Read on Twitter
I'd like to hammer this home:
Most Black Americans live in the South. There have been ~250 Senate elections in the South since the end of the Civil War.
Exactly two Black senators have been elected in that time, and only one has won his office w/o first being appointed to it. https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1346722205133131782
Most Black Americans live in the South. There have been ~250 Senate elections in the South since the end of the Civil War.
Exactly two Black senators have been elected in that time, and only one has won his office w/o first being appointed to it. https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1346722205133131782
Folks have this bad habit of thinking of things like the civil war / slavery / reconstruction as past events, but y'all
Do you know when the last widow of a civil war soldier died?
YESTERDAY. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9116661/Last-widow-Civil-War-veteran-dies-101-Woman-married-93-year-old-aged-17-passes-away.html
Do you know when the last widow of a civil war soldier died?
YESTERDAY. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9116661/Last-widow-Civil-War-veteran-dies-101-Woman-married-93-year-old-aged-17-passes-away.html
The last children of people who were American Chattel Slaves are still alive. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/27/slave-son-racism-george-floyd/
And even if they weren't - how many of you love your grandparents? How many of you had ideas, or values, or fears, or thoughts passed down to you by them?
The last survivors of slavery in the US died in the 1970s. Their grandkids can still be /kids/.
That's how close we are.
The last survivors of slavery in the US died in the 1970s. Their grandkids can still be /kids/.
That's how close we are.
Plenty of folks are alive today who knew people who were enslaved.
Which in turns mean,
Plenty of folks are alive today who knew people who were part of actively slave-owning families.
Which in turns mean,
Plenty of folks are alive today who knew people who were part of actively slave-owning families.
Blanche, from Golden Girls?
Her "Daddy" owned slaves. She references the plantation several times on the show.
Her "Daddy" owned slaves. She references the plantation several times on the show.
The whole crop of Senators we have now were trained, mentored, and shaped by the ones who fought for - or, importantly, against - the civil rights of Black Americans.
Strom Thurmond was a whole ass Segregationist candidate and left the senate while I was in high school.
Strom Thurmond was a whole ass Segregationist candidate and left the senate while I was in high school.
This is our /recent/ past.
And our /mostly unaddressed/ past.
We've done things to try to /correct/ this past, but we haven't quite gotten there yet.
We've done very little to /heal/ that past.
And our /mostly unaddressed/ past.
We've done things to try to /correct/ this past, but we haven't quite gotten there yet.
We've done very little to /heal/ that past.
"If you stick a knife in my back 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches, that's not progress. If you pull it all the way out, that's not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. They haven't pulled the knife out; they won't even admit that it's there."
-Malcolm X
-Malcolm X
So, when someone tells you that this is "ancient history," and that everything is somehow magically better now,
Maybe wonder why it is so important to them that they lie about this. Wonder what may be motivating that.
And call them on their shit.
Maybe wonder why it is so important to them that they lie about this. Wonder what may be motivating that.
And call them on their shit.
Cheers, y'all.
(PS y'all how many of you have grandparents who died and passed on money to you?
My Grandpa was a WWII vet who used his GI Bill to go to school to be a NASA engineer, when he died I got part of the house they sold and used it to pay for college.)
My Grandpa was a WWII vet who used his GI Bill to go to school to be a NASA engineer, when he died I got part of the house they sold and used it to pay for college.)
(The GI Bill that Black Veterans found themselves locked out of. A house in a neighborhood where Black families weren't allowed to move in.
He was able to pass that money down to me, even without our family being wealthy.
And that wouldn't have been true if we were black.)
He was able to pass that money down to me, even without our family being wealthy.
And that wouldn't have been true if we were black.)
