When Anti-Racists Celebrate George Washington’s Birthday

George Washington was not an anti-racist in the way we use the term today. He wasn’t even close. Washington believed, with the other founders of the United States of America, that white British men had a right and a responsibility to manage the society. So, how can Americans in the 21^st century, who dream of America becoming a nation without racism, celebrate the life of George Washington on his birthday?

Washington didn’t have the same objections to the governmental and economic systems of his day that anti-racists have to the systems in place today. But he joined other wealthy British men in imagining a society where heredity did not determine who would be the king, and a ruling class didn’t inherit seats in parliament. And most importantly, they dreamed of a society where the laws were determined by themselves.

On July 4, 1776, Washington was not in Philadelphia putting the final touches on the Declaration of Independence and signing it. He had already gone to New York City where he was busy organizing a militia to defend the city if British soldiers attacked as expected. Remembering his birthday, we should celebrate his bold audacity. He began organizing the military defense even before his fellow conspirators made a commitment by signing the Declaration of Independence. He knew that the global superpower of the day, the Kingdom of Great Britain, with the strongest navy and army in the world, would not agree to an amicable separation. More than a year earlier, in April of 1775, British troops were resisted by Americans at the battles of Lexington and Concord and retreated to Boston, but they didn’t sail back to England.

Washington’s willingness to put his own life in jeopardy against what seemed like an impossible task of preventing a military occupation of the colonies is inspiring. He knew that if the men in Philadelphia lost their nerve and did not declare independence he would certainly be hung by the British. And he would be hung if the British military was successful in occupying the colonies.

For anti-racists today, the task of modifying the systemic support of racism is also daunting. While Washington mostly faced a threat from the British, there were also Loyalists living in the colonies who wanted the British to continue to rule and certainly didn’t want a completely new system of government put in place.

For anti-racists, the obstacles today come primarily from Americans who, for many reasons, are not willing to commit to fixing the Constitution and other systems that are preserving racism. There are those who have what they perceive as a comfortable life and, rather than supporting a just society, they like the stability. There are wealthy people, who benefit from low wages and low taxes, so the existing systems are just what they want. Others live with what has been called a “false consciousness,” where they have an emotional attachment to the existing systems without fully appreciating how they are victims of the system. And there are some Americans who fear that things could get much worse if we start to make any changes in the current systems. They reason that, even with the suffering racism causes, opening the door to making changes could result in greater privileges for white people, the wealthy could gain greater benefits for themselves, or a fascist government could be established with even greater oppression of people of color. It takes courage today to stand up against these and other obstacles to creating a nation without racism.

Washington’s birthday provides us with an opportunity to reflect on Washington’s courage and his commitment to creating a new society. As we look back at Washington’s willingness to take risks to support the transformation of American society through addressing systemic structures like the Constitution, we can brainstorm ways to participate in creating a new society without racism. Let’s think about what we can do to help people around us see how working collectively we can make government work for the benefit of all.

• Even before the government organization is changed, we can support public funding that moves us in the direction of being a more just society.
• We can be strategic in interrupting the lives of those who are able to isolate themselves from the suffering of others caused by racism and point to the statistics about incarceration, police violence, unequal educational support, income and wealth disparities.
• Or we can encourage people to engage in community activities that bring people from different cultures and races into contact.
• We can educate ourselves about ways that America can be transformed so it is not based on racism. And we can celebrate George Washington’s birthday because of the example he set of believing there can be a better system of government.

Not even Washington himself thought for a moment that he was part of creating an organization of government that is perfect, sacred, and should never be changed.

Washington wasn’t just interested in supporting a new social system. He had values that he wanted the new system to be based on. And there is no value that he held more dearly than the importance of the rule of law, not the rule of men. This is a value that is also central for people who are anti-racist. In a multicultural nation without racism, laws are made with representation by all American voices and a commitment by all to have laws that support a beloved community. The rule of law is as important a foundational value for anti-racists today as it was for Washington. His birthday is a good opportunity to reflect on his example of supporting the rule of law.

A good story to retell is the Whiskey Rebellion story. In 1791 when Washington was president, Alexander Hamilton proposed and Congress passed a tax on distilled liquor. Particularly in western Pennsylvania, there were farmers and distillers who saw the tax as a burden they did not want to bear. Some even resorted to violence and attacked tax collectors. Washington saw this as a threat to the authority of the federal government and inconsistent with the rule of law where everyone follows the law until it is changed. So, he raised a militia of 13,000 men, and taking seriously his obligation as Commander in Chief of the army, he led a march to western Pennsylvania. It may have been the power of Washington’s personality or the presence of the 13,000 men, but the rebellion ended without any violence. The President and his army returned to Philadelphia, the capital at that time. They had established the rule of law.

Stories about Washington’s struggles with the institution of slavery are a good way to talk about his commitment to the rule of law. Washington owned hundreds of slaves, and his wealth was the result of a slave economy. His views were not based on the principles of anti-racism of today. He supported having a government where only white men participated. But the buying and selling of human beings was abhorrent to him. Using a logic that seems very difficult to understand today, this led him to refuse to sell any of his slaves at an auction even when he believed that the changes he made on his plantation of growing more wheat and less tobacco resulted in owning more slaves than were needed to maximize his profits. Clearly, we don’t understand everything that was going on in his mind, because in his will he stipulated that all his slaves were to be set free when his wife, Martha, died. What is not difficult to understand is his commitment to the rule of law in the way he approached slavery.

This is illustrated by what happened when he was approached to support an association in Philadelphia that helped runaway slaves. He responded, “I hope it will not be conceived from these observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it, but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished and that is by Legislative authority, and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting.”

The story of Washington’s struggle with slavery is important because it reminds us of what has happened since the 18th century. Not only have we developed an understanding of racism, but now we know that ending racism needs to be a foundational value of a new system of government. We also have the benefit of the teaching and examples of advocates for non-violent political action. It is not necessary to follow Washington’s example of using violence in the revolutionary project of transforming society. We have the examples of Paul Jones, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and many others who have taught us that non-violent political action combined with a commitment to the rule of law is a viable strategy for establishing a new social order.

Today the greatest honor we can give to the memory of George Washington is to rededicate ourselves to the task of boldly embracing the rule of law and following the law by using Article V of the Constitution to create a new system of government that does not support and preserve racism. Article V makes it possible for us to write a new Constitution with a system of laws that establishes a nation that is multicultural and does not give any group special privileges.

To those today who say “Even though the Constitution supports a system of government that promotes and preserves racism, this is not the time to attempt to change it so that every vote carries equal weight in presidential elections, the Senate does not over represent people who live in states with small populations, and racial justice is experienced by all,” George Washington would answer, “If the system we put in place in the 18^th century is not working for you now, then you need to change it. What are you waiting for?”