Anton Savage: The American dream is a handy way for the US to ignore the horrors of its history
Unlike other nations, the US has never fully confronted its past, fuelling deep racial divides today. Donald Trump's appeal taps into this history of denial and division, as many Americans choose to ignore the country's original sins rather than reckon with them
Originally published in the Business Post.
Much of the planet and about half of America are contorted trying to explain Maga and the popularity of Donald Trump. It’s the Deplorables. It’s the Christian Right. It’s the uneducated. Most of which may be true, but all of which ignores the biggest contributor - America’s original sin, with which it has never come to terms.
Many countries have shameful episodes, black marks in their history. South Africa has apartheid, England has slavery, Belgium has brutal racial exploitation, Germany has the waging of murderous wars. Nearly all have attempted to come to terms with that past.
Belgium has said sorry (often, but badly) for what it did in Congo. South Africa held the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and established programmes to redress racial inequality. Germany is still in sackcloth.
England has come to terms with its trade in human lives and misery, largely by claiming credit for stopping it, which is up there with the IRA’s claims of being ‘peacemakers’ because they gave up the car bombs and knee cappings. But we’ll just have to take it because it’s as good as we’re likely to get.
America is different for two reasons. First, it has never addressed its national shames. And second, it has so many of them. Apartheid? Tick. Slavery? Tick. Murderous wars? Tick. Racial exploitation and brutality? Tick. Uncle Sam’s method of dealing with all of these was Trumpian long before he was even born: deny what you are and claim to be the opposite. In the case of the USA, that’s the land of the free.
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