Our American Tragedy
Can we rebuild the U.S. like Germany after WWII?
I know changing laws, voting, and eradicating loopholes in police union contracts are on the top of our to-do list. As it should be. But who’s going to de-brainwash the racists?
At first, I thought, we could wait them out, since that generation who lived and still yearn for Jim Crow is older and eventually will die out. I was wrong. That generation has passed down their beliefs to the next generation.
These homegrown terrorists are not only white, but young. Like teenager young. A whole new generation of racists are growing as I write this.
So how does de-brainwashing work?
Did some Nazis ever saw the error of their ways? Did they one day wake up remorseful?
Germany’s awakening
No. Nazis didn’t suddenly become remorseful and repented for their sins. Once Allied forces defeated Germany, the country went through a period of silence. In “Other Nations Could Learn From Germany’s Efforts to Reconcile After WWII,” Joanna Neborsky wrote that after the initial shock, the country went through a period of silence as it dealt with the collective trauma by suppressing their feeling of guilt.
