A Response to the four Narratives of American Identity
Transition as written by David Brooks in his engage of a piece by George Packer
In his New York Times Opinion Pate, Op-ed columnist David
Brooks gives his opinion to a speech given by writer George Packer on “The Four
American Narratives.” It is a thoughtful, compelling piece which causes one to
reflect on the challenges and the gifts of narratives. David Brooks writes, “In a superb speech to
the think tank New America, the Writer George Packer recently argued that there
are four rival narratives in America today."
"First, there is the libertarian narrative
that dominates the G.O.P. America is a land of free individuals responsible for
their own fate. This story celebrates the dynamism of the free market. Its
prime value is freedom. Packer wrote that “the libertarian idea in its current
shape regards Americans as consumers, entrepreneurs, workers, taxpayers —
indeed everything except citizens.”
Second, there is the narrative of globalized
America. This is the narrative dominant in Silicon Valley and beyond. “We’re
all lifelong learners and work for the start-up of you, and a more open and
connected world is always a better world.” This story “comes with an
exhilarating ideology of flattening hierarchies, disrupting systems, discarding
old elites and empowering individuals.”
But in real life when you disrupt old
structures you end up concentrating power in fewer hands. This narrative works
out well for people who went to Stanford, but not so well for most others.
Third, there is the story of multicultural
America. “It sees Americans as members of groups, whose status is largely
determined by the sins of the past and present,” Packer observed. “During the
Obama years it became a largely unexamined dogma among cultural elites.”
The multicultural narrative dominates
America’s classrooms, from elementary school through university: “It makes the
products of these educations — the students — less able or less willing to
think in terms larger than their own identity group — a kind of intellectual
narcissism — which means they can’t find common ground or effective arguments
that can reach people of different backgrounds and views.”
As Packer noted, it values inclusion but
doesn’t answer the question, Included into what? What is the national identity
all these subgroups add up into?
Finally, there is the narrative of America
First, the narrative Donald Trump told last year, and which resonated with many
voters. “America First is the conviction that the country has lost its
traditional identity because of contamination and weakness — the contamination
of others, foreigners, immigrants, Muslims; the weakness of elites who have no
allegiance to the country because they’ve been globalized.”
(From a New York Times Article dated May 26, 2017 by David Brooks) See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/the-four-american-narratives.html.
(From a New York Times Article dated May 26, 2017 by David Brooks) See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/the-four-american-narratives.html.
While I would
tend to affirm Mr. Packer’s assessment of America, I would add, in my very humble
opinion, that one of many factors which unified America, the American Dream, if you will,
was the dominance of race, racism, class and a tribalism which ensured a
dominant narrative reflective of white culture and society. America was America because of a peculiar dominance,
at times violent, of white supremacy and its historical regime of imagination. That was the single narrative which was the
ground of a secure and steady America. America was about being white, period! According to a 2015 survey by Anastasia
Mechan, a Jewish-Peruvian Journalist and Writer, the U.S. was the number one racist
country in the world, see http://anastasiamechan.com/103/. No
secret here that the historical narrative of white supremacy which gained
ground on the North American Continent, and the enslavement of the African in
America, the genocide of the native American, as well as pogroms to attack,
marginalize and eradicate Mexican Americans from America, was the narrative
that held America together. A narrative
which is the underlying content of “the campaign slogan, “Make America Great
Again.” That said, I suspect this narrative is experiencing a gradual decline
or falling away as more and more people awaken and throw off the colonization
of white supremacy. It is to this end
that the rise of Trump was made possible as more and more people, particularly
those born at the height of white supremacy feel displaced in a world which no
longer mirrors them and their imagination, a world no longer made in their
image. This has also been the cause of a
spike in racial and religious incidents against a public becoming more and more polarized.
I suspect that there are some who are experiencing lament or sorrow because white supremacy, as a unifying
narrative, and its brand of privilege, may be giving way to a country, and a
people in search, rather reluctantly, of themselves after 240 plus years of
narcissistic tendency. This is understandable yet as a nation we must begin to reject this sad truth which has, for good or ill, contoured as a matter of
response or reaction American society and culture.
