Driving into work on this dark wintry morning, thinking about our moment & about folks I respect saying that “the America we’ve known is over” & the like. Saw the montage I’ve built next to my office door, & wanted to say a little about the America I know. 🗃️ Thread+ - ThreadSky

americanstudier.bsky.social • 52 days ago

Driving into work on this dark wintry morning, thinking about our moment & about folks I respect saying that “the America we’ve known is over” & the like. Saw the montage I’ve built next to my office door, & wanted to say a little about the America I know. 🗃️ Thread+

Comments

hughman3.bsky.social•52 days ago

We the people have let ourselves down

what will cause us to wake up and be good Americans not lazy manipulated Americans

Our systems need massive reform and the silver lining of this train wreck is that we may end up with the momentum to do it

zoombox350.bsky.social•52 days ago

Thank you for this reminder of who we are. E pluribus unum.

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

Thanks!

lstewartsc.bsky.social•52 days ago

Excellent reminder of the strength of our great fellow Americans in times past.
United we stand. Divided we fall.

anav-77.bsky.social•52 days ago

I’m waiting for the violence as Trump invokes the Insurrection Act and approves the violence of the insurrectionists he pardons.

skubs101.bsky.social•52 days ago

Yes

dlynnw.bsky.social•52 days ago

Thank you, I appreciate your thread!

kimcassetto.bsky.social•52 days ago

📌

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

I don’t want to understate our foundational histories of exclusion, violence, white supremacy, the worst of what has defined us. I’ve tried in every part of my writing, teaching, work to be as unflinching as possible in asking us to confront those legacies, & all the ways they’re still with us.

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

Moreover, for most of our history I’d say our federal government has leaned more toward those worst aspects of America than toward our inclusive, diverse community. Sometimes that’s been very overt, from the 3/5s compromise to redlining, from Indian Removal to immigration restrictions, & much more.

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

Even our more progressive federal governments have too often fallen short on those terms. Grant fully endorsed the Page Act. FDR consistently excluded Blacks from the New Deal & incarcerated Japanese Americans. LBJ waged an imperial, racist war & attacked American protesters who challenged it.

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

But here’s the thing: I refuse to cede my vision of “America” over to either of those forces. “America” isn’t just our white supremacist worst, & it’s not our federal government (whether the worst or better versions of it). Those are part of us, always have been, probably always will be. But…

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

…America is also the enslaved people in 1770s & 80s Massachusetts who used the Declaration of Independence & our Revolutionary ideals to argue successfully for their freedom.

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/ben-railton-freeman-walker-cases

americanstudier.bsky.social•52 days ago

America is also William Apess, standing up before a Boston crowd in the 1830s, at the height of the 1st idealization of the “Founding Fathers,” arguing for King Philip as a Revolutionary patriot & ancestor.

https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/apess-eulogy-speech-text/