By Michael Tyler, EJS Poet-in-Residence
The title of this commentary is taken directly from what became the most spoken idiomatic phrase in the country, over the past 5 months. It came up during a conversation I had recently with an individual, regarding the current mood of African Americans in the country. The discussion was broad in scope, addressing issues that ranged from Christian nationalism to the political limitations and liabilities of our two-party system, to our general sense of public safety in an increasingly caustic, racial environment, to our economic viability, as a people. Before I continue, it’s relevant to state that person I was speaking to was a White American, of Irish-German ancestry.
My colleague, Sean, is quite mindful of the minefield potential of having such conversations, but has an earnest interest in wanting to understand how we, as a people, are processing the moment. His is not the kind of empathy patronizingly exhibited for the self-exoneration of expunging White guilt; or the type that markets a moral awareness, to endear an approving opinion for having a racial conscience. This more common form of empathy is still quite White centric and often insulting to Black sensibilities, for we understand it to only be an exhibitionist’s show of decency, rather than a stalwart’s conviction for moral reliability.
Sean tends to think of himself as a cultural attaché, having accepted a challenge from me years ago to be a part of the solution rather than the problem. My challenge was this: the necessary dialogue to end any form of systemic discrimination must be had amongst the beneficiaries of bigotry, and not between the disparate parties to it. He understood that to mean White must challenge White, in order to disassociate from whiteness and associate with humanness.
We began our conversation with him making the following preface: whatever goes bad for America is always exponentially worse for Black America. When he focused that perspective on the issue of Black economic viability, he questioned whether reparations was still a worthy cause, at this moment. He voiced his concern and speculation that White America was beyond compassion fatigue in this era of politics, and that it had reverted back to a compassion contempt prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He couldn’t reason reparations to be a credible pursuit for the next four years, given that the nation’s proclivity for racial animus was proliferating in every sector.
I said to him that he was talking to an individual who was given the cultural instruction, as a child, to “make a way out of no way”. I added that when the 13th Amendment was ratified, the compassion contempt in this country created the bloodiest and deadliest conflict in American history; and that even though “civil war” is often tossed around in contemporary discourse, the conflict from 1861-1865 is the only Civil War we’ve had. I then took out my phone and read him this quote:
“In these divided times, our coalition promotes a cross-racial alliance that centers reparations as a unifying force for building a sustainable, multicultural democracy.”
When I read it, his jaw dropped. Without asking me, he took my phone from my hand and read it over and over again, each time making specific comments about the specifics of the quote. He highlighted the terms “cross-racial alliance”, “reparations as a unifying force”, and “building a sustainable, multicultural democracy.” For Sean, it was a eureka moment.
He asked me who said it and I told him Lisa Holder, President of the Equal Justice Society. I further explained that in my entire life, I had never heard or read any statement more comprehensive and encapsulating of the reparations issue in America, and that when fully digested for understanding, it should convincingly answer his question about whether or not reparations should still be on the agenda — during any political era in America.
I said to him, to the rational mind, the issue doesn’t require defending. To the empathetic conscience, it doesn’t require entreaty. To the humanitarian heart, it doesn’t require persuasion. To the righteous conscience, it doesn’t require justification. What it does require is reconciling the promotion of “patriotism” in this country. Sean pressed me on that.
I asserted that “patriotism” has always been regarded by White Americans with a sense of proprietorship, something owned by and owed to “whiteness”. Consequently, for many White Americans, all across the political spectrum, patriotism is racism and racism is patriotism. It’s just to what degree people are aware they are enabling or employing it for the sustainability of systemic discrimination and their privilege.
I went on to say that We the People has always had a racially selective focus; that our democracy is imperfect because we the people who drafted it, institutionalized it and practice it are imperfect, but it must always be our perfect intention to pursue and actualize its perfection. To that end, Lisa Holder’s quote brilliantly and succinctly stated the who, what, when, where, why and how of the reparations issue in America — that the “more perfect union” ideal we hold as being a sacred goal is impossible without understanding, embracing and acting on what Holder said. I concluded by giving him this word association: when you think, say and hear “reparations” think, say and hear “repair the nation”. Given the threadbare fragility of our democracy, there has never been a more critical time for repair.
When our conversation ended, Sean made a very heavy sigh. He jokingly blamed me for already costing him family relationships and friendships, by poisoning his conscience with the challenge I presented him with years ago. He then speculated that he might need to move to a monastery for companionship, after adding this to his challenge. I joked back that Thelonius Monk is my favorite jazz musician, and that I would word associate the two of them should he one day become a friar. As he left, he turned around and said, “Repair the nation”, nodded his head and walked away. I believe he understands the assignment.