How Do You Reckon With It?

August 5, 2024 8:15 PM

[CW: Discussions of violence, iniquity] The latest issue of the Tahoma Literary Review has a non-fiction story that is worth sharing with those who question what institutional privilege actually looks like through inter-generational consequences. Grandfather Clause: Tracing Ancestral Privilege to a Century-Old Crime Scene
posted by Ignorantsavage (6 comments total)

A very moving story that makes me wonder how many of us exist today because of one form of injustice or another.

Altogether, the lives of forty-seven people can be traced back to one urgent marriage in May 1921, a union forged fast on the heels of a manslaughter trial.

But no lives can be traced back to one unfortunate event in December 1920, because Sam Dragicovich was dead and would have no descendants.
posted by dg at 9:36 PM on August 5

This is an interesting story, but yes - no lives could be traced to Sam Dragovicb’s direct line, but the family could have been traced, and I’m surprised at the choice not to. The willingness to confront privilege, it seems, only goes so far.
posted by corb at 10:22 PM on August 5 [1 favorite]

Well, people who trace genealogical lines are rarely interested in anyone not part of the bloodline. But I agree that, to truly confront that privilege would require tracing at least some part of the Dragicovich family tree as a contrast.
posted by dg at 11:38 PM on August 5

It may not have been possible. So far as the article goes, it seems of the next generation there is only the nephew, Mike Vukovich. Without anyone to provide a lead as to where he went, it being a century on and all, following up his story may simply have been impossible. As far as tracing the line backwards, well the article is pretty clear that the actual given names in Serbian are not recorded in any of the sources available. That is part of the privilege, there are records for Mr. Wirth Furshong's family to do research with, while Sam Dragikovich and his kin seem all but erased.

But if anyone knows something then maybe try to contact him through the TLR.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 12:21 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]

Anaconda as a superfund site is also worth mentioning [abc]
posted by HearHere at 4:50 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]

That is part of the privilege, there are records for Mr. Wirth Furshong's family to do research with, while Sam Dragikovich and his kin seem all but erased.

Seem? They disappear from the essay entirely after the trial. Even a sentence or two about their presence or absence from local records would've been a telling detail.

When I reached the end of the article with those loose threads still flapping in the wind, I instinctively scrolled back up to see whether I missed something.
And I think the other commenters are also feeling that lack.

If the family stayed in the US, they might be findable in the 1930 US Census. One might also search birth & death records
posted by cheshyre at 4:51 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]