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A Beautiful Tribute to the Author of "90"

Writer's picture: Fern SchumerFern Schumer

Originially posted on Facebook:


9h  ·

An open letter to Mr. Bruce Wasser my High School US History Teacher,

I remember your class in high school so well. So, I feel I really must apologize.

You started with our pre-colonial History, and we learned about the horrors of American slavery, but we failed to learn that the racist legacy of slavery was alive and well even among our fellow students. We failed to understand what that might mean. We thought it was all in the past, and nothing we needed to worry about.

You taught us about the Founding of the USA. But even though you clearly spelled out how important the Constitution was, how amazing the protections contained in it were and how lucky we were to have it in place… we failed to REALLY understand what that meant. You tried everything in your power to get us to truly understand it, but it was our generation that voted in large numbers for a man who repeatedly shows disdain for it.

You taught us about the Civil War, and the horrors of it all, and we were so glad THAT was all in the past. We lacked the imagination to realize that deep division can be caused by monied interests that manipulate people for financial benefit, regardless of the human cost. You tried to show us the stories without preaching or making your opinions the center of it all… but sometimes I wish you HAD let more of your opinions be known…we might have benefitted from them. It sure seems that many of us failed to grasp what you were laying out in front of us to find.

You taught us about the Jim Crow Era, and we touched on the horrors of the “Indian Wars”, you introduced us to the Matewan Massacre, and the Chinese Panic, and so many other examples of racism and exploitation… but we failed to grasp that these people were us, just a couple generations earlier. We felt safe in our air conditioned room with our diverse skin colors and that we were so much more civilized about such matters… except now I am seeing people who I know were in those classes supporting anti-immigrant sentiments that harken back to the lessons you taught us about Italians, Germans, Poles, Cubans, Japanese, Irish, Chinese and all the other waves of immigrants who came here to make America great but were met with anti-immigrant sentiments generation after generation… that the people who were our Grandfathers were met with the same hatred that so many of us deal out now.

You taught us about the excesses of the super wealthy and how speculation and unregulated banking lead to the Great Depression, and yet so many of us can’t get enough Cryptocurrency as we all hope to be the next Gatsby. You showed us what a disaster out of control greed could lead to, but we failed to realize that it could get us too.

You spent lots of time on the rise of Hitler, and the horrors of Nazism. You also didn’t skip the Japanese Internments here in the US. You practically screamed it at us “THIS CAN HAPPEN HERE TO IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL!” Yet nearly half of us voted for a man who now wants to set up “centers” (do not call them camps he said) in Guantanamo Bay where he allows torture and detainment without due process. You told us, you warned us, I don’t think you could have been clearer at all… and we failed you.

And we failed to learn from your lessons on McCarthyism, or deregulation, or proxy wars around the world. We failed.

I’m so sorry Mr. Wasser. You did everything you could, and I valued that you brought History alive for me… but I feel like if I had learned more somehow, taken things more to heart, maybe we wouldn’t find ourselves where we are today.

I’m now older than you were when you taught us I think, and you are still going strong. Writing books and continuing to lead and teach.

I hope someday that I, that we all, may be able to more fully appreciate the lessons you tried to impart. I imagine you must look at the sad state of the world some days and I wonder if you feel the same despair I do. My only hope is that I taught my own children many of the same lessons that you taught me. Specifically. And I hope that maybe you have learned more from history that brings you hope, because most of what I have learned does not right now.

But with my kids? I made that box of tape on the floor to show them a tiny bit of what it meant to be in the hold of a slave ship bound for the colonies. I showed them the famous lunch counter from the protests. We talked with the Native people and visited the Plymouth plantation. We saw the Enola Gay with our own eyes. We sat in El Paso and looked over the river at Juarez and discussed why they might be so different. We talked about Wounded Knee, we discussed Smallpox, we visited the slave markets of New Orleans and the Freedom Trail of Boston. I hope your lessons help them to overcome what we have failed to truly grasp… but know that the seeds you planted still grow. It is the best I can do for now. But I am sorry that we have not done more.

With Love and Respect,

Rich


Author Bruce Wasser



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