Remains of the day

New Crisis, The, Nov/Dec 2001 by Valentine, Victoria L

The America we live in today is a markedly different one from the place we called home before Sept. 11. The number of lives lost stands at nearly 3,300. When we consider the impact of the tragedy on the families and friends of the victims, the sheer horror of the loss is exponential. And it has rarely been noted that not just Americans, but people from around the world, including many of the Muslim faith, were among the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks. Those of us who didn't lose a loved one at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or on Flight 93, can never know the true devastation of that day, but it has certainly ushered in a new era in this country. America is on high alert. Our troops - this nation's brave young men and women - are in harm's way.

But so many things have not changed at all. In response to the attacks, America has reverted to her old ways. U.S. Justice Department officials are seeking to interview 5,000 men solely on the basis that they entered this country on visas from a selection of mostly Middle Eastern nations since January 2000. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) had her life threatened because she was brave enough to stand up to her Congressional colleagues and declare that she disagreed with their otherwise unanimous vote to authorize military retaliation for the terrorist attacks. Women, particularly Black ones, who speak up for what they believe in aren't regarded as trailblazing independent thinkers in the way that men, particularly white ones, in the same situation would be. Rather they are deemed unpatriotic and terrorist sympathizers.

African Americans have seen it all before, perhaps not on this scale, but terrorism nonetheless. The 1963 bombing that killed four little girls at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., was clearly a terrorist act. The lynchings, cross burnings, COINTELPRO activities and voter intimidation (in the 1960s, not to mention 2000) are all examples of domestic terrorism against Blacks. At no point, however, was the U.S. government in lock step defense of our freedom and security as it is today in the fight against terrorism.

Our own track record hasn't been exemplary, either. Blacks have been terrorizing our own crime-ridden neighborhoods for decades. In communities around the country, children don't play outside and law-abiding residents hesitate to leave their homes after sundown for fear of being harmed, or worse, by their own kind. And in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy, polls show that we've shored up just enough American arrogance to endorse the profiling of Arab Americans. Yesterday we were the sole victims of racial profiling (and will continue to be targeted tomorrow), but today the majority of African Americans believe it's alright for another ethnic group to endure the indignity.

At The Crisis we've been struggling with the notion of patriotism and the complex history of Blacks in the United States. In Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin wrote, "I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

Baldwin had a fiery pen. His is the kind of passion that throughout this country's history has made her a better, more unified place. Abolition, civil rights, voting rights, women's rights, disability and gay rights, all were achieved by those willing to question this country's mores.

What remains in the wake of that Tuesday in September is a nation, strong and everevolving, united around the ideal of freedom. In the end, the symbolic act of flying a flag on our car is far less meaningful than challenging Attorney General John Ashcroft's efforts to trample on our civil liberties or simply returning to our daily routines and, in so doing, refusing to let the terrorists hijack our lives.

Victoria L. Valentine

Editor in Chief