The Good Old Days Myth

Mar 22, 20216 min read

Discussion this week includes misogyny and racism.

I recently read the book Hidden Figures with a book club at work. And WOW! I haven’t seen the movie, but this book was intense and full of amazing history. There were so many nuggets of wisdom about misogyny, bigotry, racism, and working in a science field. So this week, I wanted to dig into one of these nuggets about reconversion and how much damage it causes to those groups that were marginalized during those periods. This is timely because I keep hearing politicians and public figures talking about traditional American values and going back to the “good old days” of yore. But for people of color, women, and others, reverting to these times would be scary and irreversibly damaging.

“The word “reconversion” itself implied the possibility of returning to an earlier time, of a reversal even, in the changes large and small that had transformed American life.” Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures

What is reconversion?

Let’s start at the beginning: what is reconversion? A general definition is returning something to a previous state. In the context of this book, it was referring to the American shift from wartime to peacetime after World War II. Everything was a part of this. Businesses that were building war machines during the war were going back to building cars or appliances. Those in military service were coming home. Women that had been holding up the domestic workforce were now expected to leave it behind if they were married and especially if they had children. And many of the strides made in race relations were at risk.

What is the danger of reconversion rhetoric?

Now that we know what it means, let’s talk about why this concept and rhetoric are so dangerous. Without acknowledging and respecting the struggles of others in the past, there’s a perception that those that were considered lesser humans didn’t matter. Ouch! Harsh, huh? But it’s true. Those “good old days” were great as long as you were white, male, and middle to the upper class. This is the reality of America’s past, so I’m not going to get into how we got to that point. (I don’t have the time or the energy to attack that one and there are experts that have written books and articles and made documentaries.) So let’s get into the very uncomfortable impacts these statements make on those that have been considered second-class citizens throughout our nation’s history.

I want to level-set a bit here. I am not a person of color, so I can’t speak to their experience. I know how I feel as a woman, but it is not the same. So I’m going to rely on their voices and those of mental health professionals and advocates.

Reconversion movements are nothing new - any time there is inclusivity and anti-racist progress made they surface. Right now, probably the most recognizable reconversion rhetoric is vocalized through the MAGA movement. This is a political ideology that has aligned with white supremacy and Christian nationalist ideologies. Whether or not that was the intention, that is what it has become. This leads to a very large percentage of the American population that is alienated and even discriminated against by MAGA participators. So what is the damage done when Mexican-Americans hear people chanting “build a wall” or African-Americans hear people saying “all lives matter” or women hearing anti-reproductive rights advocates?

Knowing that there are so many people that want to revert to policies and norms that have been, and continue to be, so damaging causes increased stress and strains to our psyches. Now this isn’t the “I’ve got to get a project done at work” kind of stress. Think of the chronic stress of the parent of an African-American young man who lives in fear every day because he may look suspicious just because of his skin color. Or an Asian-American that must live with the possibility that someone may be violent towards them and blame them for the pandemic simply because of their ethnicity. What about LGBTQIA+ youth (especially in Utah) that live in fear of being disowned by their families or bullied at school. Let’s take a look at a few of the primary impacts this can have on marginalized and now protected classes.

Physical health

What does increased stress do to the human body? Plenty! Headaches and fatigue are common. But it can be much more serious. What about hypertension? Or chest pain? These can be harder to diagnose and have damaging long-term effects. And if you’re a non-white American, you’re more likely to be uninsured. Let’s look at Hispanic-Americans specifically. They’re three times as likely as white Americans to be uninsured. When there is anger toward them as a group because our former president pushed the narrative that Hispanic immigrants are drug dealers and rapists (from a speech on June 16, 2015), this creates chronic stress levels that trigger all those physical health responses. If extreme enough, like having racial slurs yelled at you while you’re working, this could put someone in the emergency room. And if you’re one of the ~30% of Hispanic- Americans without insurance, this could mean medical bills that bankrupt you.

Employment

Before World War I, just about every industry and company were dominated by white men. With the introduction of technology and the need for workers during World War II, hiring women and other minorities was no longer an option. When the war ended, so did a lot of that progress. Even today, we’re seeing how the lack of representation of diversity impacts younger generations because they think they can’t achieve the same level of success. Even today, Hispanic- and African-Americans are still feeling the discrimination. The unemployment rate for African-Americans is more than double the rate of white Americans. And Hispanic-Americans is about 1 ½ higher. Think about the number of videos we’ve seen of Karens telling people of color to go back to the country they came from. Now let’s say that even a small percentage of business owners think that same way - it’s a struggle that protected classes must live with. And so the sentiment of “you should be happy you have a job” continues through the generations. The “good old days” for minorities meant not being able to be in the workforce and the inability to create careers in a field they wanted.

Housing

Although big cities are nothing new, there’s definitely a difference in the rural, suburban, and urban experiences today. The suburban/urban relationship is an interesting one - the jobs are in the city, but so is the higher crime, worse pollution, and other things that make it less desirable to live in. Especially in high-industrial areas. There’s a long history of why these neighborhoods are inhabited by minorities, but that’s just too much to unpack here. While there is a long way to go to make these areas cleaner and safer, it is better than it was just 20 years ago. So when African-Americans or Hispanic-Americans hear “good old days,” this conjures images of uninhabitable project housing and overcrowded living spaces.

I hope that after reading this, some minds have been opened up to the damage reconversion talk can have. There’s a reason why, even before the pandemic, we’re in a mental health crisis. We can’t lose sight of the progress that we’ve made. And we must be aware of the damage words can have. Let’s take the time to listen to each other and learn from our past. There were no “good old days” for the whole nation and we risk slipping back into a time of discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, orientation, etc. Let’s do what we can to support our fellow humans!

Articles

A Gospel of Slavery by Common Dreams, Milwaukee Independent

Full text: Donald Trump announces a presidential bid by the Washington Post

Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates From the National Health Interview Survey, 2019 by Robin A. Cohen, Ph.D., Amy E. Cha, Ph.D., M.P.H., Michael E. Martinez, M.P.H., M.H.S.A., and Emily P. Terlizzi, M.P.H., Division of Health Interview Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics

Make America Great Again as White Political Theology by S. Romi Mukherjee, Revue LISA/LISA e-journal

Racism And Mental Health by Mental Health America

Racism as a Unique Social Determinant of Mental Health: Development of a Didactic Curriculum for Psychiatry Residents by Morgan Medlock, MD, Anna Weissman, MD, Shane Shucheng Wong, MD, Andrew Carlo, MD, Mary Zeng, MD, Christina Borba, PhD, Michael Curry, JD, Derri Shtasel, MD, MedEd Portal

Stereotypical Depictions of Latino Criminality: U.S. Latinos in the Media during the MAGA Campaign by Eduardo Gonzalez, DemocraticCommuniqué

Stress symptoms: Effects on your body and behavior by the Mayo Clinic

The Impact of Discrimination by the American Psychological Association

Trump's Christian supporters and the march on the Capitol by Harry Farley, BBC News