A misplaced sense of 'unity'

Recently I saw a meme on Facebook about Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and the White House (of course, the last one never made it, the plane used being brought down about an hour east of Pittsburgh). The meme noted that, at least that day, we were “unified” as a nation regardless of race or ethnicity, religion or social class, that we were all Americans.

But we need to remember one thing: Such “unity” from the start was contrived. And, as things turned out, the attacks later proved to be preventable.

We now know that the terrorist attacks resulted from an intelligence failure on the part of the administration of George W. Bush, most notably Condoleezza Rice of the National Security Agency. We know this because the Clinton Administration had compiled over the years a lengthy dossier on al-Qaeda, the organization that carried them out, and, upon leaving the White House, handed it to Bush, who ended up dropping the ball because of his singular focus on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who, he said, “tried to kill my dad.”

Indeed, the Weekly Standard magazine published a piece suggesting a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam, so we sent troops into Iraq based on that. Trouble is, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of politics in that part of the world understood that Saddam and Osama bin Laden were mortal enemies, and the part of Iraq out of which al-Qaeda was supposedly operating Saddam didn’t even control. (Afghanistan? Well, that was understandable, because that's where bin Laden was possibly hiding out.)

We also need to remember that what happened in 2001 was in fact “finishing the job.” The first WTC bombing took place just months after Bill Clinton was inaugurated, so, according to Al Franken's book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,” Clinton had not one but two counter-terrorism measures passed — over the objection of his Republican critics — and foiled a dozen or so al-Qaeda attacks during his time as president, including a planned blowup of the Los Angeles airport at midnight on 12/31/99, in the process.

Further, such would have never happened had Al Gore been president, as James Carville, in his book “Love and War” that he wrote with wife Mary Matalin, noted that Gore was “anal” about such matters — which would have been good because had Gore or any other Democrat been president we'd have never heard the end of it, from right-wing talk radio to the politicians out for blood and likely calling for impeachment. So in that context, that display of “patriotism” after 9/11 couldn't have been but partisan.

A few have published a meme that Muslims committed the acts, insinuating that Islam is by definition evil and should be subjected to unusual scrutiny. It should be noted, however, that President Trump's ban on Muslims entering the country wouldn't have stopped this, as all but four of the hijackers immigrated legally from Saudi Arabia — which is not on the list of countries from which folks couldn't come in, likely because he has business dealings there.

This is what happens when you try to seek some sense of unity without addressing things that are wrong. Yesterday, the 18th anniversary, a number of people posted memes saying, “Never forget,” which I understand. But that would also apply to how we got there in the first place.

Who's really living in the past?

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

st are condemned to repeat it."Of late, I've had reason to remember that quote from the late Spanish-born philosopher George Santayana. But only recently did I really understand the deeper meaning of what he was saying: If you don't deal forthrightly with the past you can't change things in the present or for the future.

And when it comes to issues of race and racism, it's why we in the African-American community have been, and suspect always will be, at loggerheads with the political right, which has often told us to “forget the past and deal with the present.” In that context, we “forget” at our peril.

You see, we truly see conservatism as dragging us back into the past before the changes that uplifted us and eventually broke the back of legal segregation because the attitudes that fostered it were never addressed on that side of the political fence.

That I believe to be by design, because modern conservatism has always sought to dominate those who don’t agree with it. And we’re going back to the 1950s, when it came about in the first place.

See, modern conservatism is, and has always been, out of touch with its own history and, when it doesn’t give off a positive spin, tried to change it. For example, many conservatives will argue that the Republican Party fought for the abolition of chattel slavery — which is true — and supported civil-rights laws — which is overstated.

What they won’t tell you is that conservatism as we understand it today didn’t exist during the Civil War and began taking over the GOP only during the 1960s; the Republican presidential candidate in 1964, Barry Goldwater, considered the first modern conservative to run for president (although by today’s standards he was more libertarian and not a racist), won several Southern states, the first Republican ever to do so, due to his stance against civil rights.

Anyway, understanding that history is why we feel the need to speak up when bad things happen to us. We truly don’t understand the backlash against now-former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s “taking a knee” to protest police brutality in any other context. We also reject the idea that we’re simply “causing trouble” by pointing things out; we’re merely calling attention to the trouble that has always existed but that people can’t or won’t see. And by the way, the same was said about Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil-rights movement, which tells us that attitudes have barely changed, if at all, in that time.

If you look at the Old Testament, you’ll note the large number of holidays that the Jewish people celebrate even today, but with their establishment came a command from God: “Remember.” Even today we give testimonies as to how our lives changed, with the Apostle Paul saying honestly that he had previously been an enemy of the church.

Some years ago I reconciled with a woman in my past, sharing with her the details of what had gone on between us back then — not to assign “blame” but to make sure that the mistakes that I made I never repeated.

As things stand now, I don’t see conservatives as willing to accept responsibility for their role in the rift that exists in today’s society. Which leads to the question: Who’s really living in the past?