Sometimes, a shaft of light penetrates overwhelming darkness. Suddenly, we see more clearly. Bear with me, as Trump’s closing week overlaps Martin Luther King Day, something else is afoot – release of the “1776 Commission” report on American history.
On one hand, circumstances conspire (everything is conspiring these days!) to throw a dark pall over Trump’s legacy, a contested election, Capitol melee, cross allegations of incitement and blame, no happy ending for this President’s tumultuous tenure.
On the other, we are reminded of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy – a civil rights leader opposed to violence, which cost his life. Marching, speaking against racial inequality, King was steadfast in his belief that freedom and equality could co-exist in America.
That outcome was dependent on good will, pausing to understand each other, learning to appreciate and trust each other, advocating for each other, not against. Succinctly, King said: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” His vision was an inclusive, free, unified, not stratified, America.
In practical terms, not today’s crass political calculus, King laid it all on the line. He was American, convinced the best America moved beyond the past – into light. With balance seldom seen today, he did not want enemies where he could forge allies. He did not offend where he could mend. Famously, he said, “we may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” Truer words were never spoken; they apply equally to our time.
Nor did King think making America’s promise of freedom, equality, and unity was going to be an easy lift – for anyone. Still, he had faith it was America’s unique destiny. He reminded us, “faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
He knew backsteps and forward lay ahead – to be taken together, as one nation. “We must accept finite disappointment, never lose infinite hope.” In stark contrast to summer 2020 violence and January 2021 in DC, King was a believer that violence begets violence, love begets love. Near the end, he said: “I have decided to stick with love; hate is too great a burden to bear.” As we are learning, it is.
Which brings me to that “1776 Commission” report, on which the Wall Street Journal opines with praise. They offer a long view of its meaning: America’s history is objectively extraordinary, and we should accept that. It should be faithfully taught that way.
The 1776 Commission was formed by executive order in 2019, to create an accurate historical baseline. Unlike many commissions, which fail the mark, this one exceeded it. As the Wall Street Journal notes, this report is solid.
It “makes the case for the American creed and a less radical way to teach history.” With grounded patriotism and realism, the report offers facts. “Neither America nor any other nation has perfectly lived up to the universal truths of equality, liberty, justice and government by consent, but no nation before America ever dared state those truths as the formal basis for its politics, and none has strived harder, or done more, to achieve them.” Well said.
As the report notes and Journal affirms, the Declaration of Independence said what no document before it dared – that “all men are created equal.” That marked “a turning point in world history.” While humanity invariably falters, “the distinguishing part of the story that roused freedom lovers and terrified tyrants everywhere—and still does” was pairing human equality with liberty and a resolve to honor both.
The report is not “archeology or dissimulation, but …a live claim that demands adjudication.” It is a trumpet call to those teaching American history, to sit up and listen, rethink their anti-American slant, begin “striving to understand America’s historical actors as they understood themselves.” Plummeting interest in American history, may then perhaps recover.
This is what great scholars, not shills for a political view, have always done – from older historians like William & Mary’s Douglas Adair in the 1940s and 50s, to Pulitzer-winning Rick Atkinson in our time. “Patriotic education,” as the paper notes, is not a bad word, but noble.
“Instilling understanding, rather than hatred, of one’s country is a core purpose of education,” and the report observes “thoughtful citizens embrace their national community not only because it is their own, but … because they see what it can be at its best.”
The report is an endorsement for teaching America’s greatness on the merits. As the paper notes, the appendix explains “how identity politics divides Americans into victims and oppressors and measures moral claims accordingly, clashing with the principle of equality” – and liberty.
Significantly, the Journal concludes, “the report is correct in understanding our freedom and prosperity as ‘direct results of America’s unity, stability, and justice, all of which in turn rest on the bedrock of our founding principles,’ noting “liberals once believed it too” because “it also happens to be true.”
To this, one might add – among those liberals, was Martin Luther King, Jr. The Journal highlights a possible inflection point in how history is taught, noting King strived to “make America better by insisting it be truer to its own founding principles,” but he believed.
As our divided nation spins into another inauguration – bent on recrimination – it is worth noting that this Commission Report, the life of Martin Luther King, and latest Wall Street Journal editorial – all vector toward love of America. Can you imagine? Shaft of light in the darkness.