My son’s partner’s mom has recently become acutely interested in the idea that division and hatred in the U.S. can only be combatted when the nation’s two sides (MAGA Republicans and Democrats) sit down and talk with one another. Which all sounds good in theory, except how can there be a coming together of hearts and minds when one side refuses to accept the reality of the past and wishes to redact the parts they don’t like?
For example, in my humble opinion, the foundation of this country, in all of its fetid funk, began when a group of Europeans made their way here by ship and audaciously decided to steal the land from those living on it for centuries—by any means necessary—killing, raping, and then forcing them to live in areas not of their own choosing.
A couple of hundred years later, those same European folks decided that the industry of buying, selling, and using enslaved people was way too profitable not to invest in. So for a little over 200 years, the country that became known as America by 1776 benefited from a thriving business that terrorized, tortured, and murdered millions of people while demanding they work without pay or freedom.
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