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Teflon
Sense of History & Collective Sin
A Response to “The
Dark Side of Obedience”
A
Letter from Wilson Moses
Dear
Rudy,
I have read your commentary at [your] site—“The
Dark Side of Obedience”
After
some initial resistance, I have to accept your point about
collective sin. I have a friend and colleague, a black
man, who refuses to accept any blame for America's foreign
policy, despite the fact that he has served in the military.
In
my view, if African Americans accept U.S. citizenship, attend
the schools, use the libraries, appeal to the police, sue our
enemies, and register our deeds at the county court house, we
have to accept the fact that we are up to our necks in the
system.
We
have to accept blame for the crimes committed in our names.
We cannot scapegoat Lynndie England. We cannot
scapegoat General Sanchez or Secretary Rumsfeld. We cannot
scapegoat Dr. Rice or Secretary Powell. We cannot, as Jefferson
did, scapegoat George III. We cannot even scapegoat George
Bush II. So long as we are part of the system, we share
the guilt.
As you say, this country has a Teflon sense of history.
Nothing sticks. Our motto is "That was then.
This is now." Of course pseudo-history is always with
us. Try a Google-search on the words "Jeffersonian
democracy" + Iraq. You will find quite a few links.
Have we forgotten that this country fought a "Great Civil
War" in order to rid ourselves of Jeffersonian Democracy?
Oops!
I forgot. The Civil War had nothing to do with the
Jeffersonian slavery based economy; it arose from the
irrepressible patriotic impulse of the American heroes,
Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who resisted the intrusions
of big government in Washington, and "beltway
politicians," a bunch of liberals wanted to take away our
guns and our freedoms.
The
Mexican War was fought in order to avenge the massacre at the
Alamo, and because it was our manifest (self evident) destiny
(came from God) to pave a pathway to the Pacific. Only a year
later, after California had been justly and appropriately
annexed, did gold become a factor in California history, that is
in 1849.
The Spanish/American war [What? That's not the same as the
Mexican War?]. No, kids, it's not the same!
The Spanish American War happened like this: Suppose you
were a kid on the playground, and you saw a big bully (Spain)
messin' with a little kid (Cuba), well you ought to step in and
help. Right?
[NPR
interviewed a teacher-of-the-year laureate, who taught the
Spanish American War with exactly this analogy].
And
while you were at it, maybe you could sorta liberate the
Pacific. After all we had already "opened up Japan to
free trade," and set up a democratic government in Hawaii.
So why not scarf up the Philippines, while we're liberating Cuba
from the iron heel of Spanish rule. Never mind if the natives
resist with a bitter guerilla war. (which is still remembered by
Islamic jihadists in the Philippines, today) [Hey wait
a minute! There ain't no Arabs in the Philippines.]
No,
kids, but there are, however, Muslims in the Philippines.
They have been there since the 13th century, and they
have a historical memory of the recent Spanish American War,
even if we Teflon-brained Americans do not. The
"Jihad against the Americans" in the appropriately
named "Moorish lands" of the Philippines lasted from
1898 to 1946, when the Philippines were granted independence.
How
many of us, in teaching the history of the Philippines, make any
mention of the jihad tradition? How might American foreign
policy in the middle east be interpreted by radical Muslims in
the Philippines or by moderate Muslims in Indonesia?
So Rudy, you have awakened my conscience. Black historians
can teach courses on black heroes struggling against the odds to
triumph over American racism. "It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do so."
"But, in a larger sense," I think I also have some
obligations to place in the hands of my students the writings of
the Great White Fathers.
I
want them to read in their own words of Thomas Jefferson's
endorsement of Indian removal, Ulysses S. Grant's condemnation
of the Mexican War, and Teddy Roosevelt's cheerful butchery on
San Juan Hill. If I do no more than supply them with
the actual words, written by the Great White Fathers, that may
have some effect. It is not necessary for me to offer any
liberal biased commentary at all, and far be it from me to do
so. The fair and unbiased presentation of the
documents, will stick to the minds of some of my
students.
