Begin by telling the truth
On the eve of the Fourth of July, I was reflecting on what makes our country great. I believe that our greatness includes the courage to tell the truth about ourselves.
There are many truths about America. One is that our power and prosperity are based on two great crimes: the theft of land and life from Native Americans, and the theft of labor and life from African Americans. Without the land taken from those who lived here before Europeans came, without the labor of enslaved Africans, the United States would not have become so rich and powerful.
My white ancestors, and yours, may have worked tremendously hard and shown great courage in establishing themselves on this continent. They may have suffered cruel hardship and discrimination from those more powerful than they. Yet they all benefited, and all white people today still benefit, from those two original crimes. The hardworking hill farmer of New England lived on stolen land and sold goods into an economy fundamentally tied to slave labor. Then, as now, everything is connected.
Reparations are certainly due. They begin by telling the truth. The greatest people I know have had the courage and honesty to face their own uncomfortable truths. May our nation have that same courage.