I am reminded of Langston Hughes great call to America to live up to the principles it claims as its guides. Let America be America again, he asks, and then states, baldly, America never was America to me. Senator Heinrichs claim that torture is un-American is only credible if taken as aspirational. Our history tells a long story with a different lesson. To say that torture and other war crimes are un-American runs the risk of continuing the denial that enables us to continue along this path. From our massacres of Indigenous Americans; our brutality against African Americans in slavery (a different kind of war); to My Lai in Vietnam; to the internment of Japanese Americans in World War 2; to Hiroshima and Nagasaki; to the School of the Americas; to Abu Ghraib, we have a long history of failings of character which we remain averse to recognizing. Until we mature enough to accept our fallibility, we will be unguarded against future failures of character. Germany has come to grips with its criminal past. Many concentration camps are now memorials, and stones in the pavement commemorate the individuals sacrificed to German nationalism. America should take a lesson from Germany. We need a monument on the National Mall, acknowledging those for whom we have failed to be the America of our principles and aspirations. I call on Senator Heinrich to work with his colleagues to begin inquiries into an appropriate design. A mature, responsible, trustworthy nation will acknowledge its mistakes.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 18:32:39 +0000
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