Are Americans on ‘backsliding’ path?

At a Memorial Day ceremony in Hudson, Ohio, retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter, in a speech detailing the origins of Memorial Day, attempted to share a story about more than 200 freed Black slaves who honored deceased Union soldiers shortly after the end of the Civil War. But event organizers, who had asked him not to include this story, turned off his microphone to prevent the majority of the audience from hearing it.

For many, this means omitting any favorable stories about people of color and perhaps even more prevalent, covering up stories that show white people committing deplorable racist actions.

In Tulsa, many are finally beginning to acknowledge the horrors of the Tulsa massacre. But here in Tennessee, the goal still remains to keep all the ugliness covered up. How many Tennesseans are aware, for example, of the Knoxville riot of 1919? As in Tulsa, this riot began with suspicion, rumor, and, above all, racism.

Our Tennessee legislature now insists that we cover our eyes, pretend these things never happened, and worst of all, that we do everything possible to deny our students the opportunity to learn the truth. We are clearly living in a time that lying seems to be the preferred response whenever we find ourselves confronted with truths that are inconvenient, disturbing or threatening.

We are clearly on the path of a “backsliding democracy.” How far will we backslide? Are there enough Americans committed to democracy to put us back on the right path?

Verbie Lovorn Prevost

Ooltewah