLA. He is the author of 11 books, published by the likes of Oxford University Press, MIT Press, University of Chicago Press, New York University Press, and W.W. Norton. Paul is also the lead singer and lyricist of the band Crying 4 Kafka. More of Paul’s work can be found at abramsonuclapsych.com and crying4kafka.com