MAEVE IN AMERICA by MAEVE HIGGINS
HOW WE CAN DO BETTER
I
t has long been known that of slavery humanity has known, or able-bodiedness, will not do the American exceptionalism is little yet it has for far too long been job. more than a marketing ploy, yet erased from the American disBlack Lives Matter is an inthe world cannot look away from course. tersectional social movement. Its this troubled, young country. This “The story of the African Amer- mission statement states: “We afyear’s presidential election had ican is not only the quintessen- firm the lives of Black queer and millions around the globe glued tial American story but it’s really trans folks, disabled folks, undocMAEVE HIGGINS to the results. As day after agoniz- the story that continues to shape umented folks, folks with records, writes for The New ing day crept by, the fascination who we are today,” said Lonnie G. women, and all Black lives along York Times and only grew. Bunch III, secretary of the Smith- the gender spectrum. Our network co-hosts the climate From Senegal to Finland to sonian Institution, in The New York centers those who have been marjustice podcast New Zealand, the world did not Times’ 1619 Project. The legacy of ginalized within Black liberation Mothers of Invention. hold its breath, but it certainly in- slavery has to be interrogated, un- movements.” Her most recent book haled sharply a number of times derstood, recorded, and constantly After the June revival of the is Maeve in America: throughout the tense week be- considered. BLM protests, it has become the Essays by a Girl from tween the election and the result. As Friedrich Nietzsche wrote largest movement this country Somewhere Else. The day Joe Biden was an- about critical history: “From time has ever seen, according to numnounced as the winner, a friend to time, however, this same life, ber crunching by The New York in Iran messaged me saying the which uses forgetting, demands Times. The movement has started U.S. presidential election results the temporary destruction of this to see success in reducing some may have more effect on his coun- forgetfulness. For it should be try than ours. The United States, made quite clear how unjust the through a combination of military existence of something or other is, The legacy of chattel slavery needs to might, neoliberal capitalism, and a right, a caste, a dynasty, for ex- be destroyed. cultural exports, still dominates ample, and how this thing merits much of the world. destruction.” police forces and in changing Am I falling into the hero Surely the legacy of chattel slav- how they operate. It is deliberately complex so often exploited by ery is such a thing; it needs to be diffuse in both its leadership and Americans when I insist our re- destroyed. Instead, the racial op- goals. BLM seems to take a multisponsibility to do better is not just pression codified into the forma- pronged approach, not a prescripfor ourselves, but for the world? tion of the United States has been tive one, and this offers the whole Our slide toward total fascism has tinkered with, modified, lessened, nation a map. been halted. Is this temporary? I but still rules the land. There is much to do, and many hope not. As law professor Dean Spade ways to do it. In any case, I do have an idea has written: “We have moved toBLM also invests time and of how we can do better—perhaps ward formal legal equality and energy into a “healing justice,” even, in the words of our Lame purported neutrality in law and defined as a framework for Black Duck First Lady, “be best.” It’s not policy, yet the racial wealth divide people to “holistically respond complicated but it is difficult: To has grown, racialized-gendered to and intervene on generational have a better future, we must reck- criminalization has skyrocketed, trauma and violence, and to bring on with the past. and immigration enforcement is collective practices that can impact Critical history can illumi- more significant a state project and transform the consequences of nate so much about the moment than ever.” oppression on our bodies, hearts, we are living in today. The histoThe destruction of these sys- and minds.” ry I am thinking about critically tems, as Nietzsche tells it, will lead This is what the United States today is one of the foundational to the creation of something better. needs, and if it can achieve it, the horrors of this nation. Chattel Dividing up oppression into sin- whole world will do better, and slavery is unlike any other form gle-axis issues, like race or gender maybe even “be best.” ◆ THE PROGRESSIVE | 67
