Wise: History an ever-important lesson

Author Tim Wise was the 2019 MLK Assembly speaker and shared with students the importance of getting history correct and righting the country’s wrongs.
 
by Juanita I.C. Traughber, communications director

Anti-racism activist and writer Tim Wise spoke to High School students Wednesday, Jan. 16 as the guest speaker during Assembly in advance of Martin Luther KIng Jr. Day.

Flaws in historical memory, he said, are what contribute to political divide and turbulent social climates like that of today.

“You don’t have to name the thing that you take for granted. That’s why we have Black History Month, and we don’t have a White History Month, because we have a bunch of them. They just have tricky names we gave them, like May, June, July, August, September and October,” he said as students chuckled. “You don’t have to specify that White Lives Matter, you have to specify the thing that was left out. When people respond to Black Lives Matter, it is because they don’t have historical memory by saying ‘All Lives Matter’ as a rebuttal. It isn’t about being anti-white. It is about being pro-justice and pro-equity.”

He pointed out how the Declaration of Independence was written by a man who owned 237 slaves; Thomas Jefferson’s inclusion of the phrase “... all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…” did not truly apply to every human in America in 1776.
 
Wise, who is white, shared advice with students on how to be advocates for the various movements of today when they are not members of the group being oppressed as well as his views on the War on Drugs’ lasting effects on people of color as states legalize marijuana and entrepreneurs profit. He also cited the lack of accurate historical memory as the source of the country’s immigration debate. Wise illustrated his point by discussing his great-grandfather’s journey to America and the way in which prior immigrants were viewed and spoken of by those who didn’t want them in America.
 
“We’ve told this lie. We act like (whites) came to (America) with high-minded principles and (Mexicans) are coming to take advantage. But the reality is everybody who immigrates, in any generation, is coming for the same thing: opportunity.”

He continued, “This is what Dr. King would talk about if he were here today. He would be challenging us not to satisfy ourselves with these commemorations but to challenge ourselves to speak truth in the way he and others of the (Civil Rights) Movement did. One of those truths would be, we cannot make a nation great again when it was never great for millions.”

Wise graduated from Tulane University and received antiracism training from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, in New Orleans. His antiracism work began as a college activist. He since has worked as a community organizer, a policy analyst and an adjunct professor. Wise is author of many published essays and seven books, including his highly-acclaimed memoir “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son,” has been featured in several documentaries, makes appearances on several cable news networks and hosts the podcast, “Speak Out with Tim Wise.”

Wise also will speak to parents on navigating difficult issues regarding race and politics with children of all ages on Monday, Feb. 11 during Evening Class No. 103.
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