Feb
Historical Memory, Sister Cities
Sister City Stew: Historic memory, race and grievance
By Dennis Chinoy
In March 2020, after the Bangor committee had recently visited Carasque, Dennis Chinoy wrote the following article that invites us to reflect on the similarities of the history of El Salvador and its small communities and the difficult social situation in the United States. As El Salvador commemorates one year since president Nayib Bukele and the army entered the Legislative Assembly, we thought it would be useful to revisit his work and share it here for others:
..These are the conversations we could disentangle if as a country we could share a Historic Memory that honestly reflects the experiences of who we are, where we came from, and what that means, going forward. We could recognize that we all belong to a present, but also to a past bequeathed to us, to our benefit or to our detriment. We could grant that all of us, but especially historically disadvantaged populations, lead our individual lives in ways partly shaped by the racial inequities that have characterized our country from the beginning.
An honest Historic Memory could teach us that the racism imbedded in our national history is not just a matter of some people’s individual bigotries. It could help us acknowledge and redress a structural reality: In terms of race-based inequities in housing, employment, education, criminal justice, and social mobility, for starters, African Americans still bear scars that began with their enslavement. It could help us see that one needn’t have a lavish lifestyle to have inherited privileges that come as a birthright from being born white. It could make clear as well that such a “jumpstart” doesn’t always protect from an economy which is stacked in favor of the wealthy and abuses the rest, black, white and brown.
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More broadly we see a flare in culture wars, as guardians of the faith issue dire warnings at perceived threats to “our” country and values, and cast themselves as victims. Prescriptions follow: “Build the Wall,” “Jews will not replace us!” “Ban Muslims” “Make Normalcy Normal Again” “Make America White Again” An uptick in hate crimes is not far behind. It is no small thing to push back against the intensity of such a backlash, especially when politicians who peddle grievance and fear fan these brushfires into full blaze for their personal advantage.
Read it in its entirety here:
