When America Was Great

I enjoy conversations about when America was great. Historically, greatness has always been a struggle for the country as a whole. Here is the context that got me to that answer.

The story goes that all women won the vote in 1920. Not true. That right applied to white women only. Women of color did not get it until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And it took until 1974, with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, before women could apply for credit (car loans, credit cards, mortgages) without a man’s permission. Forty-eight years ago.

America stood up, fought, and condemned Germany for rounding up Jews, disabled Germans, and others and putting them in death camps. The same America conveniently omits its own internment camps. 100,000 Japanese Americans rounded up, their businesses and assets seized, during that exact same period.

We don’t talk about America’s greatness at murdering Black civil rights leaders. Rev. George Lee. Lamar Smith. Countless freedom riders. MLK Jr. The endless list of Black Americans still being killed today.

We don’t talk about how slowly we protect our LGBTQ+ community after horrific crimes. Matthew Shepard was beaten, tortured, and left to die in 1998. It took until June 2020 to grant gay, lesbian, and transgender employees workplace protection from sex-based discrimination. It took 214 years to give citizens with disabilities rights through the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. I could keep going.

Back to the question. When was America great? Great for who? At face value, America has always been great for one group: white supremacists, mostly male. Full stop.

I don’t care to blame anyone. I care that we have thoughtful conversations about correcting the systems that produced these injustices so they stop happening. Today, that same supremacy hides inside coded language. “Voter Election Integrity.” “School Choice.” “All Lives Matter.” Nonsense terms doing old work.