In Memory of Howard Zinn

America lost one of its great voices for justice and peace last week.

I only found out today that Dr. Howard Zinn had passed away, and the news of his death came as quite a shock. (Bob Herbert is right--the news of his passing deserved more attention among American news agencies than it got.)

Howard Zinn has been an important influence on me both directly and indirectly. His influence has been direct through such writings as his classic work, A People's History of the United States, and also through his numerous contributions to magazines and journals. And also through the reports of others, who testified to his passion for justice and equality.

His influence has also come down indirectly through my numerous history professors, who taught me to listen to and advocate for the marginalized.

One of the things I admired most about Dr. Zinn was the way he, as a former World War 2 bomber pilot, advocated for peace and dialogue between adversaries. He had experienced war firsthand and afterwards became committed to exposing the mythic status of war to his students and readers.

In the days that followed September 11, 2001, Zinn wrote an article in which he compared the "old way of thinking" (aggressive retaliation) with a much needed "new way of thinking;" he argued that:

We need new ways of thinking. A $300 billion dollar military budget has not given us security. Military bases all over the world, our warships on every ocean, have not given us security. Land mines and a "missile defense shield" will not give us security. We need to rethink our position in the world. We need to stop sending weapons to countries that oppress other people or their own people. We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children. War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times.

Our security can only come by using our national wealth, not for guns, planes, bombs, but for the health and welfare of our people - for free medical care for everyone, education and housing guaranteed, decent wages and a clean environment for all. We can not be secure by limiting our liberties, as some of our political leaders are demanding, but only by expanding them.

We should take our example not from our military and political leaders shouting "retaliate" and "war" but from the doctors and nurses and medical students and firemen and policemen who have been saving lives in the midst of mayhem, whose first thoughts are not violence, but healing, not vengeance, but compassion.

I think these paragraphs are some of the most elegant reflections that I've read about 9/11 to this point (alongside Hauerwas' reflections). May we all think first to healing and compassion in the wake of such violence.

As I sometimes do, I want to end with a prayer. I hope that Dr. Zinn would appreciate these hopeful prayers for our enemies and for social justice:

For our Enemies
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 816).

For Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 823).

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If you don't have A People's History of the United States on your bookshelf, it is indeed a must-read that you'll want to add to your library. Here is a link to the preview over at Google Books.