Belonging can be elusive and has in fact been elusive for too too many US citizens as historically various means legal and illegal were used to send a clear message that "you have no place here."
To change this let's use public space to develop an inclusive public memory with an accompanying memorial landscape.
The Problem:
Well it was very easy almost 100 years ago to erect statues that commemorated the desires of a entire nation built on the proposition that Whites are naturally and divinely superior to Blacks and all other non-Whites and impure Whites. Along with this belief went a "natural" certainty that all men were superior in mind and body to all women and that all heterosexuals are superior to all homosexuals and that all physically able people are superior to any human with a physical disability and/or mental ailment and, of course, English was superior to all other languageths.
A Solution:
An Inclusive way to use Public Spaces and Shift Public Memories:
So why not use public spaces to erect statues and memorials in ever community across the USA that remembers that the enslavement of Africans was morally wrong. Also have statues that acknowledge the numerous lies that led to lynchings of innocent Black victims. Erect statues oommemorating the shame of lynchings. Erect statues that explain how homosexuals have always existed in communities and had to create places to meet in hostile environments. Erect statues that explain the false fear that led to broad discrimination against interracial couples. Erect statues to the Abolitionist movements that always were morally opposed to the enslavement of people of African descent. Erect places where all humans can see themselves represented as proud members of the communities that have co-existed at times in mutual respect and at times in quasi-hostillity BUT DO NOT MAKE BOTH SIDES MORAL EQUIVALENTS because hate is meant to demeans and degrade while inclusion is meant to allow to develop feelings of belonging in secure places.
There is some humor--- For example: In the Texas State Cemetery there is a section of Confederate Veterans graves. The great irony is that these graves are bathed in the shadow of the chapel of Huston-Tillotson University, an historically Black university. The very essence of what the Confederacy fought against - the education of Black people.
To change this let's use public space to develop an inclusive public memory with an accompanying memorial landscape.
The Problem:
Well it was very easy almost 100 years ago to erect statues that commemorated the desires of a entire nation built on the proposition that Whites are naturally and divinely superior to Blacks and all other non-Whites and impure Whites. Along with this belief went a "natural" certainty that all men were superior in mind and body to all women and that all heterosexuals are superior to all homosexuals and that all physically able people are superior to any human with a physical disability and/or mental ailment and, of course, English was superior to all other languageths.
A Solution:
An Inclusive way to use Public Spaces and Shift Public Memories:
So why not use public spaces to erect statues and memorials in ever community across the USA that remembers that the enslavement of Africans was morally wrong. Also have statues that acknowledge the numerous lies that led to lynchings of innocent Black victims. Erect statues oommemorating the shame of lynchings. Erect statues that explain how homosexuals have always existed in communities and had to create places to meet in hostile environments. Erect statues that explain the false fear that led to broad discrimination against interracial couples. Erect statues to the Abolitionist movements that always were morally opposed to the enslavement of people of African descent. Erect places where all humans can see themselves represented as proud members of the communities that have co-existed at times in mutual respect and at times in quasi-hostillity BUT DO NOT MAKE BOTH SIDES MORAL EQUIVALENTS because hate is meant to demeans and degrade while inclusion is meant to allow to develop feelings of belonging in secure places.
There is some humor--- For example: In the Texas State Cemetery there is a section of Confederate Veterans graves. The great irony is that these graves are bathed in the shadow of the chapel of Huston-Tillotson University, an historically Black university. The very essence of what the Confederacy fought against - the education of Black people.
