Dr. Aguilar's personal story about his ability to overcome the many barriers that could have kept him from pursuing his education gave me a lot to think about. I am truly impressed that he had the drive, the ambition and foresight to change the trajectory of his life's path by pursuing education and ignoring the naysayers in his life and that he recognizes the cost.
What this brings to mind, for me, is all the kids that don't have that internal drive, or the obstinacy to use Dr. Aguilar's word, to defy those barriers. I'm thinking about all those kids whose potential was ignored because of the color of their skin or the expectations set upon them by our society because of their zip code. how could their lives have been different if the expectation was that they would go on to college and to live up to their potential, or if even their potential was even realized.
When I was a child, a common thing that I heard was that America was a great melting pot. That all the traditions and cultures had been blended into one great big pot of America. This idea that we're a homogeneous nation of people ignores all the wonderful differences of our society. American might be better described as a large salad, with lots of interesting textures and tastes and flavors. You can't just put everyone into one great big blender and make everyone the same.
Color-blindness is similar to me. To pretend that we don't recognize that we are all different and may have different needs based on our histories or the histories of our race or culture is an outdated idea and is, in my opinion, ineffective and disrespectful. We can't ignore a huge part of how we identify with ourselves and with other people.
We're not the same. We all have different backgrounds, and worldviews and many of us have experienced oppression in different forms. To ignore that oppression and racism exists is to ignore the history of our nation and the history of its people of both the oppressors and the oppressed.
Reading about the parts of our American history that we didn't get in school has been eye opening and jaw dropping. I remember my father telling me early on not to believe everything I read. I remember him telling me that history was written by the winners, and that the telling of history changes. I remember him scolding me for playing "Cowboys and Indians" with my friends and telling me that I needed to be more respectful and that I didn't know the whole story. Well, the whole story is not pretty.
It may be easier to sugarcoat our American history so that we can continue to believe that we have a pretty story to tell about the discovery of America. It's a nice story, but it isn't true. I'm angered and embarrassed and feel great sadness about how we really "discovered" America and how we destroyed a nation of people to obtain it. And how our great nation was built on the backs of slaves, brought here, away from their culture, away from their families, their children, their wives.....
And how all these things still play apart in today's society and who gets what...
2 things: 1) love that your daddy challenged you to think critically and study the facts at a young age. 2) I, too, feel embarrassed and sad.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, friend.
Quite true!! it is very sad to look at how we've encouraged our children to believe in things that are not true. Kudos to your dad for having the courage to challenge you to think for yourself. And to think, everyone wants the American dream, that is built on the backs of slaves through murder, kidnapping, amd mistreatment of others is such a shame. It almost makes the words "God Bless America" seem like blasphemy.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you describe America as a 'salad with textures, tastes, and flavors.' This seems like a better description than a melting pot. I also like your father's idea of how history is told by the winners and it changes; I've never thought of it that way.
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