A reader response to East St. Louis book story
I’ve gotten several good responses to the stories that ran Sunday about Harper Barnes’ new book, “Never Been a Time.” See Books page for stories.
A couple of readers had small nits to pick. One caller said I should have explained more about the railroads - and thought the topic should be a series!
This reader commenting by e-mail has a point I thought I might share. I asked whether I could post his note here. I’ll save my response for comment after this note.
Over-all, I greatly enjoyed your interview with Harper Barnes. His book re: the race riots in 1917 East St. Louis is something all Americans should know about. It is also a sad chapter about intolerance, irrational fear and racial hatred. However, in the last Q & A of the interview you were quoted as saying,
“we’re a country built on the backs of slaves and cheap labor.” Of course,
that is part of history or almost any nation’s history. However, the
impression left by your comments for the uninformed could greatly mislead them. Our nation was, mostly built, by hard-working people of all races and colors as carpenters, farmers, electricians, plumbers, nurses, teachers, bankers, food workers, housewives, husbands, milkmen, mail carriers and countless other people living in a great, yet, imperfect society. Name a society which has righted it’s wrongs more openly than the United States of America.All the best,Tim Kelley
Mr. Kelley, you’re right about that. I guess I was trying to refer mostly to some of the elements pertaining to the race riot, but maybe I shouldn’t have said it in such a sweeping way.
However, the United States apologized some time ago to the Japanese who were intered during WWII. Since racism is still so prevalent in this society, I wonder if the country - either government, citizens, whoever, DO need to bring this up more often and talk about it. Industry was built on the backs of cheap labor. Capitalism, etc., owes a lot to cheap labor, I’d think. Although I’m not an economics professor!
Thanks for your note.
Here is his e-mailed response:
No, I am not an economics professor, either. And, it was not my intention
to lecture you. My entire adult life has been spent attempting to
understand how and why people think the way they do. We are all influenced
by parents, teachers, life’s experiences, emotional make-up and other
factors. And, it might be fun to bat this back and forth in furture emails.
One thing I’ve learned: left-of-center thinkers tend to compare America to
a utopia. Meaning, the United States will always fall far short.
Right-of-center thinkers tend to see America compared to all the other
countries in the history of the world - in which case our nation comes out
shining. As Winston Churchill once said “Democracy is the worst form of
government EXCEPT for everything else that’s been tried.”
I think the same can be said for capitalism!!!!
Would enjoy hearing from you.
All the best,
Tim Kelley
From Jane: I love Churchill’s words of wisdom. Not trying to bash America or democracy. But it’s not always quick to right wrongs. Sometimes it’s taken a long time, and sometimes it goes backward. America was never a utopia.
About 10 years ago or so I interviewed Annie Proulx about her very violent novel about immigrants and how common violent accidents, deadly illness, etc. was. I timidly asked something about whether she wasn’t over-emphasizing the violence, accidents. She came back firmly: Immigrants had it very rough and folks of the 19th century worked very hard.
Perhaps the way we view the world is more a matter of education and age, rather than some hard-wired political agenda. jh