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(Part 3 of a 3 part article.<\/em>)<\/p>\n You are still seated in a New Jersey diner with your friend Marty McFry, the time traveler.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do you keep dragging America in the dirt,\u201d you ask, \u201creminding people about all the bad stuff they did in the past? How long do we need to grovel?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re asking the wrong question,\u201d says McFry. \u201cAsk yourself what good it is to keep ignoring past wrongs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe only want to make America great again,\u201d you plead.<\/p>\n McFry laughs. \u201cYou still haven\u2019t shown me the first time America was great! And sure, we\u2019ve given a token nod to the genocide and atrocities, but that doesn\u2019t amount to much. We can learn from the Germans who, as a nation, did more than just \u2018feel bad\u2019 about the holocaust. They put up monuments and made reparations to the Jews. They turned prison camps into sacred memorials and educational tools for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have plaques for the folks who were killed here in America,\u201d you suggest, \u201cand tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhich are overshadowed by bold statues and memorials and place-names for America\u2019s oppressors,\u201d says McFry. \u201cIf the Holocaust had happened here, supremacists would still be claiming there\u2019s nothing wrong with a friendly swastika on their flags and t-shirts, while Jews would still be hiding in the ghettos.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re blowing things out of proportion,\u201d you insist. \u201cSure, I see the mixed message of Confederate flags and statues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow about all the cities and streets named after people who did bad stuff?\u201d asks McFry. \u201cWhen a guy guns down a bunch of school kids, we don\u2019t name the cafeteria after him.\u201d<\/p>\n You gaze out the plate glass window toward a steady stream of trucks and cars.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to see things from your point of view, McFry,\u201d you say, shaking your head, \u201cbut we\u2019re talking about two completely different narratives here. How could you even expect anybody to know which one to believe?\u201d<\/p>\n McFry grimaces and shrugs his shoulders. \u201cWhy not both? That dualism is and always has been at the heart of America. Just look at Thomas Jefferson, claiming that \u2018all men are created equal\u2019 while fathering black children he refused to even acknowledge. Look at the \u2018good Christians\u2019 who stepped out of their churches to attend slave auctions or go to lynchings. The contradiction is glaring but they couldn\u2019t see it. Look how tenderly they cared for their own children, never giving a thought to the babies they were siring. They\u2019d pat each other on the backs for their noble family values, while ripping slave kids away from grieving mamas.\u201d<\/p>\n You sigh. \u201cEverybody knows the old cowboy movies and perfect 1950s families are sanitized fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cForty-four states were still lynching folk while white Christians were enjoying the Golden Age of Prosperity.[1]<\/a> And what about the human trafficking that still undergirds our cheap goods and services? Do you even care that the median wealth of white households is 10 times that of black households? Do you care that 40 percent of Navajos still don\u2019t have running water and 10 percent don\u2019t have electricity?[2]<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sure do know how to wreck a guy\u2019s day,\u201d you say.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you wanna feel good, then cover your eyes and ears,\u201d says McFry. \u201cThat\u2019s worked fine for people of privilege. But there\u2019s nothing like a jagged piece of reality to crash into your sweet fantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n With a slurp, you suck the last of the ice water from your glass.<\/p>\n \u201cThe least we can do,\u201d says McFry, \u201cis to express a little regret for the hardship our nation caused.\u201d<\/p>\n You close your eyes and sink back into your chair. All these crazy claims and accusations are crashing like turbulent seas on the precarious shoal you heretofore thought was solid ground. Taking a deep breath, you turn to McFry.<\/p>\n \u201cYou make a few good points,\u201d you say. \u201cIt\u2019s just that with so many different voices and opinions, it\u2019s nearly impossible to find the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t believe that,\u201d says McFry. \u201cIf you seek truth, you will find truth, especially if you look through the lens of love and compassion and justice. You have to be wary, though. I\u2019ll give you seven tips to avoid being duped like the Germans were by the Nazi propaganda machine: First<\/em>, beware anyone who says, \u2018Don\u2019t listen to those other sources. You can\u2019t trust them.\u2019 You have to give everybody a fair hearing. Second<\/em>, beware those who dehumanize and disrespect their opponents. Beware those, third<\/em>, who amplify arguments based on fear; fourth<\/em>, those who elevate a single issue like guns or socialism or the mythical \u2018good old days\u2019 over all other issues; and fifth<\/em>, beware those who paint one side as thoroughly bad and the other as completely good. And if you value faith and the Bible, beware those who sixth<\/em>, disregard Jesus\u2019 teaching about loving your enemies; and seventh<\/em>, those who disobey the biblical commands to give preferential help to people who are weak and poor and displaced and marginalized.\u201d<\/p>\n You slump back into your chair, turning to watch a white-aproned cook flip burgers.<\/p>\n \u201cGreatness is more than money and a nice home with a spouse and two chubby kids,\u201d says McFry. \u201cAt this moment, people are being beaten by cops and wardens. They are being exploited in sweat shops and brothels. They are fleeing from wars and famines, only to get stabbed to death outside our borders. They are living in extreme poverty because our spending choices and our cruel history put them in a horrible place. So do me a favor \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n In the silence, you lock eyes with McFry.<\/p>\n \u201cQuit all that stuff about making America great again<\/em>. That doesn\u2019t help. Let\u2019s just try to make things better now, okay? Blowing smoke about a fictional past only makes it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Turning toward the wall, a parade of images scroll through you mind: American heroes stand proud on a granite mountaintop, while down in the shadows, soldiers with machetes hack banana trees, sending a rain of dollar bills to the ground. Beneath the green, the ground is red with blood.<\/p>\n \u201cGeez,\u201d you say, shaking your head. \u201cI don\u2019t even know what to think anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n With a bright grin, McFry nods. \u201cAwesome! That\u2019s the perfect attitude to begin learning how to make America great for the first time!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Image Frerieke, Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> \u201cLynchings by State and Race, 1882-1968,\u201d Famous Trials, www.famous-trials.com\/sheriffshipp\/1083-lynchingsstate<\/a>.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> \u201cFor Many Navajos, Getting Hooked Up to the Power Grid can be Life-Changing,\u201d by Laurel Morales, NPR Morning Edition, 29 May 2019, www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2019\/05\/29\/726615238\/for-many-navajos-getting-hooked-up-to-the-power-grid-can-be-life-changing<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n READ \u201cBack to the Future \u2013 I\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n