What does a revolution look like? What happens when something revolves?
I’ve been reading about the American Revolution (AR) at the same time as I’m witnessing Black Lives Matter (BLM), which seems to me to be another revolution, one to secure systematic equality. In Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick, a writer who delights in extensive research and has an uncanny ability to find what I call “the telling detail,” I’ve been repeatedly surprised by a number of similarities between the AR and BLM.
BLM: For the past three months, people of all ages and from all walks of life and background have peacefully protested police brutality, especially toward Black men. They have drawn attention to systematic racism in our country.
AR: Between 1767-75, colonists wrote King George III and members of Parliament to air their grievances about the Townshend Acts. The cry was, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
BLM: For many Americans, the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, was the final straw in the long history of racial inequality in the United States.
AR: The final straw for the colonial rebels was the march to Concord, Massachusetts, by British soldiers and the deadly skirmish at Lexington in April 1775.
BLM: A large majority of Americans support the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Many supporters do not have a shared reality with the Black protesters, but they do have a shared desire for justice. For equality. For human dignity.
AR: At first, only Massachusetts supported independence. The other thirteen colonies, particularly the southern three and New York, did not immediately see how what was happening in Boston touched their lives.
BLM: In several cities, looting and rioting followed the peaceful protest. (Personally, I think today that the wordrioting is code for “Black rioting.” Somehow “Whites” don’t riot.) Because of that, some supporters have turned against the protest and are themselves protesting the loss of property. They now view the protesters as criminal rather than peaceful, convoluting protesting with looting/rioting. That is, they see everyone in the protest—except perhaps for the White participants—as potential looters and rioters. Moreover, they fear that these protesters will destroy their property and livelihood just as lotters in Minneapolis destroyed the small businesses along Lake Street.
AR: Those colonists who favored independence came to be called Patriots; they disagreed with the Tories who had little trouble with the status quo. The Tories deplored many of the Patriots’ actions and began to fear them because several Patriot gatherings evolved into mobs that assaulted and tarred-and-feathered dissenters.
In 1765, a mob of Boston colonists, protesting what they considered an unjust law, ransacked the home of Thomas Hutchinson, the Massachusetts governor. They shattered windows, broke dishes, demolished furniture. In the early 1770s, colonial sailors, resenting corrupt tax collectors and abusive law enforcement, attacked British ships. In 1772, they burned the Gaspee. In December 1773, a number of colonists, dressed as Native Americans, dumped a shipload of tea into Boston harbor to protest the tea tax.
Looters? Yes. Property destroyers? Yes. In the dark of night, in costumes that masked who they were, these “Sons of Liberty,” feeling unjustly done by, rebelled. Their actions caused loss not only to the British tea company but also to those in the colonies who stored tea in warehouses, carted it to stores, and owned the stores that sold it.
Protesters, looters, rioters seem part of both revolutions. However, I’m not defending destroying property. I am loudly decrying the taking of human life in the name of justice. Or of “law and order.” And I’m trying to help create a country in which all of us will acknowledge the truth of the reality that has been part of Black lives for centuries.
Peace
Drawing from Wikipedia.
A very thoughtful post, Dee. I have been revisiting the American Revolution ever since I saw "Hamilton" on my little screen. I agree with the protest comparison to AR. And thank you so much for the really lovely comment you left on one of my recent posts. It made me cry with happiness that you are a virtual friend. Peace to you.
ReplyDeleteDear DJan, I've never seen the play "Hamilton," but I hope to read Ron Chernow's book (the basis I understand for the play)sometime in the next few months.
DeleteAs to the comment I left--your words in that posting on your husband's ongoing recuperation silenced the clamor within me and I knew I stood on holy ground. Thank you.
I so hope his recuperation is still going well. Peace.
How I wish that justice (which is, or should be, colour blind was available to all. World-wide. I believe that if it was inequality would also disappear. Or perhaps I am a dreamer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for yet another thoughtful post which I will take away and ponder.
Peace to you too, dear Dee. And to the world.
Dear Sue, in the United States, the decades and decades of slavery--of seeing Black men and women and children as chattel--has left a horrible imprint on our psyche. Among many, there's so much fear of anything that is different from the known and experienced. I so long for the day when we understand the Oneness in which we all live and breathe and have our being. Peace.
