Turbulent Time Traveler

Start with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and work your way backward in time. This time maybe you will clearly see a country where people in one "group" relied on unjust laws and entitlements to deny basic human rights to people in another "group." You would be back in a turbulent time in this country, where cultural conflicts often turned violent: church bombings, lynching, and angry mobs. You would witness government agents using and abusing the power of the "law" against innocent, law-abiding citizens. You will hear the words of an angry governor who became the face of injustice, standing in a school doorway, promising segregation forever. White-robed Klansmen. Black fists held up in defiance. Struggle. We all know how that ended.

Start with the capture of the Reichstag in April, 1945, and work your way backward in time. Maybe this time you will clearly all the signposts along the road to the Holocaust. You would be back in a turbulent time in this world, in the Europe of the new Third Reich, where one "group" labeled another "group" unlawful, requiring them to register, and then carry identification papers, and then to be marked as "other." You would witness government agents use the power of the Nuremberg "laws" to target innocent, law-abiding citizens. You would witness most of the population of the Third Reich countries, neither Jew nor Nazi, standing silent, doing nothing. Smoke from the concentration camps issuing into the sky. White ash drifting down. We all know how that ended.  

Start with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 on any Native American reservation in the United States, and work your way backward in time. This time maybe you will clearly see the federal government in Washington, and in states across the union, working to push one "group" of people into physical allotments of land to provide another "group" the economic opportunities that came with territorial expansion. You would be back in a turbulent time in the frontier areas of this country, where fear justified incivility, hostility, violence, even slaughter. You would see government agents us the "law" of the land to deny basic human rights to men, women, and children who had lived on that land for centuries. Little Big Horn. Wounded Knee. A trail of tears. We all know how that ended.

Now, start in current day Arizona and work your way forward in time. What will happen as we respond to the new law regarding individuals in our country who have crossed the border illegally, especially the injustice inherent in this law that gives government agents the power to target individuals they believe belong to a certain "group." Law is good and necessary, but not at the expense of justice. Order is good and necessary, but not at the expense of freedom. Security is good and necessary, but not at the expense of humanity.

In this turbulent time in Arizona, fear is once again a powerful factor. Entitlement is once again a powerful factor. Economic opportunities are once again a powerful factor. Still, as we respond to this new law of the land and the needs of the people, let it be all the people. This time let us not fail civility, humanity, freedom, or social justice. And where those things do not exist, let us not stand silently by, witnessing, doing nothing.

So how will it end as we travel forward in time from here? It's hard to know, but history has a lot to teach us.



Note: This blog post is from a series originally published as personal essays written for the Van Buren County Advertiser from 2008-2014 by Corey Harbaugh under the title It's All Good. The It's All Good columns were written to feature and celebrate life in and around Gobles, Michigan.