American Shame
This week's theme is my DC trip. I don't think I'm going to tell a lot of anecdotes, but I have a few thoughts that I jotted down on the trip, so I'm going to write one of them a day. The first is somewhat serious and dreary, but I want to say it anyway.
Basically, I took a day trip to Mount Vernon on Saturday. I was raised in Richmond, which isn't that far away, but the historical trips of my childhood were to Jamestown and Williamsburg and DC proper. So when the friend I was visiting, Arthur, suggested that we go to Mount Vernon with a few of his work friends, I was intrigued.
Mount Vernon, if you're not familiar with it, was George Washington's home. And it's not just a mansion, it's a sprawling plantation, complete with dock on the Potomac River, an agricultural learning area where works plant and plow the fields like they did in the 1700s, a museum, and a movie theater, all of which were built by Washington. Everything is wonderfully maintained and preserved, and the presentations spoke of Washington and his home in a purely historical context-very few times did I feel like the volunteers were force-feeding Washington's greatest to me.
Although, I kind of wish they would have. As I walked around, I tried to capture the magnitude of being on the same soil-in the same room!--as the founding father of our nation. This was no Grover Cleveland or Millard Filmore. This was Washington. As in Washington, DC. As in Washington University in St. Louis. As in the Washington Wizards.
Try as I might, I couldn't quite grasp how big of a deal it was. I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal. It certainly was. But I just couldn't quite feel it.
In fact, the feeling with which the experience left me was something quite different than awe or wonder. It was shame.
I'll just cut to the chase: Like almost all plantation owners in the 1700s, Washington owned slaves. A lot of them. Over 300 of them. This fact is neither disputed or apologized for during the tours. The only sign of any remorse is a small plaque placed over a mass grave for the slaves that says contains a quote from Washington that reads-and I paraphrase here--”If I could free all of my slaves, I would.” But he didn't.
That seems really hypocritical to me. That says to me that Washington knew there was something wrong about owning slaves, but despite that knowledge, he owned them anyway. The whole idea of treating people like property is repulsive, but to think that our country was founded by this guy...I don't know, I was shaken and ashamed by it. It definitely didn't make me proud that our country was founded by a slaveholder.
Really, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I understand that everybody owned slaves back then. That didn't make it right. I also understand that some plantation owners treated their slaves quite well. They're still slaves, though. They're working, but they're not getting paid. I believe that Washington had the choice to use paid labor instead of slaves. If that's not an accurate statement, please correct me.
Maybe it's just too obvious to even say that holding slaves was wrong, but I kind of wish that something along those lines was said during the tours or printed on the walls of the museum. I guess it's “un-American” to say that a president did (or is doing) something wrong-particularly morally wrong-but I think if you're truly proud of your country, you acknowledge its shortcomings just as you embrace its achievements.
As I said, the people and presentations at Mount Vernon didn't need to beat into me that George Washington was a great man and a great leader. I know those things. But I wish they would make it clear that even our nation's founder wasn't perfect. Perhaps then people would be a little more open about challenging those modern-day America's institutions and practices we accept as normal, even though they don't quite feel right.
That being said, I'm stepping off my pedestal. Tomorrow (unless I'm otherwise compelled): Canine Treadmills
Basically, I took a day trip to Mount Vernon on Saturday. I was raised in Richmond, which isn't that far away, but the historical trips of my childhood were to Jamestown and Williamsburg and DC proper. So when the friend I was visiting, Arthur, suggested that we go to Mount Vernon with a few of his work friends, I was intrigued.
Mount Vernon, if you're not familiar with it, was George Washington's home. And it's not just a mansion, it's a sprawling plantation, complete with dock on the Potomac River, an agricultural learning area where works plant and plow the fields like they did in the 1700s, a museum, and a movie theater, all of which were built by Washington. Everything is wonderfully maintained and preserved, and the presentations spoke of Washington and his home in a purely historical context-very few times did I feel like the volunteers were force-feeding Washington's greatest to me.
Although, I kind of wish they would have. As I walked around, I tried to capture the magnitude of being on the same soil-in the same room!--as the founding father of our nation. This was no Grover Cleveland or Millard Filmore. This was Washington. As in Washington, DC. As in Washington University in St. Louis. As in the Washington Wizards.
Try as I might, I couldn't quite grasp how big of a deal it was. I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal. It certainly was. But I just couldn't quite feel it.
In fact, the feeling with which the experience left me was something quite different than awe or wonder. It was shame.
I'll just cut to the chase: Like almost all plantation owners in the 1700s, Washington owned slaves. A lot of them. Over 300 of them. This fact is neither disputed or apologized for during the tours. The only sign of any remorse is a small plaque placed over a mass grave for the slaves that says contains a quote from Washington that reads-and I paraphrase here--”If I could free all of my slaves, I would.” But he didn't.
That seems really hypocritical to me. That says to me that Washington knew there was something wrong about owning slaves, but despite that knowledge, he owned them anyway. The whole idea of treating people like property is repulsive, but to think that our country was founded by this guy...I don't know, I was shaken and ashamed by it. It definitely didn't make me proud that our country was founded by a slaveholder.
Really, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I understand that everybody owned slaves back then. That didn't make it right. I also understand that some plantation owners treated their slaves quite well. They're still slaves, though. They're working, but they're not getting paid. I believe that Washington had the choice to use paid labor instead of slaves. If that's not an accurate statement, please correct me.
Maybe it's just too obvious to even say that holding slaves was wrong, but I kind of wish that something along those lines was said during the tours or printed on the walls of the museum. I guess it's “un-American” to say that a president did (or is doing) something wrong-particularly morally wrong-but I think if you're truly proud of your country, you acknowledge its shortcomings just as you embrace its achievements.
As I said, the people and presentations at Mount Vernon didn't need to beat into me that George Washington was a great man and a great leader. I know those things. But I wish they would make it clear that even our nation's founder wasn't perfect. Perhaps then people would be a little more open about challenging those modern-day America's institutions and practices we accept as normal, even though they don't quite feel right.
That being said, I'm stepping off my pedestal. Tomorrow (unless I'm otherwise compelled): Canine Treadmills