Historical Thinking: The Long Arc of History

Today marks the anniversary of the Little Rock Nine, those original Black students who attempted to access their rights to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. One could make many observations about the situation itself, from trying to justify the unmitigated hatred that was heaped on teenagers who were attempting to do what the law required (go to school) where the law specified (their assigned high school) the way the law allowed (see Brown v. Board and other rulings).

Crazy that teenagers trying to obey the law drew hatred from adults, adults in government, and trickled-down hatred from their peers. Because, honestly, would those teens shown as mobbing and shouting at these students have known to be angry if their parents hadn't taught them? Or their pastors? Kids choose hatred to please the people they love--kids tend to copy their parents. Eventually, maturity drives us all to reconsider who and what we hate. That is, if we are confronted with alternative viewpoints.

The challenge here is that we do not naturally encounter those alternative viewpoints. Generally speaking, we believe what our parents believed, who believe mostly what their parents believed, and so forth.These beliefs become the filter through which we see evidence in the world. Stats from social scientists like Ryan Burge demonstrate that folks deviate from the general religion of their birth in the United States by less than 2%. Admittedly, he does not account for Baptist Type 2 changing to Baptist Type 9, but he is looking at professing "Christianity" vs. other religions, including atheism. Some people do change, but often we notice them because they are outliers, not a massive movement.

That change is usually spurred by education, whether formal or informal. Informal can be something as basic as picking up a book at the library because the cover draws your attention. Formal is the planned schooling you are supposed to have. Museums tend to hit the mix of formal, because of planning, and informal, because you might just be visiting for the fun of it.

Either way, one thing we all need is that exposure. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., expressed the view that the "arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," an idea drawn from abolitionist ministers in the 19th century, but it is important to remember that he brought this up to urge people to act to bend that arc. He would agree with the idea that "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good to do nothing," usually attributed to Edmund Burke but not in his writings at all. The arc of the universe only bends if we bend it. If we act.

And those actions start with seeing the troubling images of who we once were as people. We have to be confronted to change our thinking, from being locked into a past that was not what we want our future to be and into being what God has called us to make in this world.

The "Long Arc of the Moral Universe" changes with the actions of people. And those actions start with minds listening. Minds growing and changing.

Ultimately, we have to be exposed to differing viewpoints. There is no value in teaching that simply echoes what you already think. Facts and their interpretation should be on display, and we should learn the critical thinking skills to separate the two. (A basic example? It is a fact that the Confederate Army lost the Battle of Gettysburg. It is an interpretation that the fault lies with Jeb Stuart for not being closer to the Army of Northern Virginia.)

To come to the point:

1. You should be paying attention to history, including looking at and being aware of things that make you uncomfortable. I look at Central in 1957 and have to ask myself: where would I have been? As a student? As a parent? I need to think about how I would have handled myself. And I need to think honestly, because we do have a tendency to make ourselves the hero. It's worth remembering that many of the crowd involved in shameful moments in history were just normal people, doing what they were taught was normal. But you need to be aware of what it was.

2. You should be considering right and wrong. Especially if you are a Christian, you should be taking the Biblical standard and looking back at history. Certainly people were behaving as they were taught, and there is forgiveness, but you can and should still look back and say "this was wrong." It was wrong that parents met to pray at Central High that the Black students would go away. Plain and simple. It was wrong that their pastors encouraged it. It was wrong then, and it would be wrong to repeat similar actions now. We are supposed to grow forward.

3. You should be looking now for the good that must be done to bend that arc of history. It's not about being "on the right side of history." That's nonsense. History is not your judge: God is. Do that which is right, and make sure history comes to the right side.