The attempt to scrub this appalling atrocity from the collective memory of the general public was no accident. It was part of a concerted effort to conceal what happened and, failing that, to misrepresent the account altogether so that white America didn't have to deal with its racist past.
The Tulsa riot is not the only stain on this nation. The slaughter of countless native Americans during the 1800s is a stark reminder that when it comes to its own exceptionalism, white America has always suffered from selective amnesia. If history is indeed written by the winners, it is crystal clear who holds the patent on the fountain pens.
To listen to some, the United States is as pure as the driven snow, and anyone who dares to challenge that reality or offer up contradictory evidence is branded as unpatriotic. The proponents of Critical Race Theory are hardly unpatriotic. They love this country as much, if not more so, than those who oppose the theory. What they seek is an open and honest discussion of American history; one that is not whitewashed just to protect the delicate feelings of those who can't stomach the truth.
The painful reality is that this country was built in large part on the backs of African slaves who were brought here in chains, and who after independence from Great Britain was won were not even considered fully human. The westward expansion in the early years of the republic involved the forced removal of more than a dozen indigenous tribes from their ancestral lands onto reservations. And when resistance was met, the response from the federal government was the systematic extermination of many in those tribes.
If, as it says in the Declaration of Independence, "we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal," it is all too clear that some are more equal than others. Acknowledging that fact does not make us weak. Far from it; it strengthens us. Mistakes are learning tools. They're how we grow as human beings and as a nation. Even the Founding Fathers knew this. That's why they formed a "more" perfect union. They were smart enough to know the sauce wasn't done yet.
No nation can have an objective reading of its own history if part of that history is purged. It would be as foolish as the scientist who omits valuable data from his experiment simply because that data might force him to reconsider his hypothesis. That is precisely what the opponents of Critical Race Theory are doing when they ban its teaching. Not only are they living in a fantasy world in which all the potholes in the road are neatly covered up; they are foisting that fantasy world upon their children, who will then have the unenviable task of filling in those potholes on their own. And while the truth may set them free, they will be pissed as hell at their parents for keeping it from them. In the end, the skeletons always come out of the closet. The only question is when.
Sand Creek, Oak Run, Wounded Knee, Jim Crow, Elaine and Tulsa should be just as much a part of the American lexicon as Normandy, Gettysburg, Iwo Jima, Bunker Hill, and Trenton. The fact that they aren't means we still have a long way to go before we fulfill the promise men like Thomas Jefferson were willing to risk their lives for in 1776.
Remember that this Memorial Day.
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