Critical Ponderings

I lived through the shameful times of colored neighborhoods, colored water fountains, separate movie theater seating areas, separate schools (with hand-me-down textbooks), and segregated churches. I remember that Negro folks weren’t allowed at the public pool, nor were they allowed on the ‘White” beach. I went to a state university where black Americans weren’t allowed to attend but where they could work in the cafeteria. In my twenties I remember looking through the ‘help wanted’ ads in a newspapers that were divided between colored and white jobs, as well as jobs for males and females..

Teaching today’s students the bitter truth that for decades systemic racism shaped public policy—such as denying equal job and housing opportunities and limiting economic progress—is simply relaying the facts about an intentional stacked deck. It doesn’t demonize anyone, but it shines a light on how bad things came to be. And it grants youth a chance to decide for themselves how to avoid such cruel inequity in generations to come. In other words, it tells the truth and lets the learner make of that truth what they will.

Step Four of the twelve steps in Alcoholic Anonymous-type recovery programs asks individuals to “make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves,” in order to move forward into healing. As an entire country, Germany, ever since around 1990, has managed to do just that with many examples of commemoration that demonstrate the country’s willingness to face painful truths while contributing to an honest history lesson—lest they forget.  https://www.thelocal.de/20161019/how-germany-remembers-the-holocaust-world-war-two-nazis-jewish-history-germans/

Too many flag-waving Americans are in denial about their addiction to the glorified version of our beloved country. They want to paper over the cracks and flaws, and they proclaim that to criticize means to demean. It can mean that, sure, but it also means to assess, to analyze, and to evaluate—to bring into the light of day. Nothing hidden can contribute to healing.

As an editor, I believe that an effective critique of a piece of writing can operate the same as a critique of a society. Okay, it exposes the shortcomings, but in order to be a ‘searching a fearless assessment’, it also offers exposes areas needing improvement. Then it’s up to the writer, the student, or the citizen to create an upgrade they can be proud of.