oppression | troublemakingpunk.org

I almost set fire to the American flag a half dozen times as I spoke to my Liberation Brew TV audience year after year, asking the question, ”Why would someone want to burn the American Flag?” As I dangled the miniature flag in my hand, just out of reach of a candle flame, I would list the dozens of good reasons why someone might like to destroy this symbol of American power. I would also speak of the many reasons that people want to honor it. The United States represents a beacon of hope and perceived freedom to many around the world. Unfortunately, it also represents some of the worst oppression and genocide in the history of the planet.

How many millions have we enslaved? How many hundreds of thousands have we slaughtered? How many countries have we threatened or invaded? How many governments have we overthrown? Ask the Africans, the Native Americans, the Latin Americans, the Iraqis, The Haitians, the Cubans, The Iranians, and all the others our government and military have violated. They may be able to tell you.

Though I still have the TV show on local cable, I haven’t done a threatened burning in a while now. In part, that’s because I haven’t been inspired to. Perhaps a little history is in order here. Beginning in the late nineteenth century states passed anti-desecration laws primarily in response to the over commercialization of the flag. All kinds of companies were using it to link their products to patriotism, and a lot of people who considered themselves real patriots, didn’t like it.

There was little trouble and there were few incidents regarding desecrating the flag until 1963 when a man responding to the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers was arrested for burning a flag. In the years following, as the Vietnam War unfolded, flag burning incidents and arrests became a common feature on the TV news, and were occasionally reported after that. Finally, in I989 the Supreme Court, citing the First Amendment, declared all laws against desecrating the flag unconstitutional. Even though local governments have found ways to charge people who burn the flag with public safety violations, that’s not been good enough. Between 1990 and 2006 our congress tried seven times to pass a constitutional amendment that would make desecrating the flag no longer protected speech.
While my little flag burning theatre was in response to these misguided legislative efforts, I am still tired of the reflexive flag waving that goes on now. I know it feels good to experience ourselves as a community. “USA! USA! We’re number one! We’re Number One!” It’s natural for people to want to belong, but nationalism is a sick concept that divides the world community. And the principle of “American Exceptionalism” which leads us to believe that The USA is always right and good is sicker still. Come on, shout it with me, “USA! USA!”

So, when are we going to face the truth: The United States is not the greatest country in the World. It certainly has the most powerful military, and at present, it is still the mightiest economic powerhouse. That sounds good, but what does it mean to the average American citizen, and how does their life compare to the life of citizens living in any one of the other industrialized democracies of the world?
Somehow, all the other industrialized democracies, outside the old soviet sphere, have managed to develop national cradle to grave health care systems that provide superior affordable health care to virtually all their citizens. And guess what? It has not destroyed their economies.

The United States may be the greatest country in the world for the wealthiest 1% of the population. It may be the greatest country for a handful of fossil fuel energy companies, corporate farmers, and hedge fund managers, who all get major tax breaks. However, according to The Social Security Administration nearly 40 percent of all workers in the country made less than $20,000 last year. That’s below the federal poverty threshold for a family of four and close to the line for a family of three. On average, these workers earned under $18,000. According to U.S. census data, half our population lives in poverty.

The old myth of the American Dream has been revealed for what it is. International surveys show that over a half dozen countries make it easier for a citizen to rise up economically than our nation does. In fact, studies show that in this country the greatest predictor for what economic class a person will be in when they die, is what class they were in when they were born. A survey by The Associated Press reports that four out of five adults struggle with joblessness and near poverty at some point during their lives. “USA! USA!”

On average, according to The World Health Organization, The United States has a homicide rates about seven times higher than the other industrialized countries. No country in the world locks up as many of its citizens as ours does. We have the highest documented incarceration rate, and we have the most people locked up. That’s about one in every one hundred adults—three times the rate of the next highest country. Come on, shout it with me “We’re number one! We’re number one!”
We are the only developed nation that doesn’t have legally mandated paid vacation. Our country is one of only five countries in the industrialized world that have no mandated paid family leave.

As we have been celebrating our political independence, driving over roads and bridges that are in greater disrepair than at any time during the last half century, can we face that we are not looked upon by international election observers as a model of democracy either? They all know that the presidential election of 2000 was stolen. That is not a “liberal” or “conservative” observation; it’s an objective one by independent observers. Come on, “USA! USA!” They know too that state and congressional districts have been gerrymandered to deliberately avoid having a simple one person one vote democracy, and that racist restrictions are being renewed to discourage large segments of our population from voting. “Okay, all together now, “We’re number one! We’re number one! USA! USA!”

