The Sound of Silence
I love the NPR show Hidden Brain hosted by Shankar Vedantam. Shankar describes his show as, “using science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.” Recently, he did an episode entitled “The Founding Contradiction: Thomas Jefferson's Stance On Slavery” (Follow this link to listen to the entire episode from June 29, 2020). In this episode, he interviews the historian Annette Gordon-Reed who has studied the life of Thomas Jefferson and the seeming contradiction between his written words and his life practices. At the end of the episode, Shankar has the following interaction with Annette…
VEDANTAM: I'm wondering, do you ever think about Jefferson's life and the contradictions he embodies and think about your own life and perhaps the contradictions that you might embody yourself, that, you know, 200 years from now, people are going to look back and say, how could she possibly not see what's obvious to us?
GORDON-REED: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I think about climate change (laughter) as I get on my plane every week to fly back and forth between New York City and Cambridge. You know, what am I doing to stop, you know, trafficking in people - sex trafficking in people - that I know is something that's a problem? I'm a lawyer. Why am I not doing more about that? There are just lots of things. But yeah, yeah, I think in all of us there are things that we know are wrong, and because of our other preoccupations, we say, well, that thing will take care of itself. Somebody else will figure that out. That's for someone else to deal with. Even though we know that, you know, we could make a contribution. So yeah, looking at him makes you think about yourself as well.
This makes me think again about the quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. where he says the real problem is, “...the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time.”” Thomas Jefferson was our third president until 1809, over 210 years ago!!!! Think about that for a moment. Slavery continued to flourish over multiple generations of slaves prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. Jefferson’s voice was loud, his voice had power, his voice could have decimated the practice of slavery...but he said nothing.
Two hundred years later, we want to know why…!
Well, here is the reality. We can not change history, nor can we use it as an excuse. We can only live today...in this moment...in this time...in this conversation...in this day...right now. Do not allow your preoccupations to transcend the precedent of what you know to be right. We may not have the power of voice that Jefferson had, but we have one voice; and our one voice, times millions of other voices, can shake the very foundations of our world! You may think that your one voice has no power, but it is the atomic bomb of your soul. So use your voice today and every day. Practice active anti-racism at every opportunity. Be strong and courageous and let your voice sing!
In 200 years from now, you do not want people to look back and only hear your deafening sound of silence!
VEDANTAM: I'm wondering, do you ever think about Jefferson's life and the contradictions he embodies and think about your own life and perhaps the contradictions that you might embody yourself, that, you know, 200 years from now, people are going to look back and say, how could she possibly not see what's obvious to us?
GORDON-REED: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I think about climate change (laughter) as I get on my plane every week to fly back and forth between New York City and Cambridge. You know, what am I doing to stop, you know, trafficking in people - sex trafficking in people - that I know is something that's a problem? I'm a lawyer. Why am I not doing more about that? There are just lots of things. But yeah, yeah, I think in all of us there are things that we know are wrong, and because of our other preoccupations, we say, well, that thing will take care of itself. Somebody else will figure that out. That's for someone else to deal with. Even though we know that, you know, we could make a contribution. So yeah, looking at him makes you think about yourself as well.
This makes me think again about the quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. where he says the real problem is, “...the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time.”” Thomas Jefferson was our third president until 1809, over 210 years ago!!!! Think about that for a moment. Slavery continued to flourish over multiple generations of slaves prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. Jefferson’s voice was loud, his voice had power, his voice could have decimated the practice of slavery...but he said nothing.
Two hundred years later, we want to know why…!
Well, here is the reality. We can not change history, nor can we use it as an excuse. We can only live today...in this moment...in this time...in this conversation...in this day...right now. Do not allow your preoccupations to transcend the precedent of what you know to be right. We may not have the power of voice that Jefferson had, but we have one voice; and our one voice, times millions of other voices, can shake the very foundations of our world! You may think that your one voice has no power, but it is the atomic bomb of your soul. So use your voice today and every day. Practice active anti-racism at every opportunity. Be strong and courageous and let your voice sing!
In 200 years from now, you do not want people to look back and only hear your deafening sound of silence!
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