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As any psychotherapist worth a shit will tell you, the goal isn’t to quickly return to a state of equanimity. It’s to confront what’s problematic and look it directly in the eyes. This can be time intensive and often painful. Only then can healing begin. A country is no different
We can’t heal without first *honestly* tending to history.
We can’t claim national values that are consistently contradicted by actions.
We can’t find unity without first tending to injustice.
There is so much work to do, and that was true before yesterday’s events.
We can’t claim national values that are consistently contradicted by actions.
We can’t find unity without first tending to injustice.
There is so much work to do, and that was true before yesterday’s events.
Saying things like, “this isn’t who we are” or “we’re still the greatest country on earth” serve as ways to avoid even beginning the work. As I said this summer, I don’t think we have the collective stomach required to do the work. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong. That would be great.
What I think we’ll see is a large number of white liberals espousing the “true” values of America and advocating for unity without being willing to do any of the work necessary to make it a reality.
What folks don’t seem to understand is that unity is hard earned and not something we should even be talking about as a point of entry to this discussion. Also, unity isn’t a prerequisite for any of this. It’s often used as a tactic to benevolently maintain the status quo.
For example, when I work with a couple or family in conflict, I don’t immediately call for unity. That would be one of the least effective practices I could engage in. Unity is a byproduct that might slowly make itself known near the end of the work after much other work is done.
Look, it we can’t earnestly acknowledge where we are, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever get where we hope to go... if that’s where we truly do want to go.
