 Ronald Reagan was certainly a memorable person in California history. Not memorable in the Cesar Chavez, Harvey Milk kind of way, but more in a distinctively heartless way. That being said, it looks increasingly likely he will join Milk and Chavez with recognition.
California moved one step closer today to establishing an annual day honoring Ronald Reagan, the former president, governor and actor.
The state Senate unanimously passed a bill designating Feb. 6 as Ronald Reagan Day. The measure encourages schools to spend the day commemorating Reagan's life and accomplishments. (AP)
I'm actually not all that opposed to such a day. Reagan, despite my political differences with him, is a major historical figure. And, on occasion, such as when he signed a letter opposing the Briggs initiative, he went out of his way to do the right thing. But if we are going to teach about Reagan's legacy, Allen White's words must be heeded:
Reagan could have chosen to end the homophobic rhetoric that flowed from so many in his administration. Dr. C. Everett Koop, Reagan's surgeon general, has said that because of "intradepartmental politics" he was cut out of all AIDS discussions for the first five years of the Reagan administration. The reason, he explained, was "because transmission of AIDS was understood to be primarily in the homosexual population and in those who abused intravenous drugs." The president's advisers, Koop said, "took the stand, 'They are only getting what they justly deserve.' "
How profoundly different might have been the outcome if his leadership had generated compassion rather than hostility. "In the history of the AIDS epidemic, President Reagan's legacy is one of silence," Michael Cover, former associate executive director for public affairs at Whitman-Walker Clinic, the groundbreaking AIDS health-care organization in Washington. in 2003. "It is the silence of tens of thousands who died alone and unacknowledged, stigmatized by our government under his administration."
Revisionist history about Reagan must be rejected. Researchers, historians and AIDS experts who know the truth must not remain silent. Too many have died for that. (SF Chronicle Op-Ed)
So, sure, let's teach Reagan's legacy. But front and center of that legacy is the AIDS crisis. He stood by as millions died, including some of his supposed friends from his movie days. Reagan's inaction directly led to many needless deaths. Teach about Ronald Reagan, if for no other reason that our students will never forget an American tragedy. A tragedy whose scope could have been dramatically changed by a rapid response, but was instead ignored because the victims weren't favored classes.
And when our students ask about Reagan, sure, by all means, you can talk about how he spent the Russians into bankruptcy, or how he blatantly and illegally defied Congress, but what I'll remember most about Ronald Reagan will be the action that he didn't take. And his inaction speaks as much about the man Ronald Reagan as any action, or any myth the Right is trying to build up about him. |
