Center for Historical Research
Past is Prologue |
The Millennium
in These United States
Everyone seems to be excited about the prospect of greeting the millennium--which is the 1000 year period, following which, wickedness will be overcome and blessedness will descend upon the earth--as foretold in the New Testament Book of Revelation. My mother never took a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:3, but set a plate for Jesus at every meal in anticipation of the "second coming" which she held could happen during any day at any hour. For her, the visible coming of Christ would precede the millennium as well as signal its coming. Some think that, during the millennium, the chosen would live with Him for another millennium, after which all humankind would be resurrected. The wicked would be consumed and the just live on forever with Christ in His triumphal reign over heaven and earth. Some think that all will be forgiven and their ultimate welfare assured. In any event, the thought of the millennium in Christian terms is the thought of an ideal utopia. Since, following the fall of the Roman Empire, the Christian era seems to have blossomed during the last millennium and now addresses an international audience, one would think that many Christians would be energized to spend the remaining months of 1999 in evangelical activities and revival meetings; but, the spirit of religious tolerance together with the acceptance of multi-culturalism seems to have persuaded the public to attend to more secular matters.
One concern that has come up in Ethnic studies is what Newsweek a few years ago called "The Browning of America." America is commonly called a "land of immigrants" and each successive wave has periodically presented a challenge to the "melting pot" concept of that kind of shared experience which renews and strengthens the faith of the American people in democratic institutions. Predictably, as soon as we think we are on the point of assimilating the last wave, new waves arrive to which each generation of Americans must adjust.
During the dawn of the twentieth century, it was W. E. B. Dubois (1868-1963)--co-founder of the NAACP--who said "The problem of the twentieth century is the color line" Dubois was born on the occasion of Queen Victoria's "Diamond Jubilee" when the sun never set on the British Empire and the Queen had hundreds of millions of subjects in Europe, Africa, and Asia, the vast majority of which were not white. Similarly, the other European countries that were busily overrunning the other continents--like France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and the like, though (as Marshal Foch remarked in his military writings) that colonial wars were "the nation's way of doing business" At that time, no one seemed to thing of what would happen when European expansionism would be checked--and, like the ancient Romans--all the chickens would be coming home to roost, as they say. Both World Wars were spurred on by rivalry over colonies accompanied by the most horrific "ethnic cleansing" What is going on in Serbia today is too reminiscent of the tumults that began the most violent conflicts of the century past to avoid a shudder or two.
The temporary result of the last great war was the loss of these European empires and the emergence of the so-called "Third World" nations. This, in turn, inspired the gradual elimination of overt racist practices by many if not most governments. However, it also meant accommodating these new nations in various ways and this brought about a new era of social and political adjustments with which not all were comfortable.
During the 1970's and 1980's, I went to Europe almost every year and, through my acquaintance with a number of European families, I became somewhat aware of the contradictions of their societies as I am somewhat aware of ours. When I saw people from India selling fish and chips on the streets of London, I recalled that film entitled "Look Back In Anger", starring Richard Burton. The British ruled India for hundreds of years and claimed the entire population as their subjects. However, when Indians migrated to Britain after Indian independence, it is clear that they were not all well received. In one scene, an Indian merchant is driven out of business through a conspiracy of force and fraud by white rivals. Burton's character asks the Indian why he came to England anyway. The man replies ironically that, in his country, he was an outcaste.
Similarly, in Paris, I was treated rudely if I wore African garb, but politely if I wore an American suit. In places like Switzerland, generations of foreign workers have settled in the country, raised children, and so on, with little hope of obtaining citizenship. And in America--putting aside the turbulent civil rights movements of the 1950's and 1960's--our concerns about illegal aliens and the like have not been successfully resolved.
Anyone who has visited Ellis Island lately knows that the overwhelming wave of immigrants to the United States are coming from Asia, South America and other non Anglo-American countries and cultures. Personally, I think this is great because it not only gives America a transfusion of "new blood" , but enables us to overcome our provincialism and genuinely participate in what is called "The Global Village of the Twenty-first Century" I know that many people find it difficult to adjust to social and economic situations brought about by the rapid advances of urbanization, technological achievements, and the influx of immigrant populations and many transitions are bound to be painful in the beginning.
What the schools can do, in my purely personal opinion, is serve as the principal instruments for strengthening and developing a genuine democratic community and a freer and more humane environment in which all share and participate. It is the school which mirrors and interprets the essential democratic institutions of our society. In a diverse society, it is not the function of the school to indoctrinate students in this ideology or that, but to develop habits of fair-mindedness, objectivity, openness to new experiences, and the courage to adjust one's attitude or opinions in the light of further experience. "The American Way", to my mind, does not reduce itself to one lifestype or another: it consists of enjoying whatever lifestyle one desires and pursuing whatever ideals one cherishes--so long as, in doing so, one does not interfere with the legitimate strivings of others. The promise of America, to me, consists in the enjoyment of that personal liberty in which all can share regardless of race, creed, gender, or national origin.
So, like Dubois, I think the chief domestic problem of the next century will be the "color" line (though it might well be termed "the diversity line"). I think we have a distinct advantage over the last century in that, for the moment, pragmatism seems to have triumphed over the worst forms of totalitarianism and people are become more interested in practical problem-solving than in promoting blind obedience to authoritarian forms of government. We also have an advantage that the courts and the schools have forwarded legal, social, and political reforms that offer the discontent more constructive ways to channel their grievances than violent rebellion or other counter-productive means. No system is perfect, of course, and there is always the unexpected or unplanned series of events that can unravel the body politic. But, as the word "millennium" signifies new and hopeful beginnings, I choose to share the optimism of others and hope that optimism will become more and more contagious.
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January 3, 2003
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