Remember the Unremembered

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History isn't written by the victors, its rewritten by marketers. Skimmed over, textbook vocabulary, and Cliff Notes versions of Historical comparisons ruin progress and civil discourse! Like pouring vinegar into our cereal bowls, we lose sight of tasteful and meaningful dialogue when leaders misunderstand the details of history. Pushing historical narratives that serve short-sided political points move society in reverse and septically poisons the minds of progress.

Listen to some political leaders describe the Stay-At-Home orders, they'd have audiences believe this Covid19 lockdown has been the greatest injustice in American History. They Ignore the thousands of enslaved bodies our history piled upon our shores. They turn away when looking at shameful and ignorantly written legislation. Anyone with smartphone can quickly search: Sedition Act of 1918; Black Codes; Jim Crow Laws; Page Laws 1875; The Dawes Act; Chinese Exclusion Act. In this country, there lies an unspoken history of creating anti-immigrant and intolerant moods of division. Today's Stay-At-Home orders fall cosmically short of "injustice" or "infringement". Those who rant about a 3-6 month shutdown of social gatherings are crying "Wolf" in name of Divisiveness not Liberty.

Look a little closer at more recent history and it can be easily discovered that as this nation ages, we don't seem to ripen with age. At the height of World War II, Franklin Roosevelt's internment camps Housed Japanese-Americans because...they were Japanese? In the Aftermath of September 11, George W. Bush administration's Patriot Act of 2001, essentially destroyed the idea of privacy - especially for Arab-Americans! These examples of history aren't simple lists of American blunders, these illustrate the "choices" our leaders make in times of crisis. In the past, Presidents and leaders made decisions centered around how "American" somebody was (or looked). It also highlights the weird twisted truth that the nucleus of these decisions originate from some weird book on Anglo-Saxon Capitalism.  With each crisis, instead of meeting panic with seasonable, determined, and measured ideals, Americanism tends to lay down unforgettable labels of discrimination.

This ignored history leads to today, where individuals are suggesting stay-at-home orders - for the sake of a medical pandemic  - is on par with the oppressed peoples of yesterday. This claim is not only fallacy, but undeniably narrow-minded. There is absolutely zero, none, zilch, less than zero comparison. Comparing Work Camps and forced relocation camps to help thy neighbor cause is like comparing the sun to the moon. Yes, Both are Celestial Bodies, but they are both fantastically different and serve 2 completely different purposes. At the core of Stay-At-Home orders is preserving life and protecting the livelihoods of medical professionals, in other words the genesis of stay-at-home decision is compassion. Unlike previous political controversies and Constitutional challenges, stay-at-home decisions harbor the sanctity of life and not the narrow-mindedness of ethnocentrism. 

A global pandemic threatens all of us! Not just one race or social class and every Political leader needs to awaken their conscience and re-read the testimonies of those who survived Slavery, Relocation Camps, and Internment Camps. I doubt these first person accounts worried about which restaurant they could visit or if their split ends were too frizzy. No doubt, the life of a pandemic interrupts livelihoods but recklessly comparing this pandemic pause to historical atrocities underlies the problem which is current leadership draws inspiration from the single-mindedness Anglo-Saxon Dogma and its Economic principles. It is within these biases where the unfortunate demise of this country rests.

The wise have eyes in the head, but the fool walks in darkness. Let us use our eyes and learn from history. Let us build collective laws, standards, and policies, that generate the shared principles we all share or least agree to value. The common good comes from the values our families and neighbors provide us. These values don't stem from the the television, internet, or talking heads of today's bureaucratic chambers. Look at our history, read it, listen to it within ourselves so that we can construct greater senses of self, community, and country.