DeleteSo many thought provoking posts today. We are definitely in an upheaval. How it turns out I can't predict, but hopefully, it will be for the better...
ReplyDeleteDear Rian, like you, I'm hoping for the better, but I find myself really scared about November and the chaos that might ensue. Peace.
DeleteA magnificent analytical piece of writing. You know I have a lot to say about this, but I couldn't have said it this well. Sending much love to you.
ReplyDeleteDear Inger, I hope you do write about this because I would so like your "take" on the issues that are being used as part of the campaign for the presidency. Peace.
DeleteThe fact that so many people try to lump protesters and rioters together makes me both sad and angry. The rioters and looters in too many cases are paid agitators who just want to inflame hatred and fear.
ReplyDeleteI admire how you're trying to connect current events to history to find a deeper meaning in both.
Dear Jean, I so agree with your "paid agitator" remark. I lived in Minnesota for 38 years and friends there have all told me that when the police interrogated the looters/rioters they'd arrested, they discovered that they were from out-of-town and, as you've said, had come "to inflame hatred and fear" and besmirch the efforts of the peaceful protesters. Peace.
DeleteAn interesting and thought provoking, a damn good post
ReplyDeleteDear Jo-Anne, thanks so much. I had so much more to say, but I try to keep my postings at 600 or fewer words. I wrote much more than that and had to delete, delete, delete--somewhat ruthlessly--to make the posting more concise. So I didn't get to stand on my soapbox! Peace.
DeleteDee, I am too tired to think coherently. Well said. I have finished the same book, and you made and matched points and current events perfectly. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, thank you. In the next few months, I hope to read the 2nd and 3rd books of Philbrick's Revolutionary War trilogy. I've read Atkinson's "The British Are Coming" and McCullough's "1776" and learned about the war up to and including the Battle of Princeton. Now I want to learn about the rest of it.
DeleteThe Joseph J. Ellis books on the 2nd Revolution (1783-1789) are teaching me so much. I've had a good education, and yet I know so little. I've concluded that probably most of us here in the United States are in the same boat regarding our knowledge of American history. What do you think????? Peace.
Wonderful post, Dee! :)
ReplyDeleteDear Rita, thanks for stopping by and reading the posting. It seems long to me but I kept to my 600-word limit. In fact, I wrote about 800 words and had to ruthlessly delete a lot of my editorializing! Peace.
DeleteWhat a great job you did comparing the two "revolutions." Sometimes I fear the Supremacists and the BLM will actually come to an actual war over this. There is so much anger and hatred which our leader is blatantly fueling. I feel like Jean that a lot of the looting is being caused by paid agitators trying to shake the majority's support for the BLM. Frightening times.
ReplyDeleteDear Patti, I share your fears. I think that November could bring real chaos because Trump has convinced his followers that the election is rigged. So if he loses--and I so hope he does if we are to continue to be a democratic republic--his followers will think he lost unfairly (conspiracy theory!) and I fear they will rebel. I can see violence in the streets--a mini civil war. And yes, in Minneapolis, the police did discover the looters were paid agitators. Peace.
DeleteHistory does repeat itself, Dee.
ReplyDeleteMy fear is that the state of our union is on a path that our forefathers could never imagine. They fought for a more perfect union and although there have always been divisions, no one could have predicted where we are today. My hope was in the election but now the administration has put impediments in place to stop our vote. We are a bleeding nation and divided like never before.
Dear Arleen, it does repeat. I always remember, too, the quotation from the Canadian philosopher, whose name I can't spell. (Santyana or something like that). He said something like this: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
DeleteFrom two books by Joseph J. Ellis, I've learned a lot about the Constitutional Convention back in 1787. One thing that's apt here is that of the three branches of government they discussed, it was the executive branch that they worried over the most. King George III was a monarch and the delegates all resisted having a branch of government that gave too much power to one individual. They feared authoritarianism. The present president hungers for absolute power.
