I’m concerned. I’m concerned about how the American government is functioning in the year 2023. I’m concerned about the spread of misinformation. I’m concerned about others following Florida’s model of banning AP African American Studies and teaching the benefits of slavery. I’m concerned about the constant fighting in our government. And what I am most concerned about is how some Americans want to restrict my friends and family’s freedoms just for being who they are.
The United States of America was founded on the idea that “all men are created equal.” The Founders wanted to create a country where people have the freedom to practice any religion, assemble however they want, associate with whomever they choose, and say whatever they want without any interference from the government. People were granted civil rights such as the right to vote. But there were limits to who was included in the “people” I’ve referred to in this paragraph. The “people” who were guaranteed these freedoms were the white men who owned property and wrote the Constitution. But today in states like Florida, the folks in charge want us to believe that every Black American, woman, and Native American was also included in that “people.” It is easy to think that we have changed our views of minorities in American society. No Black Americans are enslaved today, women are able to vote, and Native Americans are recognized by our government. But the reality is that the “United” States still has issues with giving certain minorities certain freedoms. African Americans are 5 times more likely to be in prison than white people despite making up about 13% of the US population (Nellis). After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, women, especially poor women, have come close to experiencing death because their healthcare providers are not legally allowed to help them terminate their pregnancies. Tribal reservations often lack water resources and have some of the world’s highest mortality rates.
It is now 2023 and these Americans and more are still fighting for their freedom. “Freedom” is a very broad term. The freedoms I am most concerned about today are people’s First Amendment rights and their basic civil rights. The fact that our own government cannot protect the rights of minorities is frightening. I was fortunate to grow up in a city where I was able to meet and befriend people from all walks of life. I have seen just how kind, passionate, and talented they all are, so it makes no sense to me why others would prefer me, a white cisgender woman, over someone who may be perceived as different. To better make sense of my concerns about freedom, this summer I read Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. These texts made me even more aware of how long the battle for freedom has been for minorities in the United States. My reading compelled me to do something about it since the federal government either cannot or will not.
Our government is trapped in gridlock, and the pushback from society has not been significant enough. You know our country is in trouble when only 20% of Americans trust the federal government, according to a study done by the Pew Research Center (Mitchell). Through First Amendment protests and petitions, minorities have bravely spoken out about the oppression that still happens in the US, but nothing seems to be done about it. So I am calling on my fellow white people to support these efforts as much as we can. If we wish to see ALL Americans’ civil rights protected, white people must be willing to contribute our allyship to minorities, and as James Baldwin taught me, we must learn to love doing so. Two key areas where we can practice this love and allyship are education and association.
Battles in the educational sphere have marked 2023, particularly when it comes to teaching US history. These battles have grave consequences for how we understand our civil rights. A right-wing group called Moms for Liberty has been fighting to ban books that talk about racism, gay rights, and feminism. Per the American Library Association, “there were 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021, resulting in more than 1,597 individual book challenges or removals” (Somaskanda). For the upcoming 2023-2024 school year, Florida has approved a curriculum that includes materials from PragerU, a non-accredited educational institution that promotes right-wing views. One video endorsed by the State Department of Education features Christopher Columbus remarking, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no?” This sort of “education” is dangerous to racial and ethnic minorities in the US because it erases their historical struggles, which continue to shape the inequality they experience today. Discussions of our history should be uncomfortable so that our children grow up knowing how wrong it is to violate people’s civil rights due to their identity. Based on my reading this summer, I think Tocqueville and Baldwin would agree.
Alexis de Tocqueville and James Baldwin both write about the value of education in our society and how it shapes us. Tocqueville explains in Democracy in America that “If each citizen did not learn, in proportion as he individually becomes more feeble, and consequently more incapable of preserving his freedom single-handed, to combine with his fellow-citizens for the purpose of defending it, it is clear that tyranny would unavoidably increase together with equality” (Tocqueville 628). He points out that if a citizen is not well educated it is harder to join with others in defense of freedom. In the speech called “A Talk to Teachers,” James Baldwin points out that if “one managed to change the curriculum in all the schools so that Negroes learned more about themselves and their real contributions to this culture, you would be liberating not only Negroes, you’d be liberating white people who know nothing about their own history” (Baldwin 683). The miseducation practiced today in states like Florida is restrictive to everyone involved, making it more difficult for us to come together in defense of freedom. There is no benefit to withholding certain historical realities to appease white children–or more accurately their parents–for such omissions damage those children’s understanding of the past. Consequently, they cannot fully understand the present and thus lack the comprehension necessary to fight for equitable conditions.
