Trump’s 1776 Report was not the only response to the 1619 Project; pragmatism is the focus of my 1776 Unites essay
I, too, prefer to consider every tool we have at our disposal. That’s why I chose to write about how patriotism is not for whites only, even though some of my brethren and sisters too often think it is.
I wrote about how, for all the moral shortcomings of our nation’s slavery-tolerating founders like Thomas Jefferson, they also provided the rhetorical and constitutional tools that leaders like the Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall used effectively to fight for our liberation.
I recall how poverty became unfortunately “colorized” in media and our national conversation during the turbulent 1960s, leaving many struggling white folks feeling embittered that advances for us feel like setbacks for them.
As President Lyndon Johnson said with memorable candor, according to his then-aide Bill Moyers: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
LBJ was a realistic politician, realistic enough to enact the boldest civil rights legislation in a century by recognizing the very politics of resentment and divisiveness that haunt our politics today. We Americans need to know our history, not just to relive its horrors but to build a better future.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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