Letters to the Editor
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@krisellyn
You wrote that since the US is a nation of immigrants, generational guilt-trips don't work. But to my understanding, when the oppressed speak out, all they are seeking is acknowledgment and understanding. Their intent is not to induce guilt. When people speak, it's only because they want to be heard. They're not really interested in making you feel guilty. They may want you to take responsibility, but responsibility has nothing to do with guilt.
What's responsibility? In my book, responsibility is acknowledging that the world is kind of a big mess (which isn't really anyone's fault because we're all messy human beings) and that if we want to clean it up, then we all have to do our part. Nobody is to blame, but everybody needs to help clean up. Taking responsibility is saying, "Ok, I'll help with the cleanup."
I'm African-American and descended from slaves, but I take responsibility for the genocide of Native Americans because I am American. I take responsibility for consuming a disproportionate part of the world's resources because I'm an American, even though I consume much less than the average American. I take responsibility for being on the wrong side of class struggle because, in subtle or not-so-subtle ways, I still hold the bourgeois values I grew up with, even though I'm my income is working-class. It's not my fault that a lot of people in my city are homeless, but it is my responsibility to do something about it because I live in the city, even if it's just challenging the way I see homeless people and doing my best not to send more rejection and negativity towards the homeless people I meet.
We are born into a hurting, messy world, so we are born into responsibility. Guilt stops us from taking responsibility because it goads us into defending ourselves. No one wants you to feel guilty, but they may ask you to take responsibility for being American-- being a part of a country that has done stunningly wonderful things and shockingly egregious things. Enjoy and bask in the wonderful; take responsibility for the egregious even though it is not your fault.