Carl Jung is famous for his "archetypes," universal symbols that speak of, and try to ameliorate, the human condition, but he is also known for his idea of "racial memory," a more particular archetype among a common people. This was infamously used by Hitler (Jung was Swiss and no fan), and so tarnished the idea, but these days in America, it is still worth noting. With the riots and the anti-police rhetoric among many in Black communities, it is, to this 60-something writer, deja vu all over again. It seems that this will never end, almost as if hippies, too, continued to drop acid and build communes and squawk against the establishment.
They don't - most things change - but some others, like Black discontent, appear to be perennial, popping up every few years like May flowers.
We don't have to go too far into the abstract - to archetypes - to understand why. When I was very young, we moved into a rural New England Yankee enclave, where people of English extraction had been living for centuries. Here I, being Catholic with an Irish-heritage father, met with some strange customs. On St Patrick's Day, my best friend from the neighborhood - he was the only one within a year of my own age - would dress gaudily in Orange. When I asked why, he said it was to commemorate the victory of William of Orange over the Irish Catholics. Odd, I thought, but then let it go as yet another oddity of the family. This same friend, for instance, told me that Donovan's tune "Mellow Yellow" was a mockery of the saffron-colored cape that the pope wore. He was also the first to tell me of the "pope's nose," the lump of fat that hangs over the rear end of a butchered turkey. When I would tell my parents of this, they would role their eyes and tell me it was just some old anti-Catholic rhetoric. Of course, years later I would understand what this was all about, and also that my friend was being taught this by his parents.
This did cause me to scoff at the old Yankee bigotry in my teens, but it never went deep. In fact, in everything else, the people of this family remained good neighbors and friends. It was just a "thing", but I still vaguely remember the sting when I understood that this "sting" was intended for the likes of me. In South Boston, this "sting" was not let go so easily, with many people there contributing to the IRA - a group that blew up many innocent people in England - into the 1990's. They had not forgotten the old days of "Irish need not apply."
There are politics at play here, with both the Irish-Americans of not long ago, and with African-Americans still to this day, but I believe I have made my point. We remember forever the person who made a derogatory point about us. Even though we may get over it, it still lingers. But "racially" - that is, in the group - we ball up all those slights from those outside the group, and we often teach them to our children out of anger. Black Americans, of course, have had it far worse than others, and their ancestral anger is consequently greater and deeper. It is not even close to being let go, as is obvious by the news, even though the rest of us look on either bewildered or angered. In fact, that ancestral anger is creating another wave of anger against Black America, which will undoubtedly go into the feed-back loop. It is, indeed, a mess.
It is almost embarrassing to quote Jesus here - we know what he would say - forgive, forgive, forgive, and love - but this shows just how thin the crust of Christianity is with us now, and probably has been for most, since the beginning (it was Italians, I believe - those at the center of early conventional Christianity - who coined the phrase "revenge is a plate best served cold." It could have been said by just about any other peoples, though). Cringingly corny, yes, but what else is the solution? It - forgiveness and love, stemming from the recognition that we are all in the same boat, one family - is only corny because it has proved to be so difficult in practice. I would agree, if the KKK were still coming in the middle of the night with their nooses, or the "need not apply" signs were still proudly posted, but they are not. What is causing the current wave of violence is almost all from ancestral memory, regardless of what the hot-heads say, and we really, really should listen to the guiding voice of our culture - that which shamed the Yankee Brahmans of Boston and propelled Dr King into history. Although some -and they come in all races - want to burn everything down, the adults among us know that this is the path to misery and dictatorship. There is only that other path, the hardest, the least satisfying, but the best for everyone in the long run. We need not grace for this, nor even belief - just calm rationality. FK
They don't - most things change - but some others, like Black discontent, appear to be perennial, popping up every few years like May flowers.
We don't have to go too far into the abstract - to archetypes - to understand why. When I was very young, we moved into a rural New England Yankee enclave, where people of English extraction had been living for centuries. Here I, being Catholic with an Irish-heritage father, met with some strange customs. On St Patrick's Day, my best friend from the neighborhood - he was the only one within a year of my own age - would dress gaudily in Orange. When I asked why, he said it was to commemorate the victory of William of Orange over the Irish Catholics. Odd, I thought, but then let it go as yet another oddity of the family. This same friend, for instance, told me that Donovan's tune "Mellow Yellow" was a mockery of the saffron-colored cape that the pope wore. He was also the first to tell me of the "pope's nose," the lump of fat that hangs over the rear end of a butchered turkey. When I would tell my parents of this, they would role their eyes and tell me it was just some old anti-Catholic rhetoric. Of course, years later I would understand what this was all about, and also that my friend was being taught this by his parents.
This did cause me to scoff at the old Yankee bigotry in my teens, but it never went deep. In fact, in everything else, the people of this family remained good neighbors and friends. It was just a "thing", but I still vaguely remember the sting when I understood that this "sting" was intended for the likes of me. In South Boston, this "sting" was not let go so easily, with many people there contributing to the IRA - a group that blew up many innocent people in England - into the 1990's. They had not forgotten the old days of "Irish need not apply."
There are politics at play here, with both the Irish-Americans of not long ago, and with African-Americans still to this day, but I believe I have made my point. We remember forever the person who made a derogatory point about us. Even though we may get over it, it still lingers. But "racially" - that is, in the group - we ball up all those slights from those outside the group, and we often teach them to our children out of anger. Black Americans, of course, have had it far worse than others, and their ancestral anger is consequently greater and deeper. It is not even close to being let go, as is obvious by the news, even though the rest of us look on either bewildered or angered. In fact, that ancestral anger is creating another wave of anger against Black America, which will undoubtedly go into the feed-back loop. It is, indeed, a mess.
It is almost embarrassing to quote Jesus here - we know what he would say - forgive, forgive, forgive, and love - but this shows just how thin the crust of Christianity is with us now, and probably has been for most, since the beginning (it was Italians, I believe - those at the center of early conventional Christianity - who coined the phrase "revenge is a plate best served cold." It could have been said by just about any other peoples, though). Cringingly corny, yes, but what else is the solution? It - forgiveness and love, stemming from the recognition that we are all in the same boat, one family - is only corny because it has proved to be so difficult in practice. I would agree, if the KKK were still coming in the middle of the night with their nooses, or the "need not apply" signs were still proudly posted, but they are not. What is causing the current wave of violence is almost all from ancestral memory, regardless of what the hot-heads say, and we really, really should listen to the guiding voice of our culture - that which shamed the Yankee Brahmans of Boston and propelled Dr King into history. Although some -and they come in all races - want to burn everything down, the adults among us know that this is the path to misery and dictatorship. There is only that other path, the hardest, the least satisfying, but the best for everyone in the long run. We need not grace for this, nor even belief - just calm rationality. FK
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