Does anybody have a spare flag? I think I’ve got a lighter around here somewhere.

River Smith has been co-producer and co-host of Liberation Brew, a satirical news show in Northeast Ohio for about 20 years. A former local NPR commentator and talk radio show host, he also ran in the only all vegan democratic congressional primary, with Dennis Kucinich in 1998.

Last week some old, white cheating cowboy fraud said publicly what he has probably said over and over to his friends. Another super rich white bigot’s private words were reported too. In many ways this really isn’t news.

We live in a racist nation that has perpetuated derogatory stereotypes and promoted discrimination against people of color throughout most of its history. Thankfully, we have seen some hard fought changes occur, but do we really believe we can eradicate three hundred years of bigotry and ignorance in a couple generations? I heard a TV commentator say today that our nation “needs to have a conversation about race.” Really?

“What do you get when you send a racist to college?” My friend and mentor, Will Nichols used to ask that question of his Black History students at Cuyahoga Community College forty years ago. A year earlier I met this decorated World War II veteran, who had worked his way through college on the G.I. Bill. He was teaching philosophy part time then, while working full time at the post office.

As a full time history instructor Will Nichols quickly became involved as faculty sponsor for a number of African-American student organizations, and he developed the Black history courses into ones that would require senior level work of junior college level students. His rationale was that he wanted the Black students in his classes to be able to perform at a level far higher than would be required of them elsewhere. At the time, I thought it unfortunate that as a white student in his class I had to do this extra work too.

As we groaned over doing 50 page research papers, Nick used to say, “I won’t do it for you, but I’ll wade in my own blood waist deep to help you up so you can do it.” True to his word, he was available 24 hours a day for consultation, inviting our study groups to his apartment on the weekends to work on our papers together.

There was no Martin Luther King Day then, no Black History Month, just the same clear need in our culture to have an ongoing dialogue about our nation’s shameful history and continued behavior of racist oppression. I wonder what Will Nichols, who’s been gone a few years now, would have to say about the often repeated notion that Americans need to have a conversation about “race.”

I believe he’d say that it was an important issue, but as he smiled, waiting for the answer to his original question, he’d tell us that the crucial conversation had to be not about race, but about racism. We Americans have still not fully engaged that dialogue.

Our primary problem isn’t about misunderstanding each other’s cultures (we’ve all been guilty of that at times); our primary problem is about facing the ongoing reality of systemic discrimination. It’s about recognizing the rationalizations and denial that occur in all situations of oppression. When your culture does something that is unacceptable, such as kidnapping someone and imprisoning them and their descendants for hundreds of years, there is only one way to feel okay about living with that. You must justify it.

The Romans justified their domination and enslavement of Europeans and others by depicting them as animal like. The British justified their control of the Irish by depicting them as savages or sub-human. Europeans, Chinese, Euro-Americans, and other colonizing cultures all depicted indigenous peoples around the world as savages or scary beasts. The Nazi death machine depicted the Jews and Eastern Europeans as sub-human.

The opinion maker apologists of each offending culture argue that because of some flaws in the victims’ humanity, the imprisonment, enslavement, or extermination of these “others” is in the best interest of everyone involved. Stereotypes are shaped and reproduced broadly, reinforcing the perceived inferiority of the oppressed group.

The stereotypes used to justify the enslavement of African-Americans early in our history were so deeply imbedded in the psyche of white American culture that many of them continue right into the present. It is not some random accident that independent study after study show that housing, job, and justice system discrimination is still rampant in our society. Our rationalization and denial still keep us from addressing the reality of our culture’s racist legacy.

So what was the answer to Nick’s question? When you send a racist to college, “You get an educated racist.” It doesn’t matter what’s put in front of our eyes to see, if we refuse to open our eyes to see it.

We can change that if we as a culture continue to find the courage to face the reality of racism and its terrible consequences.

River Smith is author of the book, A Conspiracy To Love: Living A Life of Joy, Generosity, and Power, and co-author with Victor Lee Lewis and Hugh Vasquez of The Color of Fear: A Teacher’s Manual.

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