We Are a Quilt
We are a quilt. America as a society and a culture is really a quilt. Our statues are part of the stitching which holds the quilt together. When we allow mobs to decide which statues will stand and which will fall, we are tearing at the very fabric of our society. We are doing so without any discussion. A mob is deciding.
We are on the brink. We are in danger of falling into something akin to civil war or the Age of Terror during the French Revolution. America is such a patchwork quilt, it is amazing we have gotten this far. However, the patchwork quilt is as American as it gets. The stitching together of all of these odd squares should not have worked.
We are unlike the Japanese or the Jews or the Chinese or the Greeks or the Persians. Their cultures have remained homogeneous for centuries, even millennia, if you listen to them tell it. There is a strong and long-lasting fabric which shields these societies. This natural homogeneous bond provides protection against these societies turning on themselves.
America does not have this strong natural homogeneous fabric to tie us together. We have this “quilt” we have stitched together. This quilt nurtures us and keeps us together in times of trouble. If we tear at the squares of the quilt we will have nothing. Some of the squares have stains but they are part of the fabric of who we are. We must recall who we are. We are this great imperfect patchwork quilt.
What do I mean in practical terms? Well, I think there are squares in the quilt which are stained. I KNOW they are stained; badly stained. It is part of the patchwork which we are made up of though. America has always been about redemption. A vast country to give you a second chance to make good of your life.
This essay is about some stained squares which I think provide too much other strength to the quilt. They are flawed, they are stained, but they are part of the fabric which holds us together. I am going to toss them out here in no particular order or priority really. There are so many stained squares in the quilt I need not ruminate on the idea for very long.
Malcolm X — Should we not have a statue for Malcolm X or read his writings because he was racist and violent in his youth? Honestly, he sounds like a violent racist in his youth so we should not have this square in the quilt…it is too stained. Yet, this square is SOOO important. Malcolm X is a story of redemption. A story of finding love in spirituality, specifically the spirituality of Islam. At this moment, at this time, the life of a man driven by violent racism at the beginning and moved by love, compassion and brotherhood at its end, is a square we MUST have in the quilt.
Geronimo — Geronimo is a stained square in the quilt for sure. He was a terrible hateful racist. Geronimo’s hatred toward Mexicans NEVER wavered throughout his life. The fact is indigenous people were fighting the Americans, the Canadians and the Mexicans in North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Mexicans had killed Geronimo’s first wife and children. He never forgave them. He also killed his share of Americans, but he also was an honorable representative of the plight of the Apache. His leadership and dignity in the face of insurmountable odds is as American as it gets…or it is what we like to think about ourselves.
Junipero Serra — The statue of Father Serra was toppled at the California Capitol recently. There is little doubt the Catholic padre had caused a lot of suffering among the Native Californians. Nonetheless, I feel he also provides a strong connection to the Latinx heritage of the state AND the country. He is one of the founding infrastructure builders in the western United States. He had founded a string of missions before the United States had won the revolution. He represents a testament to the hard-working, god-fearing Hispanic heritage of the country. (remember I am a pagan, so I am simply acknowledging another square in the quilt.)
George Washington —The first president of the United States is clearly a stained square in the quilt of America. When one truly understands his slave holding history, one grows angry. When I visited Mt. Vernon and found the unmarked graves of the slaves, I was mortified. George Washington was an extremely religious man, so for him to bury them in unmarked graves demonstrated the low regard he had for them. It was a terrible realization for me. However, despite this stain on his square, George Washington also represents civilian government. He chose not to be king. He chose not to be a dictator by any name. He chose to step down. On top of that as he stepped down, a former military man, he turned over the mantle of power to a civilian, John Adams. John Adams had NO military background and had not fought in the Revolutionary War. A civilian government and civic elections to select the leadership are a key contribution of Washington’s square to the quilt.
Woodrow Wilson — Personally, I really find this person to be reprehensible on a number of levels. His racism was incredible. He represents a time when the Ku Klux Klan had a parade in Washington, DC. There is so much to hate about Woodrow Wilson, but his square represents a number of things for our quilt. The most important being the idea of global cooperation to prevent war. He fought to create the League of Nations a VERY necessary body. This was made clear by the rise of Hitler after the United States spurned membership in the league. Wilson’s dream became the United Nations after WWII due to our recognition of the need after rejecting it earlier. We definitely need this square to be represented at this time in our history, stains and all.
Thomas Jefferson — The author of the Declaration of Independence has quite a large role in American history. The Jefferson Bible is definitive proof many of the Founding Fathers were for the most part simple deists and not terribly religious. Jefferson is on the paper money and the coinage. Only Washington and Lincoln get this honor along with Jefferson. I would in fact probably say I think it might be too big an honor for a slave holder and perhaps a hypocrite. I wonder what Sally Hemmings would say about her “husband” and father of her children. His square is stained, but he also represents some of the strongest ideas about the dignity of the individual against the state. He also represents the broadening of the quilt. He brings Sally Hemmings’ square into the quilt. I hope my country can see what a story of love, reconciliation and forgiveness the Jefferson-Hemmings square adds to our quilt. It strengthens our quilt as it strengthens their descendants.
Is Christopher Columbus part of that quilt? Yes, but is he as big a part as we have made him out to be in the past? Perhaps not, though he and his legacy cast a long shadow. I probably do not like seeing statues of Columbus too much. I am all for referendums on such things, but to allow mobs of people to decide is a VERY BAD precedent.
We don’t need to tear him out of the quilt. We need to broaden the quilt. We need to add some squares. Let us have ourselves a national quilting bee. We need to recognize these others more. I do believe that we do better by adding some more squares. Let us have the discussion.
This discussion may become uncomfortable, but we should be earnest. I do not think the Spanish or the Italians or the Portuguese hold the same place in the “discovery” of the Americas as we originally thought. We can add the Vikings or possibly the Templars or the Phoenicians or the Chinese to our quilt. Of course, the indigenous peoples are a huge part of the story.
Huge is the contribution of indigenous people, but were they “first”? Is their such a thing as “first”? As we look at human history now going back many more thousands of years than we originally thought. We are beginning to understand there have been huge upheavals over the millennia. These events have caused enormous refugees flow at different times over different continents.
Let us talk about this stuff and not riot about it. This quilt is our nation. If we tear up the quilt we do not have a nation. It really is simple as that. If you do not want to have a nation any longer please just come out and say it…so we can all make other plans.
