This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“People take licence from words and
stories, as Powell’s defence makes clear.
‘Make America Great Again’ is not only nostalgic, it is imperative,
demanding action of its believers. And
it is regressive, holding the present hostage to an imaginary past. The problem is compounded when believers are
prepared to use violence to bring this imaginary past to life, because it never
existed. Frist come the hazy invocations
of a racially harmonious history, along with simultaneous, contradictory
assurances that all racism is behind us – which together serve to erase the
reality of racial inequality. The master
narrative legitimates this worldview, but only violence can bring it about.” –
Sarah Churchwell, Chapter 2: Don’t Look Back!, Page 45
“This is how disavowal manages cognitive dissonance: it
means conceding the existence of slavery, while erasing its pain and its
profits. It means wilfully pushing
slavery to the periphery of popular consciousness and being saved by the logic
of exception. The whole point of the way
the slave economy developed in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was
to make it possible for those profiting from slavery to disavow their active
role in it. Few if any of the most
powerful figures in American history before 1865 can be understood apart from
it, and yet we continually tell stories in which slavery functions as something
that happens offstage, instead of one of the primary engines driving the plot
of American history.” – Sarah Churchwell, Chapter 5: An Ideal Plantation, Page 73
“Overcome with resentment, furiously refusing blame, the
South started telling a fable about the end of slavery that evolved out of the tales
it had long told to justify slavery’s existence. That fable did not question white supremacy,
or the South’s motives. Instead, it
questioned the causes and consequences of the war, rewriting the conflict as
one of sovereignty and states’ rights: the invidious North destroyed the
gallant South, who had never fought a war over slavery (and anyway, they’d add,
slavery was a benevolent system in which everyone was happy). Although their cause was lost, it was an
honourable one, defending a simple agrarian life wiped out by the aggressively
industrial North.” – Sarah Churchwell, Chapter 7: A Land of Cavaliers, Page 93
Is This An Overview?
Before the American Civil War, slaves were held as assets,
worth more wealth than the combined industries of banking, railroads, and
manufacturing. The loss of such wealth
would have been devastating. In
response, myths were formed to justify keeping slaves, to justify hostilities
against minority groups, specifically black people. Myths that claim that slavery was a
benevolent system. Myths that cause
people to become oblivious to reality, to override reality. Myths and misinformation that persist in
corroding American political discourse. History
provides precent for the future, as past events provide the possibilities for
what people could tolerate. Myths shape,
and reshape history to change the future.
The myth was blended with stories of values form European cavaliers,
medieval knights, of feudal society to glorify the master and slave
society. A source book and collection
for American myths is Gone With the Wind.
After slaves were freed, former slaves became economic and
political threats to Southern white supremacists. In response, the supremacists found ways to
remove former slaves by any means available.
To prevent supposed corruption and incompetence, the supremacists
imposed racial subordination through intimidation, force, and terrorism. Lynching black individuals for perceived
slights, and murdering black politicians.
Then created a myth that the violence was caused by black people. But the supremacists still needed a work
force, and former slaves did not want to work where they had been
mistreated. Rather than figure out how
to treat people right, the supremacists considered black people lazy. To get a work force, laws were created to
incarcerate as many black people as possible, and use convicts for labor.
What Was The Civil War Fought For?
American Southern history, known as American myth, portrays
the Confederacy as defenders of a noble civilization, and democratic rights. The Confederacy’s Lost Cause is the claim
that the Civil War was not based on Slavery, that there was nothing wrong with
slavery. The Civil War is claimed to
have been fought over Northern aggression, illegitimate federal expansion, and
state’s rights. That the war was fought
for sovereignty and state rights. That
the North destroyed a gallant South.
The actual history of the Confederacy considers the people
white supremacists defending chattel slavery.
The Confederate leaders deny moral and political realities of the Civil
War, and the society that came about.
The history of the Lost Cause was that the Civil War was meant to keep individual
state’s rights to keep and trade enslaved people. When Confederates were trying to gain
international allies, Confederates provided alternatives reasons other than
white supremacy and slavery, for other countries were abolishing slavery.
Southerners thought that by losing the Civil War, that they
had repaired their debts. A view that
requires no penalty for taking arms against the federal government.
The author claims that the North went to war to stop
secession, not slavery. That many were
against slavery, but that was not the reason for the war. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
freeing slaves, in part for moral reason, but mainly for the need for
troops. The author then proceeds to
claim the war was not fought for slavery is a myth made by the South.
What Kind Of System Was Slavery?
The myth of slavery was that no one was hurt by
slavery. That the profits of the
planation class, were earned by the planation class. That slaves were only occasionally maltreated. That slavery was a benevolent system that
benefited the slaves. The horrors of the
slavery were claimed to be exaggerated by the North. For the American South, slaves did not want
to be free. That enslavement was
voluntary servitude.
The actual history of slavery is that many slaves escaped to
freedom. Wanted to not be
persecuted. Slaves did not complain to
their masters, making themselves to appear to be content, because the masters
would get upset and retaliate with punishment should the slave complain.
What Was The Effect Of Reconstruction?
After the Civil War, the end of slavery transitioned into Jim
Crow segregation, sharecropping, debt peonage, mass incarceration, summary
violence, and voter disfranchisement.
Systems that were absorbed by the North.
Problems during the Reconstruction were blamed on freed
slaves and opportunism from the North.