Historically, it
has been the desires, imagination, innocence, ignorance and violence which has
shaped much of American society and this has been primarily at the hands of
those people who align with white supremacy and its brand of privilege as channeled through some corporations,
considered people with free speech, as interpreted by the supreme court. Particularly when you look at some in the corporate media/entertainment, the leading man, the
man who saves the world is, often, a white male. One of my favorite movies,
“The Matrix” is a movie where the savior of Zion, the last human settlement,
the messiah, is a white male. Or Star Trek with
Captain Kirk, the always victorious, romantic space warrior, see https://diversitychronicle.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/star-treks-long-history-of-racism-and-sexism-and-the-new-star-trek-series-planned-for-2015/ White men and women, on
average, are often shown in a positive light in comparison to black and brown men
and women shown in a lesser or secondary light.
I remember when the Hunger Games came out there was some serious hoopla
regarding the leading character. The
complaint was that the leader character was black woman. See http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made
Transitioning from
a narrative, exclusively centered one type of imagination,
while fraught with anxiety for many, this should be encountered as a normative
matter, is welcomed by many others who long to be free of the exclusivity of
that imagination and its gaze.
To move, however complex, into a narrative where all people, as called
forth in the book of Genesis and affirmed further in the Apostle Paul’s Epistle
to the Galatians, have significant unencumbered opportunities to exhibit a different
more inclusive humanity becomes a means to experience a new liberative discourse
on practical reality, and to recognize and embrace the sacredness of God’s
creation.
II
We Resist because we are free, We Resist because
we love, We Resist as an Obligation to the Soul
Psalm 125
A song of ascents.
1 Those who trust
in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
3 The scepter of
the wicked will not remain
over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
their hands to do evil.
over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
their hands to do evil.
4 Lord, do good
to those who are good,
to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
I receive solace
from Psalm 125 as I reflect on difficulties impressed by a life precarious,
embracing a certain and necessary confidence in God as I move through the proverbial
Valley of the Shadow of Death of Psalm 23.
It strengthens my moral fortitude as I and others choose to live into
and through cultural and societal transition of ontological and demographic import.
Amidst what some might call the
terrifying and horrific, there is a call to conscience, a call to awaken, and
to rise in the face of those forces of injustice which seek to return the days
of “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.”[1]
The Blood of Emmitt Till, Travon Martin, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Yvette Smith,
Michael Brown, Tanisha Anderson, Mesha Caldwell, and Philando Castile cry out
from history reminding me of their ultimate sacrifice and compelling a prophetic
resistance (Isaiah 2:1-5). Today, June
27, 2017 there was a report on Democracy Now that the memorial commemorating
the brutal murder of Emmitt Till was vandalized.
Prophetic
resistance grows out of divine love and is rooted in an obligation to the soul.
It is a moral responsibility. It is a means to live a sacred, holy and
authentic life. In this sense, it is a
matter of love. We resist because we love. An obligation to the soul is
unconditional and this is the guiding truth of prophetic resistance. Simone Weil, in her book, “The Need for
Roots” writes
“This obligation is an eternal one. It is coextensive with the eternal
destiny of human beings. Only human beings have an eternal destiny. Human
collectivities do not have one. Nor are there, regarding the latter, any direct
obligations of an eternal nature. Duty toward the human being as – that is
eternal. This obligation is an unconditional one.”[2]
Obligation is
universal and global, queering cultural-historical and religious boundaries
thus making justice and its implications towards freedom somewhat complicated. That
said, the empire of today, the one of race, and its supporting economic and
religious structures is the most personal and powerful empire in human history
and it too rests on matters of obligation. Yet this obligation is very
different from the obligation of the one striving to break free of the oppression
and injustice emerging out of the oppressor’s obligation to their own desires. In
this context, the oppressor, the one with race privilege, whether systemic or
historical is the empire which must be overcome to liberate and sooth the soul,
this should be received as an obligation.
Obligations, no
matter the challenge or difficulty inevitably lead to the tools which are
necessary to successfully transition into a different, inclusive and
enlightening imagination. Obligations thus becomes the ground of movements
which challenge and eventually overcome regimes of oppression. Movements such as Black Lives Matter, the
Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring, the African National Conference (ANC), the
LGBTQ Movements and others arise as matters of liberation and this as a matter
of obligation to the soul. These movements and others shout loud the words, I
have an obligation to my liberation, my freedom and to love myself and others
in Christ.
