One of the things, though, that has always afflicted the American reality and the American vision is this aversion to history. History is not something you read about in a book, history is not even the past–it’s the present. Because everybody operates, whether or not we know it, out of assumptions which are produced and produced only by our history. Now the history of this country is not bloodier than other countries, but it’s bloody. It is not more criminal than that of other countries, but it’s criminal. Or in short, it’s not worse than the history of France or England or any country we can name–but it’s different. James Baldwin
About This Quote

In this quote from a speech by the great African leader Nelson Mandela, he talks about the differences between the history of other countries and the history of America. In short, this quote talks about how the American's history is not bloodier than other countries, but is bloody. America's history is not more criminal than other countries, but is criminal. This means that the American's history is not worse than the history of France or England or any country we can name, but it is different.

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