Memory and History: Power and Identity

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Wed Oct 11 20:37:54 PDT 2000


Leo Casey wrote:
>One of the facets of Morrison's work which is so relevant here is that she
>understands, in a way that Yoshie clearly fails to understand, how much
>African-American memories and history are woven into the very weft and woof
>of the fabric of American memories and history, how much the African-American
>presence is an ineluctable moment and part of American identity. The examples
>here are multitudinous, but let me cite my favorite: the very conceptions of
>equality and liberty which operate in American constitutional law, politics
>and popular culture are simply incomprehensible outside of the context of the
>African-American freedom struggle; for it was the that struggle which both
>gave us the 14th amendment, and which has been a constant presence in its
>interpretation and application. Absent the 14th amendment, there is no
>concept of equality at all in American constitutional law, and what notion of
>liberty that does exist in the Bill of Rights, is not applied against the
>greatest threats to freedom -- state and local governments. [On this point,
>see Condit's and Lucaites, _Crafting Equality: America's Anglo-African
>Word_.] But Yoshie ignores all of this because she insists upon seeing
>American historical narratives and American identities in the most
>essentialist fashion, as -- despite all the claims of an "ethic-less"
>perspective -- the embodiment of pure evil, the "evil empire." At the center,
>the criminal American, in the image of a white man; at the periphery, the
>margin, his victims, in the image of people of color.

It used to be the case that African-Americans were much less incorporated into the American imperial identity, and it is probably still the case, even now (after the partial success of the civil rights movement), that African-Americans, on average, are much more critical of American imperial ventures & suspicious of American motives (though there are now more African-Americans who think like the late Ron Brown than in the days when blacks were, as race, effectively disenfranchised).

For instance, recall what many blacks said about the Spanish-American War: "Black soldiers may have had little hesitation in whole-heartedly joining the Cuban expedition, but a large segment of the black community felt differently. The anti-imperialist element was concerned about the War's impact on black Americans. Many members of this group were sympathetic with the plight of Cuba and especially with black Cubans. 'Talk about fighting and freeing poor Cuba and of Spain's brutality; of Cuba's murdered thousands, and starving reconcentradoes. Is America any better than Spain? Has she not subjects in her very midst who are murdered daily without a trial of judge or jury? Has she not subjects in her borders whose children are half-fed and half-clothed, because their father's skin is black'" (Anthony L. Powell, "An Overview: Black Participation In The Spanish-American War," at <http://www.spanam.simplenet.com/AfroAmericans.htm>). Also see George P. Marks, _Black Press Views American Imperialism (1898-1900)_, NY: Arno Press, 1971 for an overview of black public opinions. Some blacks went further than criticisms of the American double standard -- racism & internal colonialism vs. crocodile tears for the victims of Spanish colonialism; they deserted their regiments in the Philippines and joined the Filipino rebels -- most famously David Fagan of the 24th infantry. "[H]he accepted a commission in the insurgent army and for two years wreaked havoc upon the American forces" (Howard Zinn, "The Empire and the People," _A People's History of the United States_, p. 311).

Another famous case is W. E. B. DuBois. In 1958, W. E. B. DuBois urged Africans to reject Western capital and to accept aid from the Soviet Union and Red China. In 1961, just prior to emigrating to Ghana (where he eventually became a citizen), he applied for membership in the Communist Party, U.S.A. He died in Ghana in 1963. DuBois's criticism of American racism & imperialism, as well as of capitalism, was such that he eventually even renounced his American citizenship.

And Martin Luther King, Jr.: ***** A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. © The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Beyond Vietnam," Address delivered to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, at Riverside Church 4 April 1967, New York City

...They must see Americans as strange liberators. The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1954 -- in 1945 rather -- after a combined French and Japanese occupation and before the communist revolution in China. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony. Our government felt then that the Vietnamese people were not ready for independence, and we again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long. With that tragic decision we rejected a revolutionary government seeking self-determination and a government that had been established not by China -- for whom the Vietnamese have no great love -- but by clearly indigenous forces that included some communists. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives.

For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. For nine years we vigorously supported the French in their abortive effort to recolonize Vietnam. Before the end of the war we were meeting eighty percent of the French war costs. Even before the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, they began to despair of their reckless action, but we did not. We encouraged them with our huge financial and military supplies to continue the war even after they had lost the will. Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization.

After the French were defeated, it looked as if independence and land reform would come again through the Geneva Agreement. But instead there came the United States, determined that Ho should not unify the temporarily divided nation, and the peasants watched again as we supported one of the most vicious modern dictators, our chosen man, Premier Diem. The peasants watched and cringed as Diem ruthlessly rooted out all opposition, supported their extortionist landlords, and refused even to discuss reunification with the North. The peasants watched as all of this was presided over by United States influence and then by increasing numbers of United States troops who came to help quell the insurgency that Diem's methods had aroused. When Diem was overthrown they may have been happy, but the long line of military dictators seemed to offer no real change, especially in terms of their need for land and peace.

The only change came from America as we increased our troop commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. All the while the people read our leaflets and received the regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform. Now they languish under our bombs and consider us, not their fellow Vietnamese, the real enemy. They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs.

So they go, primarily women and children and the aged. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.

What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among these voiceless ones?

We have destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the village. We have destroyed their land and their crops. We have cooperated in the crushing of the nation's only noncommunist revolutionary political force, the unified Buddhist Church. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. We have corrupted their women and children and killed their men....

...I would like to suggest five concrete things that our government should do immediately to begin the long and difficult process of extricating ourselves from this nightmarish conflict:

Number one: End all bombing in North and South Vietnam.

Number two: Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation.

Three: Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos.

Four: Realistically accept the fact that the National Liberation Front has substantial support in South Vietnam and must thereby play a role in any meaningful negotiations and any future Vietnam government.

Five: Set a date that we will remove all foreign troops from Vietnam in accordance with the 1954 Geneva Agreement. [sustained applause]...

...As we counsel young men concerning military service, we must clarify for them our nation's role in Vietnam and challenge them with the alternative of conscientious objection. [sustained applause] I am pleased to say that this is a path now chosen by more than seventy students at my own alma mater, Morehouse College, and I recommend it to all who find the American course in Vietnam a dishonorable and unjust one. [applause] Moreover, I would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objectors. [applause] These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.

Now there is something seductively tempting about stopping there and sending us all off on what in some circles has become a popular crusade against the war in Vietnam. I say we must enter that struggle, but I wish to go on now to say something even more disturbing.

The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality [applause], and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing "clergy and laymen concerned" committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. [sustained applause] So such thoughts take us beyond Vietnam, but not beyond our calling as sons of the living God.

In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which has now justified the presence of U.S. military advisors in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counterrevolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Cambodia and why American napalm and Green Beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru..... *****

These are just _a few_ examples of _countless_ acts & movements of resistance against the evil empire that Americans -- especially black Americans -- have undertaken.

However, it is just as clear that this anti-imperialist thought has _never_ been a dominant one in the USA (with perhaps a partial exception of the period of American direct involvement in the Vietnam War), and it has waned to the point of insignificance after the Cold War. Amasa Delano has exercised the hegemony of American self-image, especially over white Americans.

Yoshie



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