Hook Mill was lit from below in the colors of the Ukrainian flag this week. Gestures of solidarity with the nation under attack are everywhere suddenly, yet this one seemed strangely moving. Say what you will about the Christmas lights left on year round on this windmill and the one behind Home, Sweet Home, seeing the blue and yellow washing over these prominent symbols of East Hampton’s agrarian history was powerful. It was also a sharp, if unintended, reminder of the importance of knowing the past and how that knowledge can give us a better understanding of the present.
In a statement Monday, a leading collective of professional history and political science organizations condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It described Vladimir Putin’s premise for the war as outlandish and false, based on a lie that Ukraine was a Soviet creation, when in fact, Ukraine’s language and culture can be traced over centuries. “President Putin grossly simplifies and distorts Ukraine’s history, essentially erasing its distinct past and rendering it indistinguishable from Russia,” the statement said, characterizing it as a “twisted mythology that President Putin has invented to justify his violation of international norms.”
Time and again, the world has seen how manipulations of the past can be used as weapons. In our own country, backward-looking nationalism increasingly has replaced a patriotism based on hope and equality. America remains divided by its refusal to understand that its roots as an immigrant nation were based on genocide of the Indigenous peoples and on the labor of the enslaved. Official violence, whether at the end of a law officer’s gun or in discriminatory practices, perpetuates these rifts.
Our hearts are breaking for the people of Ukraine as a foreign military rolls into their country and hundreds of thousands flee. No nation should ever have its past erased in justification for armed conflict. Knowing where we have been is critical to seeing a better way forward. History is unequivocal — war should never be the answer.