I believe that our most cherished right is the right to vote--to change those in the executive branch and the legislative branch. (Quite frankly, I wish I could change those in the Supreme Court or change its number of justices.) And the fact that the present administration and that a number of states are suppressing voting is a clear indication that, as you say, "we are a bleeding nation." The compromises made by the Constitutional delegates--their inability and unwillingness to deal with the issue of slaver-- led inevitably to the Civil War. And we've been hounded since the Union won by the "states' rights" that even today splinter to the point of fracturing our country. Well enough about that. Take care. And by the way, a slim book you might find, as I did, enlightening, is "It Was All a Lie" by Staurt Stevens, a Republican consultant for 42 years. Peace, pressed down and overflowing.
Thank you for putting so much thought and care into your reading and comments and sharing with us. I fear that today’s protests of what is a just and critical cause — BLM — is so diluted by politics and lies that the real issues the protesters risk their health and lives for are lost in the chaos. In fact, worse than lost; they are being turned and used to further the lies and cause of the ultra right. Until the election is over in November, I can’t see any hope ahead.
ReplyDeleteDear Cynthia, the candle of hope that has mostly always burned within my belief system is flickering now, just as yours is. I find myself remembering the Vietnam War and the protesting I did then. The outside agitators that Patti talks about in her comment were with us then--in the marches and in the meetings to plan the tactics and strategy we'd use to protest. The government (Nixon was president when I got involved) used the strong arm of the law to disrupt what became a movement that swept into every college town in the country and then into the streets of many cities.
ReplyDeleteWhen I tried to get a job after grad school, no one would hire me. I learned that I had an FBI file because of my protesting and that the employers I'd met had been cautioned by an FBI agent not to hire me. I assumed then that he or she was following me as I went from business to business looking for work.
In our present culture and in the divisiveness that the present administration fosters, there looms/lurks tragedy. As you said, these BLM protesters (both Black and White) are risking their health and life to rid our country FINALLY of systemic racism. I do not doubt that many of them will also end up with an FBI file. Nor do I doubt that some will die and that many will live with the aftermath of violence for the rest of their lives.
When power at the highest level is threatened, the actions of some of our leaders always end with tragedy.
But, my hope candle is still burning. There is still the merest flicker of belief that as a country we will, as Lincoln hoped and said, call on our deepest connection to goodness--the "angels" within us--and embrace kindness as we slog--weeping, walking, commiserating, sorrowing-- toward justice for all. Peace.
Dee, such an interesting piece. Thanks. In today's Mpls. paper a plea was made for BLM folks to stop protests and focus on getting out the vote.
ReplyDeleteDear Mert, thanks so much for stopping by to read this posting that really began with George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. It makes sense to me for the Trip to encourage BLM protesters to now focus on getting out the vote. I just registered to the last essay by John Lewis that was published by the NYTimes on the day of his funeral. YouTube has a video of his friend--Morgan Freeman--reading the essay. It is Lewis' last powerful and resounding anthem to the values of our country. He insists in that essay that we must vote if we are to save our democracy. Peace.
DeleteWe posted a sign in our outside entry way that said among several other things, that Black Live Matter. Our HOA asked us to take it down. It was a fairly big sign so I suppose...I don't know what. The point is that the more things change the more they stay the same. I am reading Team of Rivals about Abraham Lincoln civil war years. Lincoln did not support freedom for slaves when he was elected...he was a pragmatic man that was willing to wait until the time had come. Be well please. Barbara Torris
ReplyDeleteDear Barbara, thanks so much for stopping by this blog and leaving a comment. Posting your sign took courage--in fact the very posting of it was a sign of courage. For all of us for whom Black Lives Matter, your action is an inspiration for us to act also. Thank you.
Delete"Team of Rivals" is such an exceptional book by Doris Kearny's Goodwin. It was, you probably know, the book that was instrumental in how President Obama picked his cabinet after his 2008 election.
If you'd like to read a book about how the "founding fathers" tragically didn't deal with slavery in their 1787 convention, I can recommend one that taught me so much about what led to the Civil War and to Black lives not mattering for so many decades. The book is "American Creation" by the noted historian Joseph J. Ellis. I learned so much from it.
I hope to visit your blog soon. Take care. Stay safe. Peace.