The Uncomfortable Art Of Being An Ally
The struggle to be one of the “good ones”.
From time to time, Robert P George, a professor at Princeton University, runs an experiment on his students. He asks them to imagine what they would have done if they were white and living in the American South during slavery.
You guessed it; they’d all have been abolitionists!
Even though slavery was worth more to the US economy than the railroads and manufacturing combined. Even though anyone caught providing food, shelter or aid to escaped slaves risked crippling fines, jail, and even death. Even though Abraham Lincoln himself once “expressly disclaimed all intention to bring about social and political equality between the white and black races,” these students all claim they’d have fought for justice.
And even though it’s hopelessly naive, the fact that they believe this is a good thing. 150 years ago, hardly anybody openly opposed slavery. Today, it’s hard to imagine that anybody wouldn’t. 150 years ago, some saw slavery as a “divine institution". Today, we all see how evil it was. 150 years ago, being an abolitionist meant risking everything. Today, it’s so easy that a bunch of starry-eyed kids at a $52,000 a year university believe they’d have had the courage.
