Journal #35 (Extra)

Michelle Romero
English 48A
Dr. Scott Lankford

"Yet we in America, whose antiracist idealists are admired around the globe, seem to have lost these men and women as heroes. Our textbooks need to present them in such a way that we might again value our own idealism" (Loewen 199).

Very true. Loewen is talking about the irony in the fact that America is portrayed as a humanitarian country abroad, being looked upon as a role model for human equality, yet that we Americans have resisted our own humanitarians. It is pretty ironic.

Honestly, I think as a country we want to be seen as great, an idealist nation with humanity at heart. However, I think that when the WASP view does not agree with who the hero is, he or she gets written out of history. That way, the great act of whatever the hero achieved or contributed remains, yet he or she does not. So, if one great role model of the time is a black activist, his ideals may be placed on the wall of honorary achievement, yet he will still be sent to eat at the slaves table in the kitchen, away from the rest of society. He is still denied the right to own his own theory or his own success.

Then, mainstream society begins to act as if white Protestants brought about the change, as though they had some sort of hand in the fate of our nation's history, as though they were and are the only ones capable of success. I guess we are not as far removed from discrimination as I thought. I guess we have not really achieved even the half-way point to true racial equality when we look at the subtleties that can leave such a lasting and misguided impression on us.