South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

by Imani Perry

We choose, daily, to sustain or neglect some detail of our lives and experiences. In this period of history, in which some people are clinging to the past and others are expunging it, perhaps we need to learn to acknowledge that most of us feel uncertain and even uneasy about what we will sustain and what we will leave behind. I’m talking about places like caves and historic homes, but also practices like electoral processes, courts, and constitutional interpretations. I’m talking about heroes of history and our consensus narratives about how we declare ourselves as a nation. I’m talking about local cultures and collective values. What will we make of those things that we decide to keep intact? The moment we refuse the idols of history, we are faced with the question of whether we ignore that it ever was, or turn to crafting a memory of it. I mean, I needed to caress the cool dark dolomite in order to feel the cave. And if we aren’t careful about what we are doing and where we are going—ecologically, politically, socially—we might find ourselves in a clearing that could be a trap. Without a lit way out.