I write mostly about economics, but here I want to share my thoughts on the protests in response to the brutal and cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by police. This marks an inflection point. We are witnessing the birth of a new American identity, free from the ghosts of the Confederacy and the stain of racism.
I am an immigrant to this country, and you could say I have lived the American Dream. When I first came here, 25 years ago, I remember telling friends back in Bulgaria that this was the greatest country in the world for the simple reason that you can succeed or fail entirely based on your own merit. People here know nothing about you. No prejudice, no judgement. Everyone treats you as a blank piece of paper, and you are free to write your own story.
Now, I know I was terribly wrong. I did write my own story. I never experienced prejudice, nor was I ever judged by anyone. But this was a sign of an unspoken privilege, first reserved to white men in this country, that only over time and as a result of sustained political pressure was afforded to other groups such as women and various minorities. The truth is that even today, in the year 2020, the privilege of being able to write your own story is still being denied to Black people.
Those who focus on the riots and the vandalism are missing the forest for the trees. We are witnessing something bigger. In his Civil War documentary, Ken Burns gave probably the best description of American history. Everything prior to the Civil War led to it, everything thereafter has been a consequence of it. However, what we are witnessing right now is the wholesale rejection of the insidious idea that I am better than you simply because of the color of my skin. I believe this is the first step toward casting away the ghosts of the Confederacy and starting a new chapter in the story of American Exceptionalism.
The question is whether this country can once and for all eradicate racism. The answer is yes. Germany did that with Nazism. It’s a three step process. First, you need a new generation. Then you need a wholesale rejection of the supremacist ideas that underpin racism, Nazism and fascism. And finally, you need to cut the cord. Reject the sins of the past and the inequities of the present and emerge as a new generation ready to forge a new identity free of racism. It took several decades after World War II, but Germany successfully cast away the specter of Nazism to become the leading liberal democracy in the World. We can do that too.
I am hopeful that we are seeing that same process play out in the US. The election of Barack Obama for President proves that we have a new generation. The protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement have precipitated the wholesale rejection of white supremacy. And last but not least, we have a catalyst, the Trump Presidency: the most corrupt, inept, ignorant and cruel administration in the history of this country. Trump, often referred to as the last Confederate President, is such a fitting foil to debunk the Lost Cause of racism once and for all.