Rather than white supremacist taking responsibility for their
intransigent, the supremacists blamed the freed slaves for inferiority. White supremacists wanted to stop what they
thought would be incompetence and malfeasance, by preventing black people from
votes through fraud, threats, intimidation, and violence. Disfranchisement of black people to prevent
corruption and incompetence.
Imposing racial subordination through force and
terrorism. Supremacists used summary
violence, such as lynching. Murdering
black politicians. The violence was done
at the same time insisting that the enslavers were patriotic and
principled. Murdering minorities for
perceived slights, was required by Southern gentlemen. The terrorism was rewritten as
self-defense. Lynchings were considered
a form of extralegal justice.
Projected the terrorism unto black Americans. That it was terrorism of black rule over
white people. This was a case of
savagery projected onto the victims.
Black literacy was a challenge to white dominance. Literacy challenged the biological myth of
inferiority that justified white governance.
And, with literacy, black individuals were able to obtain civil rights
knowledge.
As the South needed workers, and were dependent on slavery,
supremacists created conditions to put black people back into slavery, under a
different name. Forcing convicts to
work. Making black activity illegal, to
incarcerate them, and then use convict labor.
Created excuses to lock up as many black people as possible.
Various white supremacist groups were formed to impose their
claims on every other group. Ku Klux
Klan was one of the most famous white supremacist groups. It is claimed the that the problems of
Reconstruction provided impetus for the development of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was meant to defend sexual
purity of white women. That the issue was
not of race, but interracial sex.
Marital rape was legal, and justified.
The actual crimes committed, were done by the Ku Klux Klan. Ku Klux Klan was more likely to commit rape
than protect women from rape.
Many Americans approved of fascism in Europe. Claimed that European fascism was learned
from the United Staes. There is a claim
that Hitler’s policies were those that the Ku Klux Klan used.
How Do The Historical Claims Justify Action During The 21st
Century?
During January 6th, 2021, Donald Trump instigated
an insurrection. Claiming that the
political opposition had stolen the election, had attacked democracy. This led many Americans to charge the
Capitol, wanting the death of political opponents. The rioters besieged the Capitol, wanting to seize
the government by force. The rioters had
used the symbols of the past, such as the Confederate flag.
After the Civil War, after the Confederacy fell, the nation
wanted to get past the consequences of the Civil War, to not discuss slavery
and race. Claiming that the Civil War
was not an insurrection to defend slavery.
The same occurred after the 2021 insurrection. After the 2021 insurrection, leaders were
calling for unity, to get past the violence.
A cultural custom of America is to think of that justice as more
divisive than injustice. Some claimed
that the claim of insurrection was hysterical, even as there is video footage
of the savagery that went on, and the death of colleagues and rioters. The insurrectionists themselves claimed to
want to overthrow the government.
Voter suppression was used during the 2020 election. To prevent from being defeated and for fair
elections. Claiming the law protects
those who were voter suppressing, and not their opponents.
America has normalized a culture of violence against
minority communities. Those who had
committed murder, against various minority groups, were treated gently by the
policy. The murders were defended,
excused, and rationalized. A culture of
plausible deniability for assertions of white supremacy.
The claim to ‘Make America Great Again’ creates a demand for
action of its believers to hold to a nostalgic, regressive past. To hold the present hostage to an imaginary
past. A call to action that is
violent. The claim comes simultaneously
by invoking a history of racial harmony and that racism is in the past, thereby
erasing the reality of racial inequality.
Caveats?
The topic of the book is politically sensitive, and the
language used is polarizing. The way the
book is written is not likely to change what someone thinks. This book is a justification to people who
disagree with the political situation of 2022, about why their political
opponents are wrong. While exposing the
mythology of the opposition for inaccuracies, the author provides an
alternative mythology that has its own inaccuracies.
The focus of the book is using the context of Gone With
the Wind, to show the inaccuracies within American history. A historical fiction book that people assume
is representative of history. The author
does not want to censor the book, as the book can be used to understand what
makes mythologies possible, and to think about justice. The author provides many summaries, and
refences to events of Gone With the Wind, and associated movie, but
everyone has biases, the reader’s experience can potentially be enhanced by
engaging with the reference source material.
Readers should be encouraged to seek additional alternative sources for
American history on the topics presented, to provide context to the history
presented.
This book is the author’s interpretations of the
inaccuracies within Gone With the Wind, with there being diverse views
and different interpretations than those of the author. The author sees every cultural and historic
omission as an attack on history, making it seem as if all fictional narratives
need to be factual, comprehensive, and representative of every minor
detail. Not even lengthy nonfiction
books are capable of those requirements.
This book itself is a survey of history of slavery, the
Civil War, Reconstruction, racism, violence, and the effects on culture. Providing a more compete history of the
events and topics, would have adjusted the interpretation of what
happened. What is presented is a side of
history that validates the author’s political views. Using the same techniques that the author
criticizes the use of in Gone With the Wind, the author provides one’s
own mythology of history and culture that includes inaccuracies.
A subtheme for the book is collective complacency with
violence and racism. Portraying America
as being more homogenous in supporting racism and other supremacist ideas. This is problematic for the author references
divisions, of how people fought these ideas.
Using this logic, the people who fought and fight against supremacists
are apparently complicit in creating the supremacist system they fought to
undermine. Part of the reason for a
federal system, is to enable each state within the United States, to experiment
with different policies and have different cultures rather than collectively
punish everyone who does not share a specific cultural attitude. As there are people who believe in white supremacy,
there are people who believe in diversity.
Using the author’s logic, would mean that the supremacists are complicit
in developing a diverse culture, while those who support diversity are
complicit in supporting the supremacists.
