Weeks 34-36: Roots
A people without knowledge of their past history,
origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
-Marcus Garvey
In the past few weeks, many trees in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast have been uprooted by hurricanes and lay to waste, scattered across the landscape. So, too, have our “American” values. Protesters and counter protesters have continued to clash over the memorialization of Confederate leaders. NFL players have expanded their protests during the playing of the National Anthem, igniting a feud with our president and vice president. And most recently, an “Average American” used legally-purchased, semi-automatic weapons to open fire on concert goers in Las Vegas, killing 58 and wounding more than 500. Sparking an age old gun control debate.
The quote I’m invoking this week comes from Marcus Garvey. In this quote, Garvey is talking about Africans. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism. He felt like Africans needed to reclaim knowledge of their past that was stripped of them through the horrors of the Atlantic Slave Trade. He worried that, without knowledge of this past, they would “be like a tree without roots” and therefore be unable to stand strong as a people.
Now more than ever this country seems to be a “tree without roots,” at the mercy of the winds of our past.
A past I’m afraid we know little about.
This is the big argument that supporters of Confederate statutes make. This is history, they claim. Tearing it down is like erasing history.
They are right about this. I don't think running from our past is healthy. However, the part they’re missing is that the “history” that they are referring to is extremely bias and one-sided. I'm not sure they would like it if we memorialized the real history of the civil war.
Where are the statutes of poor whites forced to fight for a cause they had no choice in? Where are the statues of the women left to fend for themselves when their fathers, brothers and husbands died on the battlefield? Where are the statues of the slaves torn between a world of bondage, escape and battle?
I agree with the Confederate statue sympathizers. Don't tear down the statues. Tell the rest of the story by putting new ones up all around them. Until we do, this “wind” from our past will continue to threaten the strength of our people.
I’m not going to lie. When Colin Kaepernick first started not standing for the National Anthem, it pissed me off. I thought it was a misplaced attempt at protesting. However, I did believe it was his right to do so.
The First Amendment says:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Isn’t that exactly what he and others are doing? He has a grievance. He is exercising his freedom of speech to petition the government to redress the grievance.
I stand and put my hand over my heart for a flag that represents that right. Do we want to live in a country where we are forced to stand for a flag? A country where we don’t have the right to have a grievance? If that day comes I will no longer stand for the flag.
The “winds” of past have been battering us lately. Last Sunday, bullets rained down from a Las Vegas hotel room into a crowded concert venue killing 58 and wounding over 500. Why? No one knows. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, does not seem to have a motive. However, he did have 47 guns. Why did he have 47 guns?
The Second Amendment says:
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Ok. Each state has a National Guard which covers the “well regulated militia” piece and here in America we have the right to bear arms. In 1791, that meant that most Americans would own a single shot rifle. I’ve read up a bit and, yes, there were other, more advanced guns on the horizon, but they were not mass-produced like guns are today, and the average American couldn't get there hands on them. Did the Founding Fathers anticipate the development of machine guns? Maybe. On that note, did the Founding Fathers anticipate the abolition of slavery? Most certainly. Did the Founding Fathers anticipate a governing body with common sense to amend the constitution. Absolutely.
I hunt. I enjoy my right to bear arms.
But at what cost? Would I give up my ability to hunt to save one of the 58 lives lost last Sunday. Yes, I would. Do I have to? I don’t think so. Why can’t we look at the “past history, origin and culture” of 1791 and come up with some gun laws that make sense for 2017? How long are we going to let this “wind” from our past blow us away?
America! We are a tree swaying violently in the wind right now. We need all of our roots if we are going to pull through. Our roots are complicated and intertwined, but they are the roots of one tree. One America. We cannot cut out some of our roots and withstand this hurricane. Instead, we need to strengthen all of our roots, together.
The only way we can do this is by confronting our past. Our whole past.
We do this by listening to each other, as hard as it may be. When folks march to support or oppose a Confederate statue. Listen. When players knee or stand as our Anthem plays. Listen. When lawmakers defend or oppose the Second Amendment after a massacre. Listen.
If we don’t start listening to each other I’m afraid the “winds” of our past our going to tear this tree down.
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