I
have complete confidence, rooted in experience, that not all
American brains are Teflon-coated.
Wilson
Moses http://php.scripts.psu.edu/dept/history/faculty/mosesWilson.php
posted 24 May 2004
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Report of the Research Committee
on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
January 2000
Conclusions
Based on the examination of
currently available primary and secondary documentary evidence, the oral
histories of descendants of Monticello's African-American community,
recent scientific studies, and the guidance of individual members of
Monticello's Advisory Committee for the Robert H. Smith International
Center for Jefferson Studies and Advisory Committee on African-American
Interpretation, the Research Committee has reached the following
conclusions:
Dr. Foster's DNA study was
conducted in a manner that meets the standards of the scientific
community, and its scientific results are valid.
The DNA study, combined with
multiple strands of currently available documentary and statistical
evidence, indicates a high probability that Thomas Jefferson fathered
Eston Hemings, and that he most likely was the father of all six of
Sally Hemings's children appearing in Jefferson's records. Those
children are Harriet, who died in infancy; Beverly; an unnamed daughter
who died in infancy; Harriet; Madison; and Eston.
Many aspects of this likely
relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson are, and may
remain, unclear, such as the nature of the relationship, the existence
and longevity of Sally Hemings's first child, and the identity of Thomas
C. Woodson.
The implications of the
relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson should be
explored and used to enrich the understanding and interpretation of
Jefferson and the entire Monticello community.—Monticello
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Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account
Thomas Jefferson (April 13,
1743 – July 4, 1826) was the principal
author of the
Declaration of Independence (1776) and
the
Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom
(1777), the
third
President of the United States
(1801–1809) and founder of the
University of Virginia (1819). He was
an influential
Founding Father and an exponent of
Jeffersonian democracy.
Sarah
"Sally" Hemings (Shadwell,
Albemarle County, Virginia, circa
1773 –
Charlottesville, Virginia, 1835) was a
mixed-race
slave owned by
President
Thomas Jefferson through inheritance
from his wife. She was the
half-sister of Jefferson's wife,
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father
John Wayles. She was notable because most historians now believe
that the widower Jefferson had six children with her, and maintained an
extended relationship for 38 years until his death. When Jefferson's
relationship and children were reported in 1802, there was sensational
coverage for a time, but Jefferson remained silent on the issue. Four
Hemings-Jefferson children survived to adulthood. He let two "escape" in
1822 at the age of 21 and freed the younger two in his will in 1826.
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Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy
By Annette Gordon-Reed
Attorney Gordon-Reed (law, New York
Law Sch.) presents a lawyer's analysis of the evidence for and against
the proposition that Jefferson was the father of several children born
to his household slave Sally Hemings. Gordon-Reed is not concerned with
Jefferson and Hemings as much as she is with how Jefferson's defenders
have dealt with the evidence about the case. Her book takes aim at such
noteworthy biographers as Dumas Malone, who has been quick to accept
evidence against a liaison and quick to reject evidence for one.—Library
Journal
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Remember
Thomas Jefferson's Betrayal—Bill Moyers—02 July
12—Jefferson himself was an aristocrat whose
inheritance of 5,000 acres, and the slaves to work
it, mocked his eloquent notion of equality. He
acknowledged that slavery degraded master and slave
alike, but would not give his own slaves their
freedom. Their labor kept him financially afloat.
Hundreds of slaves, forced like beasts of burden to
toil from sunrise to sunset under threat of the
lash, enabled him to thrive as a privileged
gentleman, to pursue his intellectual interests, and
to rise in politics.
Even the children born to him
by the slave
Sally Hemings remained slaves, as did their
mother. Only an obscure provision in his will
released his children after his death. All the
others—scores of slaves—were sold to pay off his
debts.
