How does one address their own past? Forensic rhetoric is concerned with what a person has done and is usually thought of with how that applies in a legal sense. I believe we are often unsure of how to address our own past. If you have committed an atrocity, how do you react? Every person is capable of doing both good and bad. Are you forgiving to yourself, in the way that you would be so to a friend struggling with their own past? Some try to forget about the past in an effort to not relive or feel the pain it may have brought them. They may refuse to think about it and in turn, learn nothing about it. Maybe you are the kind of person to actively punish yourself for something you have done even if no one else is. Your mind constantly brings up the thought that tortures you. You lay awake at night thinking about something you should not have said or done. These both seem extreme, on one end you have someone who never grows from their mistakes and on the other hand, you have a person who commits themselves to a life of unreasonable shame. How do we just take responsibility for ourselves and the things we have done? How do we own up to them? How does a country or a culture do this?
I believe America is a great country, for all the flaws it may have and dark moments in history, I think I am lucky to have been born in a country where I have the freedom to criticize my government, choose to have an education, worship in the way I see fit, and love or marry another person on my own terms. Still, as a country, we are not without our darkness. How do we account for slavery, discrimination, and classism? NPR reported that several decades ago, two officials in Virginia had worn blackface during the 1980s. As much as we could argue that this was before the movement of political correctness, this may be unacceptable even at this time. This precedes African Americans having the same rights as those with different skin colors, but obviously attitudes may have not been as progressive with it. Despite often hearing jabs at other races as jokes, I don’t think I have ever seen someone go this far and heard criticism of this behavior growing up from both a conservative and liberal side of the spectrum. I think the question is less of one that decides if we have done something wrong but in what context it is wrong. Objectively, this is degrading to another race and even if it was all in good fun in that time period, we can all agree now that it is unacceptable behavior. Unless you are criticizing everyone on equal terms, it is not fair to single out and criticize a single race of people and treat them as a Halloween costume.
I think a reason this kind of topic has become almost combative is due to generational differences. Online discussion boards amongst teachers often sight Generation Z to be more empathetic towards others than Millenials and the preceding generations that they had the opportunity to teach. While I would argue that Generation Z is involved with humor as a coping mechanism to engage in equal criticism and free speech, it is accompanied by awareness and empathy that shows interest in what others go through. This opposes the idea that young people have a self-serving view of the world. While possibly ignorant and a little naive, I don’t think that erases good intentions of helping others seen in them.
What combats between these two views of empathy for those who are martyred for who they are and what warrants criticism is where we draw the line between victimization and forgiving another person for something. Should someone who wore blackface be treated as a social outcast for the rest of their lives? What makes a person liable to be redeemed? How can we trust a person has learned from their actions? Personally, I can’t answer these questions because I am not sure what warrants redemption and forgiveness. Personally, when I think about the subjects on this level I realize how interconnected theology and culture really are. Redemption is a larger theme of the new testament in the Bible and I think that should raise questions to us not only of a victim’s humanity but a perpetrator’s humanity. Can we draw the line when a person lacks it?
Our ancestors inherited behaviors and actions that we have deemed of poor taste in our modern-day. What I’d like to end on is how we can be better. No matter what this is America and the past we came from. I’m sure 200 years from now our descendants will feel shame at some of the things we did or behaviors we exhibited. While they do have the right to criticize us, we should hold hope that they will forgive us and their past. If we want that to be the reality we may need to look at our own past and learn to be better, while forgiving and accepting the country and people we were in those times.
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