“Never Forget” This, But Always Forget That

White Supremacists Seek to Control What We Remember (and What We Don’t)

Sloganeering

Sloganeering has never been easier.

“Never Forget.”

Never forget 9/11? Don’t worry about that buddy; I won’t. I will never forget when it happened. I was in the Army, signed up before it occurred just two years in when the Twin Towers fell. I remember what it felt like to see the Twin Towers struck. I remember the state of emergency the military was in. I remember the threat; I was overseas. Being from Washington D.C., I remember my commander pulling our New Yorker Soldier and me into the room, asking if our families were okay. Subsequently, I went to Afghanistan.

Twice.

Don’t worry about my memory pal.

Memory Policing Revisited

Memory policing (coined here, you’re welcome) is so ingrained in Black people, black people do it to themselves the most. It’s categorically absurd how for some strange reason, oddly specific parts of history — documented or not — is off-limits to Black people. This is ridiculous, and wrong. ~ “Six Freedoms Black People Do Not Have Under a White Supremacy,” May 9th, 2020

A while back, I wrote a heavy article on the six freedoms Black folks don’t have under white supremacy. I bring this up because memory policing isn’t just done to Black people; it is done to everyone else. Everyone suffers under white supremacy. Yes, you too, white people.

Memory policing, in this case, tells us what never to forget. For clarity, I have no problem with the notion of never forgetting 9/11. The problem isn’t placed on never forgetting this explicit act of terror — the problem lies in all the other recent and historical occurrences Whiteness forces us to forget, ranging from acts of domestic terrorism to systemic governmental neglect, including state-sponsored violence, which would be war crimes had not been intra-state affairs.

The Hypocrisy in Selective Social Memory

One cannot endorse never forgetting while actively (or passively) supporting historical revisionism.

Here are a few points concerning the hypocrisy on the never forget sloganeering:

• We are told to never forget 2,996 deaths on 9/11, but are systemically made to forget 4,102 deaths from the deadliest day of COVID-19 in America. That day was January 27th, 2021, by the way.
• We are told to never forget 9/11 because 2996 people were killed via terrorism. Currently, by the time of this publishing, over 660,000 Americans were killed by COVID-19, which only continues to ravage the American public because of Republican (Trump) governmental neglect and presidential incompetence. Why there’s no “never forget” for the 660k killed? Shouldn’t we remember the systemic failures in government concerning a deadly pandemic?
• We are told to “never forget” 9/11, but how come there’s no never forget the fact that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold — the shooters in the Columbine Massacre — were white supremacists? They even selected their killing spree on Adolf Hitler’s birthday, but there’s no remembering that.
• We as Americans are inculcated into never forgetting tragic acts of terror when the perpetrators are nonwhite people from afar. How come there’s no “never forget” when white terrorists attack nonwhite people for merely existing? On American soil? Are Black Americans less American than white people? Are Asian Americans less American than white people? Are we — Black people — not worthy of being remembered when terrorized?
• How come there’s no never forget concerning the U.S. white supremacist policy on Indigenous? The Trail of Tears, for example, was a genocidal hike pushing the Indigenous away from land white people had stolen. All the policies of systemic eradication of the Indigenous people of America, how is that not terrorism?
• How come there’s no never forget the fact that white supremacy made interstate travel uniquely dangerous for Black people in America where Black travelers were chased out of town, some coming up missing, killed, murdered with bodies left in swamps all across the American South? How come there’s no never forget the fact that the Green Book, had to exist? America was so racist, a book was developed to aid Afro-Americans in navigating the racist-as-fuck landscape of America. How come there’s no remembering of that?
• How come there’s no never forget all the Black Churches burned down? All the Black churches shot up by white terrorists? The fact that docile Black Christians historically have proven to be the perfect targets for white supremacists doesn’t warrant remembrance?
• Confederate Whites fought to keep and maintain the American Institution of Slavery. How come there’s no never forget concerning that fact?
• How come there’s no never forget the fact that white supremacists launched a coup attempt on the U.S. Capitol (Jan 6, 2021)? Right-Wing politics literally attacked America’s Democracy, and Republicans are trying their hardest to sweep it under the rug. A whole coup attempt swept under a damn rug. Let’s also remember that the Capitol was a highly probable target of the 9/11 terror assault. So it’s terrible when brown foreigners do it but cool when Whiteness Rangers do it? Please help me figure this one out.
• How come there’s no never forget that fact that white people continue to attack, vandalize and destroy the Emmett Till remembrance marker in Mississippi? How come we are not made to remember that white supremacist white people want to overkill dead Black children?

Other Concerns

It’s a bit difficult to tell a mass of people who are always forgotten, to “never forget.” Black people — alongside the Indigenous — are the most forgotten, systemically neglected group of people in America. How can one argue to a Black person never to forget certain national tragedies while never acknowledging the travesties of justice Black people have suffered for a long time in our United States? How can a fascist white supremacy-leaning person attempt to force intellectual submission and selective memory onto Black people? How long are we going to allow this to occur unchecked?

Let’s end the perpetual, never-ending gaslighting of nonwhite people of America. Acknowledge our trauma too.

How can one tell a Black person to never forget 9/11 for example, while memory policing people to the point at which factual acknowledgements are being systemically removed from history books? This is what Republicans are doing concerning in Texas (which will then be the blueprint for modern book-burning across America).

One cannot endorse never forgetting while actively (or passively) supporting historical revisionism.

Overall

In America, what is given the never forget sloganeering is always something that is infinitely Whiteness-identity-approved. Whiteness doesn’t decide whose sociopolitical wounds are valid for national treatment and healing. Whiteness cannot decide this; it is proven over time that Whiteness at the helm of sociopolitical medicine fails to accurately diagnose acts of terror. While Black and Indigenous people can universally identify pain in all people, white people can only identify pain in whites. White people only validate fear of terrorism when white people are possible targets of it. On the flip side of the coin, Whiteness perpetually invalidates the fears of terrorism, to the point of erasure, when Black or Indigenous people have terrorism concerns.

And that’s a problem. We all have to acknowledge this problem. White people need to recognize and acknowledge this problem.

White-Identity can no longer perform national, sociopolitical triage. Abolish Whiteness performing sociopolitical triage. Never forget ALL acts of terror. ALL acts of terror — including acts of terror Whiteness has committed and defended — matters (see what I did there?).

Sure, I’ll remember or “never forget” 9/11, but not because you said so or because some slogan exists. I’ll remember 9/11. What I’m asking is that you remember other acts of terror that occurred in the United States. Just because Black people suffered exclusively, it doesn’t mean it’s less of a terror threat. Just because Indigenous people exclusively suffered, it doesn’t mean that the injustice is lacking in tragedy. If we never forget tragedies like 9/11, we need to forfeit your willful ignorance and never forget the white supremacist acts of terror inflicted upon nonwhite people in America.