Sometimes I get frustrated with KPFK, when some (not all) of the hosts make a silly parsing of humanity into two camps. If you agree with the multicultural Left, you are good. If you disagree with them on anything, then you are a traitor, an imperialist, a fascist, even a racist or white supremacist. More to the point, the other day I heard Eric Mann and Mumia Abu-Jamal calling Lincoln a white supremacist. This is a gross oversimplification of the life and legacy of a very complex person who lived in very complex times. I have heard the term “white supremacist” used a lot to describe people, artists or groups that would be horrified to hear themselves described that way. When the term is overused, it loses its meaning and may as well become a synonym for “liberal,” or maybe “less than a multicultural socialist.” Although I’m all for multicultural, non-sexist, anti-racist, orientation-equal, environmentally sustainable socialism, this demonization of everyone outside our relatively small circles is very alienating. It may even alienate the people we are trying to reach. I have had anarchists tell me with a straight face that FDR was a racist and a fascist, even though he led the fight against capital-F Fascism (the really evil and dangerous kind), and he was probably less racist than the average American at that time. Most Americans of the era, including unionists and socialists, respected and admired FDR, and objectively he improved people’s lives. BUT, he also “saved capitalism,” and he was not anarchist, so in the absolutist universe that makes him just another villain in the class war. As to Lincoln and white supremacy, it is true that if you read Lerone Bennett Jr’s much-ignored book from 2000, Forced Into Glory; Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream, you will find a lot of documentation for statements by Lincoln denying racial equality and denying he was an abolitionist. You will find out that, in addition to all his other tasteless, inappropriately-timed jokes, he cracked racist jokes as well, and that his favored strategy for dealing with freed slaves was to send them to an overseas colony. All of these things are documented, and they have been too much ignored by mainstream historians. One might conclude from the evidence that Lincoln wanted an America without Africans, free or slave. One might even question his compassion. But you may also notice that he said most of these things and advocated these policies earlier in his political career or early in the Civil War; and if you read another book, Eric Foner’s The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2011), you might conclude that Lincoln’s views about Blacks and slavery evolved over the course of the Civil War. You might conclude that he was a practical politician who said things the majority of white voters wanted to hear; that he kept his personal hatred of slavery and sympathy for the enslaved in check while he pursued political power; that he was radicalized by the events of his presidency; or that he was the most electable “kinda, sorta” abolitionist who could have ended slavery at that point in history. Considering the context of the times is hard; pigeonholing an imperfect person with simple-minded villainization is easy. The Lincoln revisionists would like to replace hero-worship of Lincoln with adulation for the true abolitionists, the uncompromising men and women who at one point wanted the North to secede from the USA to get away from slavery; it was they who forced Lincoln’s hand, so the argument goes. But one could also make the argument that it was to Lincoln’s credit that he allowed the abolitionists to influence him during the war, and that he invited Frederick Douglass to the White House, listened to him and treated him with respect. It is worth repeating that neither Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison nor John Brown could have been elected president or attained meaningful political power in that century. Even if they had, it is arguable that they would not have been able to end slavery as early as Lincoln did.
Today’s Left often appears incredibly naïve, failing to take account of political and social realities and rejecting all compromise. This is why the Left demonizes nearly all modern presidential candidates: because they don’t support everything on the Left’s agenda, preferring to get elected and do only some of the things the Left wants. This is one reason why the modern Left in this country is in danger of becoming small(er), ridiculous and unelectable. Considering the totality of everything Lincoln said and did, racist jokes, compassionate statements and all, I would say that overall his impact on the country was for the better, to put it mildly. He was not a god, an idol or a perfect person, any more so than the favorite heroes of the Left. He should not be worshipped – he should be studied. He definitely should not be judged solely on the basis of the insensitive jokes he told. At the very least, Lincoln should be given credit for the growth in his consciousness. To take a comparable example, Barack Obama initially opposed gay marriage, but he later came around to a position of support, and he repealed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law. Like the Emancipation proclamation, the repeal of DADT was limited in scope, but historically significant. And so Obama gets to go down in history as the best president gay Americans have ever had to date. Why, then, can’t Lincoln be regarded as the best president African Americans ever had up to that point, and for many decades afterwards? Absolutist demonization and ignorance of context and nuance do not make anyone wiser. In fact, I’ll say it: calling Abraham Lincoln a white supremacist, in defiance of the totality of the historical context, is just plain STUPID. As is calling Barack Obama a war criminal. (Go back to the Nuremberg trials to find out what a war criminal really is.) Using drones is wrong. Sending freed slaves to overseas colonies was a lousy idea. Simple-minded analysis and holier-than-thou attitudes will eventually kill off what’s left of the Left. And KPFK is at its best when it’s not 100% political. Here's an article from LA Progressive supporting some of my points: http://www.laprogressive.com/obama-lincoln/ Here are links to the two books: http://www.amazon.com/Forced-into-Glory-Abraham-Lincolns/dp/0874850851/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364349092&sr=1-1&keywords=forced+into+glory http://www.amazon.com/Fiery-Trial-Abraham-Lincoln-American/dp/039334066X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364349169&sr=1-1&keywords=eric+foner [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
