Before I get into this, I'm going to ask that you please, please read to the end of my series before making any judgment or getting angry. Everything I say here ties to both my personal experiences, and my years of historical study. Thanks.
I'm not sure anything ever could have fully prepared me for the shock of stepping out of the ATI and fundamentalist revisionist history world and into the real history world at Ouachita Baptist University. I was not prepared to have so many of my preconceived notions completely shattered. But that is all beside the point of this series.
I am a social historian. Simply put, this means I study history from the "ground up." I look at people and social groups and movements. I look at society in general, and how society has shaped the past and present, as well as how the past and present has shaped society. In a nutshell, I study history through sociology. I'm not a military historian, an economic historian, a historian of science and philosophy, nor a historian of government. I'm a historian of the people. Sure, my focus is on African Americans, specifically slavery and abolition, but that doesn't mean I don't pay a lot of attention to the history of other social groups: women, children, the working class, etc.
Other than African American history, the one area I have probably studied the most in a formal setting, is the history of Nazi Germany and the Third Reich. I have studied the horrors of the Holocaust, even hearing a Holocaust survivor speak in person while I was an undergrad. I have seen the progression of a WWI veteran and failed art student named Adolf Hitler, as he begins by unifying a desperate and starving post-War Germany against outsiders who might pose a threat. Many may not know that Hitler did not put forth his infamous Final Solution until WWII had already begun. At first, the plan was just to keep close tabs on outsiders, mostly Jews, but also homosexuals, Romani gypsies, the disabled, etc. Then he started giving incentives to the ideal "Aryan" couples to have as many children as possible, in hopes of out-populating the less desirable races. In essence, Hitler began by saying, "Make Germany Great Again!" He wanted to keep non-ethnic Germans from moving into the country. He wanted to keep an eye on non-ethnic Germans that were already there.
Instead of blaming a rogue government for the dire straits in which Germans had found themselves, instead of blaming highly unreasonable war reparations forced on Germany by the League of Nations, Hitler blamed the easy target: the Other. Those who were unlike everyone else. And as a result, a conservative estimate places the death toll of Jews, Romanis, homosexuals, and the disabled, at around 6 million people. That's not even including all the people who died trying to stop the Holocaust. In fact, before this happened, a word did not exist to describe the horrific nature of the Holocaust. The Jews had called it "shoah," the Hebrew word for "catastrophe." In the 1950s, a word finally arose in the English language- a new word- from Greek roots meaning "burned" and "whole." This genocide was so big, it wiped out entire family lines. I remember in music history class, when I was a music major, we were talking about the descendants of various Romantic composers. One asked about Mendelssohn's descendants. Our professor said, "There are no living relatives of the Mendelssohn family. They were all killed during the Holocaust." Entire family lines. Gone.
I remember one Christmas Eve a few years ago, having a conversation with one of my uncles. He was saying that he didn't really believe in Hell anymore. He said God is loving, and far more loving than any of us. I remember when he said, "I couldn't send someone to Hell. Could you? I know you couldn't." I was incredibly uncomfortable with the conversation, and I said so. The reality was...yes, I could see myself sending someone to Hell. Stalin? Bin Laden? Hitler? Yeah. I could. I have been in the kind of emotional pain, inflicted by someone else, that is so bad, day after day after day, that I couldn't see past. That made me want to die. The kind of pain Hitler inflicted on others? Yes. If Hell exists, he deserves to be there. Period, end of story. And so does anyone like him.
Before the last year, I had never heard any kind of significant figure in this country talk in a way that so clearly reminded me of Hitler. Someone who appealed to a disenfranchised group of people who felt completely marginalized. Someone who put a huge chunk of that blame on minorities. Someone who so blatantly disrespected the disabled. Someone who stated that he thought an entire group of people should be registered. Someone who shows no respect for women, and who refuses to take responsibility for his actions. Someone who gains the respect, loyalty and admiration of the KKK and other white supremacy organizations.
No, I don't draw those comparisons lightly. I have never in my life done this, and I did it with him all on my own before I ever heard the media do so. I remember standing in front of my classroom last December saying, "This is how Holocausts start. It is in your hands to stop it."
I have more to say, but I'll end this here. Please, keep reading, and keep in mind, I do not write this to shame, accuse, or blame. I write this to try, as best I know, to fully explain why I am having such a hard time dealing with this, and the fact that people I know, love, and respect, voted for him.
