Moral high ground

The US Constitution is a powerful document, it is the basis of law in this country and a restriction on the authority of our leaders so they can’t consolidate too much power. More than these building blocks, the Constitution is a promise to uphold the goodwill of humanity in the interest of all Americans through human rights protections and general respect for common good. This nation has always strived to fulfill the promise of creating A More Perfect Union, but it hasn’t always held this promise across the board – now, America’s adversaries are using this dark past against it. The US is at a crossroad where it can reckon with the pain of the past and come out stronger or deny its history and lose moral high ground with other nations. One path strengthens the Union, the other endangers its national security.

The continental United States was not always under the protection of the Constitution, falling under different sets of law by the various nations which settled on this land, establishing colonies for the advancement of economics. Yet, through sheer willpower and the idea of Manifest Destiny this nation managed to overcome and make a contiguous border from Sea-to-Shining-Sea. In the process of building an economic engine that would eventually be able to safeguard its own posterity and the civil rights of all its citizens, the Union violated those very rights. There is no excuse for the atrocities committed in the building of this great nation, there is only a path forward in the interest of keeping the promise of our Founding Fathers. A promise of an indivisible nation, with Liberty and Justice For All.

In looking to the path forward, this nation engaged in a Civil War. This tore the nation apart, but in the end, we had reckoned with the heaviest burden of slavery and came out better for it.

In the colonization of this nation, colonizers committed horrific atrocities – atrocities best classified as genocide against the native people. More and more emphasis has been placed on the genocide of Indigenous Peoples since mass graves of native students were discovered across Canada earlier this year. This genocide was long lasting and claimed multiple lives, but in the end, the Union stretched from Sea-to-Shining-Sea and brought the promise and hope of liberty to people across the continent. Every life lost in the construction of this nation was not one lost in vain, but one lost in the pursuit of common Liberty and Justice – blood, sweat, and tears that led to this very moment.

The United States has a long way to go to make up for the evil ignorance of the past, part of making up for it is securing the human rights of people across the globe. Recently, President Joe Biden renewed US allegations of a Chinese genocide against the Uighur Muslim people in Xinjiang, China. In response, Global Times, the mouthpiece for the ruling Chinese Communist Party wrote, “Genocide has become a label that the US and some Western elites are arbitrarily slapping on China's Xinjiang. The US committed genocide against Native Americans. China won’t do the same.” The quote came attached to a video which rails against the US treatment of Native Americans.

If the US wants to help the marginalized people of the world, and stop people from being murdered just for the religion they practice or the nation they’re from, then the US must reckon – quickly – with its longhushed genocide. This is the only path to regain our credibility on the world stage and give the US the moral high ground necessary to make demands for human rights.

No nation should reject the US’ demands for human rights, they should embrace them.

Disparities will forever exist, and in discussing the reckoning of our past we must be careful. The pursuit of “Common Prosperity” often leads to common poverty. The United States must balance its past with its future, in doing so we can bring our nation closer to the Founding Fathers promise of A More Perfect Union.

When we address the pains of our past, we always come out stronger; denying this past only puts us in danger, and weakens the credibility of the United States.

As China continues its aggressive tactics across the South China Sea and bullying other nation states like Taiwan, the threat of global conflict grows higher and higher. The security of the United States is at risk, its time to take responsibility and move forward together from the pains of the past.

To secure the safety of all Americans, and all free people of the world, the US must take the hard step of apologizing for the genocide of Natrive Americans.