“How they taught in their schools the truth of their actions, how they policed their civil society and punished words or acts that had echoes of that time, how they worked tirelessly to make reparation to those survivors not stamped out by their hobnailed boots. They had sought atonement.”
First, I’d like to say that Obama is not Jeremiah. Even if he looks to him for leadership, it doesn’t make them the same person. I know more than a few Catholics who use birth control, have sex before marriage and other things which the Pope speaks against. They may have a true respect for him and his teachings, it doesn’t mean they agree with or practice everything he advocates.
Second, perhaps that’s the difference. Save for a few who are usually labeled as bleeding heart and ridiculed, there is not the same seeking of atonement as in Germany. In school, the slave trade is but a small portion of history books. The effects on American society through various generations usually culminates with a paragraph or two on Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. There’s no tireless work outside of the black community to atone, it’s simply “that’s old news, get over it.” From your article, it seems you have an understanding of how indirect past experiences can create animosity. Some move on into daily life and are able to leave it in the past. Others can’t forget.
“They are a past generation and we do not look to them for leadership. We teach redemption. We try to hold them to some form of account.”
I find it difficult to believe that there are no Jewish leaders who (understandably) let some bitterness about the past into their teachings. While they are revered and admired for their experiences, I also wouldn’t hold a young attendee of a synagogue responsible for their perspective or for trying to change it.