“Forward Together.” Rev. Dr. William Barber
Prophetic
resistance, is a means to fulfill an obligation to the soul, it is a divine
call to love, it is the life of Christ Jesus and the revelation of his
crucifixion. In this sense, prophetic resistance happens in the context diverse
spiritual and religious communities of faith, transcending significant barriers
intended to maintain profound and manifest injustice. Prophetic resistance must open the mind to
new and different possibilities of liberation which transcend the narrow
confines of definition, character and structure. Mindful of the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1960’s prophetic resistance was a matter of oneness with God
and with those on the journey together as they fought against men like Bull
Conner, George Wallace, the KKK, and the White Citizens Council. What Jesus was
up against so to his Church would also face similar persecution.
According to John
17:21 Jesus prayed the following prayer, “I pray that they all may be one, just
as you and I are one. Father, I am in you. And may they be in us so the world
would believe you sent me.”
These tools
necessarily lead to spiritual, mental and emotional clarity for those obliged. The
implications of this obligation are horizons of hope revealing a new and
different inclusive narrative of humanity.
This obligation reveals itself more and more as a oneness engulfs the
whole movement of Prophetic Resistance.
III
Historical Knowledge Compels Action, Strategies
and the Architecture of Hope
I was recently
part of a teach-in at Laney College in Oakland, CA. I was there to sit on a
panel discussing issues and concerns of healthcare, education, the LGBTQ
community, immigration, and employment. Our discussion reminded me that one of
the most critical elements of a discussion on social justice is the historical
analysis which must be the starting point of any action to adequately and
successfully address issues and concerns of injustice. An historical analysis
will reveal systems, processes and the constructs which maintain the grand
narratives which dictate and frame life as it is today. Of course, history as a
curriculum in public schools, and education in general, has been under
considerable pressure for years as budgets focus more and more on subjects more
in line with corporate and right-wing interests.
“Simply put, life is a journey through history.”
The sorted
history of the United States compels me to be faithful and watchful as day after
day grace and mercy become a way of survival in a society not my own. As Lebron
James, one of the greatest basketball players of all time said after his house
was vandalized with a racial slur, “No matter how much money you have, no
matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in
America is tough. We got a long way to go for us as a society and for us as
African-Americans until we feel equal in America.” See https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/05/lebron-james-responds-to-racist-vandalism-of-his-la-home/528771/.
I suspect this experience is encountered by many black and brown people who successfully
navigate and even transcend a world imagined and constructed exclusively for
white people. The one who accomplishes
particular mastery of this white world, who overcomes Franz Fanon’s white gaze,
finds a peculiar freedom and burden which characterizes their pursuit, their
divine calling.
That said, it is
clear to me that transitions whether personal, familial, cultural, social or
political, economic reveal significant fault lines which portend significant and
necessary shifts, putting at risk certain grand narratives which have historically
defined American society, considered by this writer as a grand overarching
structure, as white.
Grand narratives
as defined by postcolonial theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid in her analysis of Antonio
Francesco Gramsci, an Italian Marxist political theorist, are those
authoritative discourses which sustain everyday life. They identify the common order or common
sense of things which are ideologically constructed yet assumed to have a
natural and almost biological presence in life.
These are the Cultural, religious, socio-political discourses, economy
and science and philosophical cosmovisions.[3] Although she was referring to Latin America,
the same would apply to the United States.
As difficult and
fraught with complexity as transitions can be they provide an opportunity for
society to redefine itself and its mission and hopes sought. To somehow delink
itself from narratives unhealthy for the whole and to move forward together
with a new, steady and just inclusive vision for a common good. The process of
transition is not easy or at times manageable yet for the growth and maturity
of a nation certain navigation of the transitory is necessary. Unless this is accomplished nations cannot
achieve the fullness longed for by their founders.
Conclusion
The true and most
sincere measure of a society is how it treats the least of its citizens. It’s
not how much money corporations make their shareholders or how big its military
is or how many times it can destroy civilization. More so, it is how it treats
its children, the infirmed, the disabled, the homeless, those with mental
health challenges and the unemployed. It
is how it treats the sacred and divine things of God. A society which neglects such will soon falter,
indeed it will eventually fall. Transitions are that moment in time when
societies choose to acknowledge the divine in all people or shrink from matters
courageous. As a country of people we must take this time seriously and move steadfastly with intention to a brighter future.
[1]
Cone, James, H., The Cross and the Lynching Tree, Orbis Books (Maryknoll, New
York)
[2]
Weil, Simone, The Need for Roots (Routledge, New York) p. 5
[3]
Althaus-Reid, Marcella, Indecent Theology, Theological Perversions in Sex,
Gender and Politics (Routledge, London, UK) p 11.
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