I recently met a man who is convinced that the CIA has sponsored and created ISIS. To me the idea that an American agency purposely and clandestinely created the very threat that they now rail against stretches the limit of plausibility, but this gentleman is convinced. How to explain this? It’s easy – history. For him the ISIS situation recalls other interventions by the United States government, especially for him its dark history of secretly backing rebel groups against popularly elected Central American governments in the 1980s.
If I were pulled over in Ferguson, Missouri for a traffic violation I wouldn’t think anything of it, but what if I was black? Surely my mind would wonder if I were being targeted for my skin colour. This from page four of the recent report by the US Justice Department. “Ferguson’s law enforcement practices overwhelmingly impact African Americans. Data collected by the Ferguson Police Department from 2012 to 2014 shows that African Americans account for 85% of vehicle stops, 90% of citations, and 93% of arrests made by FPD officers, despite comprising only 67% of Ferguson’s population.”
Now consider this question. Have unions outlived their usefulness? Certainly the lives of workers in Canada have never been better and the argument can be made for the diminishing returns of unions. But it is also reasonable to still remember the terrible abuses by management in the history of workers rights and support unions because of that history.
The weight of history is never far from us. Humans excel at seeing patterns. Seeing patterns help us avoid making the same mistakes. But when we perceive a pattern that no longer holds we are hemmed in unnecessarily and robbed of an opportunity to break free of the past. We cannot hold onto the past forever, but when should we let go? Of course, fail to exercise the appropriate level of skepticism we will get it wrong and the pattern will burn us again. When to remember and when to forget is not an easy decision and much depends on our choices.
The thawing relationship between Cuba and the Obama Administration is the most obvious example of two sides trying to put aside recent history by trying to talk to each other and trust again. The heated debate in America over whether to trust Cuba underscores the fundamental disagreement over when is the right time to let go of the past.
The decision of when to forget and when to remember depends on many things, but some things are clear. First, we are not our parents, nor our grandparents, nor our forefathers and foremothers. Although we must grapple with their legacies their sins are not our own. Second, there is never a situation beyond hope. Black Americans cannot wash their hands of the police because police are a fact of life in societies. As painful as it is both sides must continue to try and understand each other. Many in the world may be suspicious of the US Government’s motives, but the world must engage with and appeal to the better nature of its most powerful nation. Similarly management and unions must also continue to work productively together.
With each instance there is hope that trust can be rebuilt, but each example illustrates just how much work is required before the past can be put away.