Yes, Thomas
Jefferson possessed "a happy talent for
composition," but he employed it for cross purposes.
Whatever he was thinking when he wrote "all men are
created equal," he also believed black people were
inferior to white people. Inferior, he wrote, "to
the whites in the endowments both of body and mind."
To read his argument today is to enter the pathology
of white superiority that attended the birth of our
nation.
So forcefully
did he state the case, and so great was his standing
among the slave-holding class, that after his death
the black abolitionist
David Walker would claim Jefferson's argument
had "injured us more, and has been as great a
barrier to our emancipation as any thing that has
ever been advanced against us," for it had ". . .
sunk deep into the hearts of millions of the whites,
and never will be removed this side of eternity."
So, the ideal
of equality Jefferson proclaimed, he also betrayed.
He got it right when he wrote about "Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness" as the core of our
human aspirations. But he lived it wrong, denying to
others the rights he claimed for himself. And that's
how Jefferson came to embody the oldest and longest
war of all—the war between the self and the truth,
between what we know and how we live.
So enjoy the
fireworks and flags, the barbecues and bargain
sales. But hold this thought as well: that behind
this Fourth of July holiday are human beings who
were as flawed and conflicted as they were inspired.
If they were to look upon us today, they most likely
would think as they did then, how much remains to be
done.—readersupportednews
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Jefferson and
his estate "disposed of" 600 slaves in his lifetime.
He was a slave trader. This explains his
opposition to the
African Slave Trade. Like many Virginians he
wanted to maintain prices in the slave market.—wjm
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Jefferson's Pillow
The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black
Patriotism
By Roger W.
Wilkins
In
Jefferson's Pillow, Wilkins returns to
America's beginnings and the founding fathers who
preached and fought for freedom, even though they
owned other human beings and legally denied them
their humanity. He asserts that the mythic accounts
of the American Revolution have ignored slavery and
oversimplified history until the heroes, be they the
founders or the slaves in their service, are denied
any human complexity. Wilkins offers a thoughtful
analysis of this fundamental paradox through his
exploration of the lives of George Washington,
George Mason, James Madison, and of course Thomas
Jefferson. He discusses how class, education, and
personality allowed for the institution of slavery,
unravels how we as Americans tell different sides of
that story, and explores the confounding ability of
that narrative to limit who we are and who we can
become. An important intellectual history of
America's founding, Jefferson's Pillow will change
the way we view our nation and ourselves. |
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
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As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. |
"Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London
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The Women
Jefferson Loved
By Virginia
Scharff
According to historian Scharff,
Thomas Jefferson’s “most closely guarded secrets,
the most fiercely maintained silences, all had to do
with the women he loved.” It stands to reason that
in order to fully understand a man as tremendously
gifted and as deeply flawed as Thomas Jefferson, one
must also understand and appreciate the women who
collectively formed the foundation of his life and
shaped the nature of his legacy. Although
Jefferson’s mother, daughters, granddaughters, wife,
and enslaved mistress were all fascinating women who
played distinct roles in his life and legend, they
were also creatures of their time and place, living,
enduring, and playing by the rules of a patriarchal,
male-dominated society. By studying these women
Scharff not only opens a window to the heart and
soul of one of our nation’s founders but also
resurrects their own contributions to our nation’s
history.—Booklist |
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The chapter on Sally Hemings does not add
much new information, but it certainly lays out the facts we
know in a comprehensive and well organized fashion. Much like
Professor Gordon-Reed, the author carefully explains the strange
dual-family existence that prevailed at Monticello, and how
servants integrated with the Jefferson family as they all lived
together. As regards the two daughters, they too emerge from the
historical darkness and we learn a great deal about them and
their important role in TJ's life and activities. As I read each
chapter, I learned all manner of things of which I had not been
aware, and I have read a lot of material on TJ. So women are
central to the story, but there is also an abundance of
additional facts and perspectives that very much enhance the
book. —Ronald H. Clark
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
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George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
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Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
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