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Since most teens who live in the Back Mountain have had a couple of weeks off thanks to the Dallas teachers strike, we decided to provide a public service today due to that lack of classroom learning.
So, gather around for a history lesson. It will take only a few minutes — and c’mon Dallas kids, you’ve already had about 10 extra vacation days so make this required reading. Other local teens can do the same.
You might have heard a lot lately about how divided our country is. Adding fuel to the fire were President Trump’s recent remarks on the NFL and how players should stand for the national anthem and not use the moment to make political statements.
Meanwhile, a 10-part documentary, “The Vietnam War,” recently wrapped up on PBS with much fanfare.
And finally, Jane Fonda has a new movie out.
Youngsters reading this — and probably some history-averse adults — are probably scratching their heads trying to figure out how all this could possibly congeal to form any sort of historical point.
Therein lies the lesson, and it might provide us with some clues about what lies ahead.
First, it’s very true there are deep divisions in our nation: racial, economic, political and more. And our president seems to have no problem spouting rhetoric that divides us even further. (See the NFL/anthem issue.)
But there was another time not long ago when the US was nearly torn asunder by disparate factions, each equally as passionate about their cause. That was during Vietnam, as the PBS series so thoroughly documents. Back then, it was the law-and-order, hardcore patriotic crowd — President Nixon called them “hardhats” — versus members of the growing counterculture. There were riots in the streets, clashes with police and lots of turmoil.
Sound familiar? It should. This summer was marred by an ugly, race-war clash in Virginia. Then, the NFL season starts and the focus turns to what the players are doing before the game instead of what they do during it.
Is a player taking a knee when the anthem plays unpatriotic, like those opposed to the Vietnam War were accused of being?
It started with now ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began taking a knee to protest police brutality and racial inequalities.
Kaepernick has become the most polarizing figure in the debate, even though he’s no longer an active player and is far from the only person who has taken part in anthem kneeling.
And this brings us to Fonda, who became one of the most polarizing figures of the Vietnam era without firing a shot.
Fonda forever became known as Hanoi Jane for posing for photos with an anti-aircraft gun in North Vietnam.
She, like Kaepernick, became a lightning rod, despite the fact “lots of people went to Hanoi, lots of anti-war activists said things that were very provocative,” Lynn Novick, co-director of “The Vietnam War” series, recently told IndieWire.
We’re certainly not defending Fonda or Kaepernick, but the similarities between each of their plights is striking.
History repeats itself, through people and places. And using history as our guide, we should expect this era of deep division to subside.
It happened in the Vietnam period thanks to Nixon and Watergate. A divided nation suddenly had something to get behind: Impeach Tricky Dick.
When the special prosecutor wraps up his probe of Russian interference in the election, will Americans have another unifying cry: Impeach Trump?
Or maybe that moment of unity could be something else — like war with North Korea.
Only time will tell. But there are parallels for where we’re at right now. So, don’t be fooled by the hysteria on TV, kids.
Class dismissed.
— Times Leader