Lessons and Comfort from America's Darkest Hours

Let me be clear: what we’re seeing in America today is unprecedented in the lifetimes of anyone born since the last quarter of the previous century. Our government, and a significant portion of our country, has been taken over by people with disturbing antisocial traits who delight in the suffering of others. It is a precarious time, and Fascist authoritarianism and an American dictatorship are no longer an abstract concerns.

As I try to process what all this means, I’ve been thinking about our turbulent history. While it may seem counterintuitive, the dark periods in our approximately 250 years as a nation offer some comfort and a glimmer of hope.

Here are just a few of those bleak periods in our history that tested our national character.

• At one point in our history, it was legal to own people as property and treat them in the most degrading of ways. The Supreme Court determined that citizenship didn’t extend to Black people. It took a war, but we ended the barbaric practice of slavery, and Black people became free citizens. It was followed by the Reconstruction Era, which saw the rights of Black people expanded through constitutional amendments.

• Beginning shortly after the reconstruction era, segregation laws began to disenfranchise Black people. In 1896, our Supreme Court put its imprimatur on this segregation, coining the phrase “separate but equal,” and effectively codifying an apartheid state. Approximately 60 years later, we started to right this wrong, ultimately restoring rights to the Black Community.

• America suffered through the Great Depression, and came out on the other side of it with social safety nets and other reforms signed into law under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal policies.

• World War II began during the Great Depression, adding more darkness and uncertainty, creating a very real possibility that Hitler could conquer Europe. Japan, joining the Axis Powers, invaded our own Pearl Harbor¹ . Were it not for the bravery of the U.S. and allies, Europe and the United States might look very different today. The allies ensured democracy prevailed, relegating totalitarian Fascism into near extinction for the next 60 years.

• Most recently, George Floyd’s murder in 2020 increased our (and even global) awareness of White Privilege, and reminded us that Black people are still not viewed as equals by law enforcement and those in power. The ensuing protests after his murder, however, revealed that people do care about racial injustice. A majority of us want to continue to work towards eradicating the scourge of racism in the United States.

During each of these tragic and shameful times, hope was surely in short supply. Perhaps some even thought our country wouldn’t survive. Yet it did, and when we finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel and emerged from these dark periods, people of good will went to work to try to prevent that darkness from ever returning. We haven’t always fully succeeded, and have sometimes needed to build on previous efforts, but there always seem to be enough righteous people who will keep trying to pursue a more perfect union. I’m discouraged, angry, and sad right now, but if history is any guide, maybe, just maybe, we’ll fight our way through this, and be stronger for it.

Footnotes

¹America’s great shame was our domestic response to Pearl Harbor, which saw us imprison Japanese citizens on American soil. I’m still not sure if we’ve ever fully reckoned with that disgraceful action beyond some reparations and an apology, and there’s really nothing to stop this president from trying something similar.