I have a habit of labeling that "other" story -- of white supremacy, of the oppression of women, of the wealthy as the "rightful leaders" and the poor as morally undeserving -- as "Un-American" in the context of how we have evolved on the messy path toward "a more perfect union."
I think I need to revisit that and understand more completely how that "other story" has always been there.
It's not a "going back" because that story of progress is also "still there." Acceptance enables clearer sight of what it is we are up against. And perhaps enables more creative ways of making it clear the story of our advances in civil rights, advances in human rights, advances in tax fairness, advances in turning back the excesses of the gilded age, and on and on -- the story I think of as both the BETTER story and the REAL American story -- is just one side of the "story" of a very complicated nation.
This is a resurgence. Not a "going back." And if we get back on that "better path," we must understand that the forces that the "better" path has overcome haven't gone anywhere. The dynamic may not be "resolved" in our lifetimes. And perhaps, if we get back on the path of social and economic justice, we'll be better prepared for a future resurgence of that "other story."
I may not be making sense, but that whole discussion has sparked a lot of feeling and thinking.
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