We’re only as sick as our secrets. ~ A saying from Alcoholics Anonymous

“WHAT’S THE BUZZ? Tell me what’s a happenin'” go the lyrics to a song from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Well, there’s a lot of buzz in the air and action on the ground these days (much of which I believe is not only misguided but unjust) regarding push back (some of it legislatively) against Critical Race Theory (CRT). It appears some fear CRT will taint the tender ears of the children and grandchildren of white folks like me. I’m not going to get into the weeds of CRT here. But I will say that I find it hard to believe that anyone who is a baby boomer or part of the demographic cohort called Generation X and who is well-informed and honest, can say that the American history we were taught–certainly in grade school and high school–was not a biased view of the American story. It doesn’t matter if the bias was intentional or rooted in ignorance. It is undeniable that the American history most of us were fed was prepared in a kitchen manned by white, educated, Christian, socio-economically advantaged males. This is not unimportant. For over a century, American history has largely been HIStory, the story of “The Man,” that is, those with authority and power.

All history expounded has a point of view, a view from a particular vantage point. In theology, for example, the study of Jesus of Nazareth is often broken down into “high Christology” and “low Christology.”

The former is written from a perspective that emphasizes Jesus’ divinity. The latter focuses more on Jesus’ humanity.

So it makes perfect sense, for example, that a dark-skinned middle eastern depiction of Jesus who was from the peasant class and lived in a small village called Nazareth, and who paid special attention not just to common folk but especially to the most marginalized people of his day, would be the Jesus at the heart of liberation theology that arose in Latin America in the 1960’s advocating for the poor who suffered greatly from socio-economic disparity and injustice. The Jesus who associated with people from the bottom of his society and showed special care in his actions and teachings for those most ignored, exploited, and oppressed, was far more accessible, relatable, comforting, and cause for hope for the marginalized of Latin America than the Jesus depicted as King of Kings, as supreme Sovereign somewhere in the distant, celestial heights. No doubt the oligarchs from Latin America were more comfortable with their version of this latter royal depiction of Jesus.

The last two days marked the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre, one of the most harrowing, violent, shameful events not only in the annals of Tulsa and Oklahoma, but in the history of America. On May 31 and June 1, 1921 the all-black community in the Greenwood District of Tulsa was sieged upon by an angry, well-planned, systematic (even civic leaders and agents of law enforcement were involved) combustible attack by white Tulsans on black citizens. A recent poll of Oklahomans showed that 83% of those educated in Oklahoma had never heard mention of this event in school.

The same systematic and calculated approach to the massacre was applied to the cover up. In the rare instances when it was mentioned, it was referred to by whites as The Greenwood Race Riot. Merriam-Webster defines riot as “a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with a common intent; public violence, tumult, or disorder.” But, what was not communicated until very recently, was that it was a whole lot of white people who assembled together for the riotous action that unleashed “a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace” with heinous venom and violence. All families have secrets. Communities as well. And as the adage goes, we’re only as sick as our secrets.

The historian and political science professor Howard Zinn wrote his book A People’s History of the United States in 1980. It was a runner-up for the National Book Award that year. Born to an immigrant Jewish family in Brooklyn whose parents were both factory workers with limited educations, much of Zinn’s professional writing was devoted to a history of America from below, from the perspective of the underclass, underprivileged, underdogs, and often under the big foot of those in power who possessed authority. His intent and hope was to offer a view of the American experience from below in stark contrast to the vantage point from the perch of privilege that shaped what was presented as the “official story” of America, one he viewed as redacted, sanitized, and predisposed to a “fundamental nationalist glorification of country”.

Of course, Zinn’s book was welcomed by those who typically found their experience and vantage point underrepresented and more times than not never reported at all except by those who heard it through the grapevine within their own community. Even Zinn had his blind spots, giving short shrift in its first edition, some assert, to the marginalized gay and feminist movements.

Of course, Zinn’s take on American history ruffled the feathers of those at the top, those responsible for the “traditional” presentation of American history. It has been considered by some to be a dangerous book and there have been many attempts to ban it. I will let historians and scholars argue the merits and accuracies of Zinn’s account.

What is most relevant, important, and valuable today about Zinn’s landmark book is that it exposed the overlooked obvious, namely, that history is in the eyes of the beholder and in the hands and fingers of those who are wielding the pen or pushing the keys on the keyboards that set down the chronicles, in this case, of the United Staes. History has always been biased, always been a story told from a particular viewpoint with a particular angle or slant. It doesn’t necessarily mean it is not true. It does mean that it is only a part of the story. Any person coupled with another, anyone who grew up with brothers and sisters, anyone who had or has a boss, anyone who knows anything about the Boston Red Sox – New York Yankees rivalry knows that there is never only one view, one story, one truth that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is worth noting, as a simple but poignant example, that the Second Indochina War was casually and unquestioningly referred to by Americans as “The Vietnam War.” But if you go to Vietnam today and speak with the lovely Vietnamese people you will discover that they refer to the same terrible conflict as “The American War.” There is no pure, 100% unbiased viewpoint.

When embarrassing, unfavorable, unflattering, shameful, or horrific events are revealed, when a new version of an old story is presented, the bearers of this news or these perspectives should not automatically expect to be castigated or shunned. It should not evoke a knee-jerk reaction that denigrates and demonizes the messengers and labels them as subversive and unpatriotic. The only near-accurate history is one that is committed to giving an eye and ear to all the perspectives of past events.

How could learning what American history looks like from the perspective of different Native American peoples who had their land stolen, treaties violated, and families moved to reservations be unpatriotic? How could listening to African Americans whose ancestors were brought to this country in shackles and enslaved be unimportant or dismissed as biased? How could the stories of all the immigrant peoples who have come to America over the centuries and been instrumental in making America a patch work quilt be irrelevant to our national story? How could the experiences and stories of women as well as men, poor as well as rich and middle class, blue collar workers as well as white collar, continually marginalized as well as typically privileged and empowered, LGBTQIA+ people as well as straight, agrarians as well as urban folks, not be of equal importance to the narrative of the United States?

It is a great danger to democracy when special interest groups and politically partisan power brokers cry foul or bias when another side to a well-grooved story is told. It is a mockery of history, and a moral issue of great import for us today in 2021, when a group with the power, means, and lack of conscience try to present, let alone, legislate their chosen and preferred side of the story as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as THE American history. So help us God.

© 2021, Dan Miller. All Rights Reserved.

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