The legacy of slavery and southern white "heritage"

Many southern white Republicans routinely pooh-pooh the legacy of slavery by saying "I never owned slaves, and my parents and grandparents didn't own slaves either." They wash their hands of the legacy of slavery that to this day profoundly affects America's second largest minority group as well as American society in general.

I was listening to a program on public radio several days ago about efforts to build appropriate housing in a poor section of western Alabama. The area wasn't always poor. At one time it was at the heart of the prosperous Old South's empire of cotton which was built by slaves of course. In trying to build efficient housing today (not “tin can” trailers that are the norm) architects look to the old ways of orienting houses and providing natural ventilation. The professors remarked that the old manor houses couldn't have been built without slave labor.

The legacy of slavery in America is inescapable no matter how much southern white Republicans want to dismiss it. I, a southern white male who is 59 years old, well remember the 100th anniversary retrospective of the Civil War years back in 1961-1965. I clearly remember segregation in the American south during the 1950s. The experience of slavery is still fresh in the collective memory of American blacks, a huge stain on America, and a perplexing dilemma for Americans' psyches. The only comparable instances of collective guilt shared by American society are: the genocide perpetrated upon the native peoples of this land; the dropping of two atomic bombs on civilian populations in Japan during WWII; the deaths of between 1.5 and 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians during the U.S. war in Vietnam; and the more than 1 million Iraqis who have died since the U.S. illegally invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. Many “conservatives” attempt to justify those atrocities as well.

Racial memory is long term. To this day the Jews celebrate Passover and praise the God of Israel as "the one who delivered us from the bonds of slavery in Egypt." That was millennia ago. Slavery in America was ended less than 2 centuries ago. Is it any wonder that we are still dealing with the consequences of such an inhumane institution as that of slavery in America? Until Americans collectively face our history, admit the unfathomable injustices done to huge numbers of humanity, and redress those wrongs, this society will continue to move forward carrying a heavy burden of subconscious guilt whether southern white Republicans recognize it or not.