So how do we learn when our education system is under attack in many parts of the nation? We must start educating ourselves. My advice to other white people is to begin by diving into books written by BIPOC authors. Recognize that people like George Washington Carver, Dorothy Vaughan, and Lori Arviso Alvord have significantly contributed to American history–and if you don’t know who they are, now is a great time to start learning. The more we are able to learn about US history from a non-white perspective, the closer we’ll come to understanding the struggles of minorities in this country and how we can be allies in the fight for freedom. Buy books from Black-owned businesses and recommend others do the same. Politely call out people who advocate for book-banning legislation, both online and in person. Regardless of what our government does, we can always be better allies by educating ourselves about non-white perspectives and experiences.
As Tocqueville explained, one of the reasons a strong education is necessary in American society has to do with another of our civil rights: the freedom of association. This right granted under the First Amendment means we are permitted to associate with whatever religion, political party, or group we desire. These associations are essential because citizens in a democratic nation “fall into a state of incapacity, if they do not learn voluntarily to help each other” (Tocqueville 629). The problem is that some associations, like the Proud Boys, aim to hurt other associations, like Jewish communities. The act of joining an association is supposed to be voluntary, not based on the association’s use of violence to force their views on other people.
An example of the power of association to effect change in the United States is the Civil Rights Movement, when Americans of all backgrounds came together to fight for Black liberation. James Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time in the midst of the movement, and the book demonstrates the power of association to be used for both good and bad. The main associations he highlights in the book are religious: the Christian Church and the Nation of Islam. He saw how far white Christians were willing to go to justify their hate. In the essay called “Down at the Cross,” Baldwin writes, “the Bible had been written by white men. I knew that, according to many Christians, I was a descendant of Ham, who had been cursed, and that I was therefore predestined to be a slave…this was what Christendom effectively believed” (Baldwin 36). His description of the Nation of Islam’s beliefs parallels this Christian justification for hate: “There is thus, by definition, no virtue in white people…there is no hope for them” (67). The point of associations is to bring people together; as Tocqueville says, “From that moment they are no longer isolated men, but a power seen from afar, whose actions serve as an example, and whose language is listened to” (Tocqueville 632). Associations that promote hate cause people to separate, which leads to inequality. We must avoid associations whose goal is to exclude others and make them less free, like the Proud Boys. Rather we should associate with causes that will uplift all people, as was the case with the Civil Rights Movement. Such associations will take us closer to freedom.
To be a better ally we have to diversify our life, and not just when it is convenient for us to do so. We have to support other voices through donations, shout-outs, or simply trying to educate people like us. Often it is our responsibility to educate other white people, for most racism and oppression happen behind closed doors. Most white people have heard other white people use racist language or jokes when minorities aren’t around. It is scary to call out friends and family, but we must do so if we truly respect and love our nonwhite friends and family. When I was 14 I had to drop one of my friends because he was laughing at racist jokes. If I was able to do it as a teenager, you are too.
Ultimately, we should follow the instructions James Baldwin gave to his nephew in The Fire Next Time. Talking about white Americans, he remarked, “The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. You must accept them and accept them with love” (Baldwin 8). This is a message for all Americans. Especially white Americans. We must love ALL Americans and fight for everyone’s freedom. By better educating ourselves, lifting up different voices, and being cautious of with whom we associate ourselves, we can put our love and allyship into action. I am concerned for the state of the country like every other US citizen, but through the practice of love grounded in civil rights, we can advance toward a society where all Americans experience freedom.
Works Cited
Baldwin, James. “A Talk to Teachers.” Collected Essays of James Baldwin. Library of America, 1998.
Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Rev. ed. Vintage, 1992.
Mitchell, Travis. “Americans’ Views of Government: Low Trust, but Some Positive Performance Ratings.” Pew Research Center, 14 Sept. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/09/14/americans-views-of-government-low-trust-but-some-positive-performance-ratings/.
Nellis, Ashley. “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons.” The Sentencing Project, 13 Oct. 2021, www.sentencingproject.org/reports/the-color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons-the-sentencing-project/.
Somaskanda, Sumi. “Why Education Has Become a Political Battlefield in America.” dw.com, 4 June 2022, www.dw.com/en/why-education-has-become-a-political-battlefield-in-america/a-62017306.
Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Translated by Henry Reeve, Bantam Classic, 2004.