History

I never really had a sense of the value of history. Studying history always frustrated me because there was such a sense of powerlessness. There were so many injustices in history, and as students we had to sit there and learn about it, not being able to do a damn thing to change what happened.

I have never enjoyed a single history class. While I do realize that American history is relevant to shaping the culture today, there are many aspects of it that I don’t feel a connection to or any particular pride about. There is so much hypocrisy in America’s ideals of “freedom” and how they relate to America’s rise in power in the world. How do we celebrate Andrew Jackson when he was responsible for the Trial of Tears? I keep on getting told that I need to take pride in these events because these were people, though they may have had flaws, were only products of their time and did great things for our nation. I imagine what role a woman of color would play in the times of the founding fathers that we adore oh so much, and wonder how I am supposed to identify these white men on horses as heroes in my history?
As a first generation American, I’ve had a special awareness of my unique American identity. I often get identified as an American when I travel, and am certainly proud of many aspects of the culture which I grew up in. I do have pride in certain figures that fought for freedom, truly, not through military means or the oppression of others. Not those who fought for America by stealing from Mexico, enslaving Black people, and the genocide of Native Americans. I admire those like King and Milk, who fought for inclusion and humanity.

Being in South Africa, I cannot deny the importance of history, on all fronts. Every person we have met has told us the history of the country, each having a different angle piece of the story, depending on who we are hearing from. There is a sense of pride in knowing what the nation was able to come out of, the freedom they fought for. There is an appreciation for engagement that is still visible in the many community organizations that formed from civil society. The sense history, knowledge of past struggles, informs the action that the people take in current times.

I don’t know if I really identify with “our nation.” I acknowledge that identity is important, but there are also so many problems that arise from strong alignment with one identity OVER another identity. The idea of nation, both in the US and here in South Africa, seem to create this sense of pride, but that pride easily translates into arrogance or violence towards those that are seen as other. In South Africa it was the Xenophobic, or rather Afrophobic events that occurred last May, and in the US the examples of our imperialism are countless.

So when is memorialization of figures, peoples, or ideas in history valuable, and when is it damaging? How do we take pride in the struggles for freedom without the othering of identities that weren’t part of that particular struggle?