Say Their Names

Slavery is not America’s Original Sin.

Genocide and displacement of indigenous nations preceded slavery.

Both of these egregious sins had and have long lasting consequences.

Both of these egregious sins have been and continue to be erased or whitewashed in American children’s educational curricula.

Check the indices of our famous historians’ biographies of Abraham Lincoln for their entries on the murder of thirty-eight Dakota men in Mankato, MN the day after Christmas in 1862 on the orders of President Lincoln and you won’t find it. It was the largest mass murder in U.S. history before 9/11/2001’s world trade center attack. Say their names.

In my chapter, “The Names,” published in CARLISLE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL: SITE OF INDIGENOUS HISTORIES, MEMORIES AND RECLAMATIONS, I mention the power of naming as a form of exercising control over newly enrolled children from American Indian reservations.  As a goal to assimilate young people into the dominant culture, children were re-named to forever change them to fit in to a model U.S. society. 

Say their names.

I heard a radio interview on NPR in 1999 with Nelson Mandela, who was making his lecture tour visiting universities in the U.S., part of his truth and reconciliation movement. When asked about how he felt being in America, he described America as a great country with one enduring problem: racism. When asked how America could fix its racism problem, his response was succinct: “Just listen to the stories and in the telling, just the telling – healing can begin.” You cannot fix the problem but if you can just sit and listen, healing will happen.

Nobody who needs to be heard gives a shit about your white guilt.

This is no longer about how white people might fix things. It is about hearing the stories of people of color who may happen to live in a country where they hear politicians, journalists and educators hearken back to the basic edicts of the “founding fathers.” Those very founding fathers are quoted every day – their intentions outlined with one basic omission. “We hold these truths,” if you are white. “All men are created equal,” if you are white.

We live in a racist country and it behooves every one of us to examine our own racist views. I submit that not one of us is free from racist tendencies. It creeps into our perceptions of strangers and acquaintances that are so subtle we hardly notice, and when we do notice, and analyze those thoughts, we often identify their origins as having come out of fear. And conditioning.

So, let’s recognize and admit our own inherent racism and move forward, Listen quietly to the stories of others. Understand by hearing “just the telling,” and remember them.

And say their names.