Lamenting Our Choice to Remain Silent
Graphic by Habib Salami.
OPINION
BY RANN MILLER | Pressing Forward
Are we not allowed to speak the truth?
Not our truth as we see the world, but rather, the truth.
Are we no longer allowed to speak honestly about public figures because it offends white people? Whether it is Charlie Kirk or Martin Luther King Jr., are we not allowed to speak honestly of their message to the masses of people, because the truth makes white people — particularly white nationalists — uncomfortable?
Are we not allowed to speak the truth about genocide in Gaza, because people are uncomfortable with the irony of it all, or because politicians are paid too much by AIPAC to allow the truth to be spoken?
Does never again only apply to the Jewish community?
Are we not allowed to criticize the President in places where the world can hear it, or is it something we must do in the privacy of our own homes? How about white supremacy, white nationalism, or white privilege? Are those words we can no longer utter, explain their origins, and speak out against?
Are we no longer allowed to speak the truth?
Are we afraid to speak it because it may cost us our livelihood? Because it may cost us our lives and those of our families? Or is it because we’re resigned to our fate under a regime with control of all three branches of government due to the “will of the people?”
Some would argue that the intentional silencing of the voices that speak truth to power is the fault of the Trump administration, conservative politicians, and the chorus of families lamenting the loss of what the United States was for them. Others argue that it is actually the fault of those who sat out the 2024 election, as well as those who sowed seeds of doubt into the Harris campaign. Both arguments are plausible.
But the fault lies with us.
The fault lies with us because we failed to challenge the lies when we heard them. We dismissed them from our ears. But they weren’t dismissed from the public square. Not the lies told by Donald Trump, but the lies we’ve told ourselves for centuries about Black people. It is also the lies we’ve said about the foreign-born folks from Latin America and Africa, about Muslims, about the poor, about women, and the intersection of these.
We’ve lied to ourselves about this nation’s origins, and upon the celebration of this country’s 250th year in existence, we’ll continue to lie. Likewise, we’ll continue to allow the lie and all these lies to exist with it.
We once allowed notions of African inferiority to be said out loud. Such ideas were later confined to the private spaces of those who believed them. But they reemerged in coded terms to win elections, solidify public policy, and remove the guilt of those who believe them. They were cloaked in Christianity to affirm that God was on the side of whiteness.
Now, the terms are no longer coded.
No longer do such ideas have to be kept in the closet. Because of an allowance for lies such as the Lost Cause, the reframing of the Civil War, and the reframing of confederate generals, soldiers, and standard bearers of the slavocracy—placing names on buildings and erecting statues in their honor—we’re beyond challenging these lies by speaking the truth because the lies have become truth.
What does this say about us, that we’ve allowed this to happen? It says that we’re weak; that we’re not the arbiters of freedom that we believe ourselves to be. Those advocating for silencing dissent are weak. So are those who are complicit with their own silence, as the rest of us gasp for air.
People are losing their jobs, their careers, and the ability to assess what’s wrong with the current state of affairs because we, the people, collectively failed to name the lies and put them down when they began two hundred fifty years ago. We witness global resistance, and we often reference the Arab Spring as if our society is above such discord. In reality, resistance is a matter of life and death for our global neighbors, whereas resistance in America is so that we can return to having brunch.
Do we remain unwilling to name the lies that condemn us to silence, only to lament the rights we once had? It seems we’re only willing to lament loudly while naming the lies quietly… until the lies are no longer named.
Now is the time to call a thing a thing and speak truth to power fearlessly. Or else we will likely perish.
BIO: Rann Miller is a writer, author, and educator. A graduate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Rann teaches AP United States History, is the author of Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids, and is an opinion columnist, featured in various news outlets exploring the intersections of race, education, politics, culture and history. You can follow on “X” @RealRannMiller, on IG, and TikTok @realrannmiller.
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