Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
(Vea la versión en español a continuación.)
I am from the school that believes that the past, present and future are not separate, and all actually form one seamless continuum. For example, in the realm of US politics, Providence, Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism are not dated concepts, but what constitutes the foundation of this nation’s psyche.
These concepts also affirm that the religio-white supremacist ideals that were present during the nation’s founding, continue to be a part of this nation’s moral fabric, which is clearly on display during these 2020 elections. These truths are generally left out of US K-12 textbooks. Students are taught that the “Founding Fathers” ushered in democracy, but not that the nation was actually founded upon genocide, land theft, slavery and de jure and de facto discrimination.
This helps explain why the current White House occupant opposes the teaching of the significance of 1619 (slavery). Instead, he wants 1776 (Independence) to be taught as the nation’s founding. The year 1492 (colonialism) is arguably an even better year to recognize because that’s when these destructive ideologies and worldviews were first introduced into this country/continent.
Truthfully, the White House should not be in the business of directing schools to invisibilize peoples, and their struggles, nor the many thousands of years of human history of this continent.
Over the past decade, a battle over Ethnic Studies has swept the nation, with those against, arguing that what is taught there is anti-American. Au contraire or nel pastel. What is taught is the above and as such, the struggle over what to remember/forget rages on. And yet, that struggle is even more contemporary as the current administration in September issued an executive order that bans government agencies from teaching about combatting/overcoming racism. This is not an exaggeration and certainly not about issues remanded to the past, but very much relevant to this 2020 election.
In this particular election, if one manages to sift through all the political manure, one is left with not simply thousands of lies, but all are virtually traced to those foundational myths. With few exceptions, many/most pols lie or hyper-stretch the truth, however, one wonders how we got to the point in which a president can lie profusely, to the point of normalization. The answer lies in the fact that those foundational myths are actually foundational lies and society’s institutions, particularly its schools, continue to teach these grand delusions, arguably resulting in the inability of many to not know when they are being lied to.
If this society barely acknowledges 1619, why would it acknowledge 1492? To do so would minimally result in severe cognitive dissonance, or moral suicide.
But now, when democracy is at stake … Wait. Let’s back up. The democracy intended for white male landowners? It certainly wasn’t intended for Red-Black-Brown peoples, including Asians, either. It was also not designed for women. So here too is another foundational myth exposed as pure fiction.
The year 2020 can be remembered when the country actually began its promise to treat all people as full human beings with full corresponding human rights. Or it will forever be remembered when the rest of the country began to be subjected to the same treatment that people of color have always known, since even before its founding. Along with displacement, for the conservative white populace, that is an abhorrent thought. For people of color, regardless of who wins, there cannot be a return to status quo.
The key, I return to, are the lies. In July this White House occupier had clocked in at 20,000+ lies. We are now in November and thus with his ramped up lying, the count should already have reached 25,000. The question is, how did the nation’s body politic permit him to get away with even telling one major lie, this while occupying the nation’s highest office? This is from a man who thirsts for unrestrained power and who also insists that he deserves another 12 years. His lying alone should have been the actual focus of impeachment and this election. It appears the “Founding Fathers” were not truly geniuses after all.
The only genius things they can be credited with, that remain in effect today, is devising the electoral college, in effect, ensuring an apartheid form of government, devising a system that permits the minority (GOP) to derail a supreme court nominee and thus stacking the Supreme Court, and permitting voter suppression to flourish.
Permitting a mentally unstable psychopath to normalize lying and to turn government into a kleptocracy – as an acceptable form of governance, especially one with dictatorial and authoritarian designs – is also not in the least, a characteristic of genius.
When in the future, people inquire about these times, people will not ask about ideologies or beliefs, but rather: What did you do to ensure that he did not return to office?
Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez is an associate professor at the University of Arizona Mexican American Studies and is the author of several books, including “Our Sacred Maiz is Our Mother” (2014) and “Yolqui: A Warrior Summoned from the Spirit World” (2019). Email XColumn@gmail.com.
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