U.S. History Shows We Aspire to High Morals

Re: “Making Good on Our High Moral Values,” Letters, Feb. 28:

Another of those “I-love-my-country-but” letter writers questioned where we could point in our nation’s past to find any “high moral values,” since our history includes slavery, racism and genocide of Native Americans.

Answer: Our history did not end there. Slavery? The writer conveniently overlooked that American history also includes the Civil War, fought mainly by white men, which ended slavery. Racism? The civil rights movement of the tumultuous ‘60s led to legislation to combat racism and to further human rights for minorities. (Not to mention U.S. policy that defied apartheid in South Africa with official sanctions until it ended.) Racism hasn’t been obliterated, but progress certainly has been made. Genocide? Even as more remedial measures wend their way through the courts, there are more Native Americans today than were alive when this nation was founded. Also reparations were awarded to Japanese Americans who were segregated during World War II. America has shown humility, trying to make amends for past mistakes.

Meanwhile, American soldiers fought and died on foreign soil to vanquish madmen and dictators who threatened world peace, and, after winning, unlike other conquerors, we restored our enemies to freedom, rebuilt their economies with the Marshall Plan, and withdrew. Bravery, sacrifice, forgiveness, generosity. Add those values to the list. The fact that we sometimes stumbled along the way does not subtract from America’s proven commitment to human rights, freedom and justice. America was founded on high moral values to which we still aspire, even if we don’t always reach them.

MIRIAM JAFFE

Thousand Oaks