This year marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. The raid has taken on epic proportions and is just as relevant to today’s racial consciousness as it was when it happened.
As the United States continues to grapple with the craggy fissures of racial equality, we must wonder how we can embrace the lessons of Brown’s raid. How do we remember John Brown? Memory is an important political tool that can help us practice powerful politics of the present.
John Brown was a fiery abolitionist who whipped up a religious fervor everywhere he went. His bright eyes and long beard struck quite the image, foreshadowing his powerful sermons. He was equal parts radical revolutionary as he was fire-and-brimstone evangelical preacher.
Brown was a firebrand, a fanatic, but one of the most important revolutionaries in this country’s history. Today, depending on who recounts his story, Brown tends to falls into one of two categories: freedom fighter or domestic terrorist. These labels only get us so far. Appreciating the middle ground, that of a passionate individual with a seemingly singular focus, determined to make a change offers a much better space for dialogue.
What makes Brown particularly important to U.S. history is that he sparked the revolutionary consciousness of a people. Would slavery have ended on the same trajectory or remained for decades to come without John Brown? Would the civil rights movement have progressed at such an astonishing rate if it weren’t for John Brown? Whatever failings we ascribe to Brown or to these movements, there seems little doubt that Brown’s revolutionary thinking and actions helped move this country forward for the better.
Condemned by many, Brown galvanized the radical thoughts upon which others were afraid to act. He saw a social injustice and wanted to use whatever means necessary to rid the country of slavery. Today, some of us confront social injustice with equivalent fervor, but might we do more? No matter what the issue, we can learn from Brown’s determination and focus.
Today, we must not be afraid to be radical. Extremism does not work and is often counterproductive, sure enough, but being able to spark the spirit of the masses is an important step toward progress. The alternative to extremism is not the status quo, but progressive politics. We must keep change constant. Movements need energy and need galvanizing forces.
One cannot go it alone. We need more than rabble rousing, we need direction and passion. Brown taught us that desperate times call for desperate measures. This does not mean we ought to engage in violence like Brown did, but that we ought to step out of our comfort zones and realize the revolution we want to see. The power for change is in us. It only takes a few tiny steps of organized people to move society.
This theory applies across the political spectrum. Change is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it is society’s prerogative. To demand change is different than changing. To forget the lessons of our great leaders, wars, disgraces and successes is to deny the politics of our remembered past. We can choose how to remember and in doing so let us take the good with the bad in order to remake our world into the world we want.
We can demand change or we can change. We can polarize politically or we can unite to move away from the poles. If we remember the passion that ignited this country’s leaders, perhaps we can find a passion that motivates our political choices to better the future. John Brown tried to do it. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to try as well?
- Nick J. Sciullo writes on critical race theory, politics, and public policy. He received his B.A. from the University of Richmond and J.D. from the West Virginia University College of Law. His writing has appeared in the Toledo Blade, Richmond Times Dispatch, Alexandria Packet-Gazette, and Charleston Gazette. He has been published in numerous law reviews, newspapers and newsletters. He lives in Alexandria, Va.
- The views of columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of The Journal.