I'm not sure anything ever could have fully prepared me for the shock of stepping out of the ATI and fundamentalist revisionist history world and into the real history world at Ouachita Baptist University. I was not prepared to have so many of my preconceived notions completely shattered. But that is all beside the point of this series.
I am a social historian. Simply put, this means I study history from the "ground up." I look at people and social groups and movements. I look at society in general, and how society has shaped the past and present, as well as how the past and present has shaped society. In a nutshell, I study history through sociology. I'm not a military historian, an economic historian, a historian of science and philosophy, nor a historian of government. I'm a historian of the people. Sure, my focus is on African Americans, specifically slavery and abolition, but that doesn't mean I don't pay a lot of attention to the history of other social groups: women, children, the working class, etc.
Other than African American history, the one area I have probably studied the most in a formal setting, is the history of Nazi Germany and the Third Reich. I have studied the horrors of the Holocaust, even hearing a Holocaust survivor speak in person while I was an undergrad. I have seen the progression of a WWI veteran and failed art student named Adolf Hitler, as he begins by unifying a desperate and starving post-War Germany against outsiders who might pose a threat. Many may not know that Hitler did not put forth his infamous Final Solution until WWII had already begun. At first, the plan was just to keep close tabs on outsiders, mostly Jews, but also homosexuals, Romani gypsies, the disabled, etc. Then he started giving incentives to the ideal "Aryan" couples to have as many children as possible, in hopes of out-populating the less desirable races. In essence, Hitler began by saying, "Make Germany Great Again!" He wanted to keep non-ethnic Germans from moving into the country. He wanted to keep an eye on non-ethnic Germans that were already there.
Instead of blaming a rogue government for the dire straits in which Germans had found themselves, instead of blaming highly unreasonable war reparations forced on Germany by the League of Nations, Hitler blamed the easy target: the Other. Those who were unlike everyone else. And as a result, a conservative estimate places the death toll of Jews, Romanis, homosexuals, and the disabled, at around 6 million people. That's not even including all the people who died trying to stop the Holocaust. In fact, before this happened, a word did not exist to describe the horrific nature of the Holocaust. The Jews had called it "shoah," the Hebrew word for "catastrophe." In the 1950s, a word finally arose in the English language- a new word- from Greek roots meaning "burned" and "whole." This genocide was so big, it wiped out entire family lines. I remember in music history class, when I was a music major, we were talking about the descendants of various Romantic composers. One asked about Mendelssohn's descendants. Our professor said, "There are no living relatives of the Mendelssohn family. They were all killed during the Holocaust." Entire family lines. Gone.
I remember one Christmas Eve a few years ago, having a conversation with one of my uncles. He was saying that he didn't really believe in Hell anymore. He said God is loving, and far more loving than any of us. I remember when he said, "I couldn't send someone to Hell. Could you? I know you couldn't." I was incredibly uncomfortable with the conversation, and I said so. The reality was...yes, I could see myself sending someone to Hell. Stalin? Bin Laden? Hitler? Yeah. I could. I have been in the kind of emotional pain, inflicted by someone else, that is so bad, day after day after day, that I couldn't see past. That made me want to die. The kind of pain Hitler inflicted on others? Yes. If Hell exists, he deserves to be there. Period, end of story. And so does anyone like him.
Before the last year, I had never heard any kind of significant figure in this country talk in a way that so clearly reminded me of Hitler. Someone who appealed to a disenfranchised group of people who felt completely marginalized. Someone who put a huge chunk of that blame on minorities. Someone who so blatantly disrespected the disabled. Someone who stated that he thought an entire group of people should be registered. Someone who shows no respect for women, and who refuses to take responsibility for his actions. Someone who gains the respect, loyalty and admiration of the KKK and other white supremacy organizations.
No, I don't draw those comparisons lightly. I have never in my life done this, and I did it with him all on my own before I ever heard the media do so. I remember standing in front of my classroom last December saying, "This is how Holocausts start. It is in your hands to stop it."
I have more to say, but I'll end this here. Please, keep reading, and keep in mind, I do not write this to shame, accuse, or blame. I write this to try, as best I know, to fully explain why I am having such a hard time dealing with this, and the fact that people I know, love, and respect, voted for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment