Very informative. There’s always something new to learn about racism in the US. The purpose of anti-racism education is not to make Whites feel shame or guilt. It’s to make them feel empathy, compassion, and a desire to help make things better.
It is history, not taught in elementary, middle and high schools, and rarely taught in college but as an eolective. It became an issue because some people needed something to be against.
In viewing art, we are taught that the feeling of discomfort is a "growth experience." I am not sure why we cannot get to the point that our discomfort in the white world is a growth experience in viewing history. We (in the white world) do not want to confront the past with clear eyes. We do not want to talk about it for fear we will have to accept some responsibility for it. In continuing to ignore or suppress the past, we are compounding the damage and just adding to our responsibility. It is non-sensical. Just non-sensical.
It's amazing what a parent will allow their child to experience just so the child will build some 'muscle" and a sense of can do. I heard a child in the store tell his dad, "I have to use the bathroom" and the pop told him - "Just go son." Never telling him where to go or showing him a direction or stopping and taking him. He cared less if the kid got lost or kidnapped--"Go". He figured he would survive or pee on himself and build "muscle in the world" on the way. That's dangerous to me. But what can I say, white parents can be odd or careless, or simply don't know what is dangerous or not. Teaching white parents to parent is a loosing battle. They pet bison on vacation in Yellowstone National Park and get gored all the time! But can't read a book about the history of American slavery without screaming bloody murder and thinking it will hurt their kids self esteem. Go figure! What they call safe guarding or over-protecting for the child and what they "fear" is just whacky.
I really do value the history you present, I wish they would have taught more of it in school. But as an old white guy, I must say that I wince just a little every time you say the whites did/do this or that. I realize that you probably don’t mean ALL whites, but then again maybe you do. Anyway please keep giving us the history lessons we didn’t get school.
In the UK we are by no means perfect, but it's still fairly scary to think that my daughter probably learned more about Jim Crow, segregation and the fight for civil rights in the US in a predominantly White High School in the north east of England than one of her peers in Florida...
Very informative. There’s always something new to learn about racism in the US. The purpose of anti-racism education is not to make Whites feel shame or guilt. It’s to make them feel empathy, compassion, and a desire to help make things better.
It is history, not taught in elementary, middle and high schools, and rarely taught in college but as an eolective. It became an issue because some people needed something to be against.
In viewing art, we are taught that the feeling of discomfort is a "growth experience." I am not sure why we cannot get to the point that our discomfort in the white world is a growth experience in viewing history. We (in the white world) do not want to confront the past with clear eyes. We do not want to talk about it for fear we will have to accept some responsibility for it. In continuing to ignore or suppress the past, we are compounding the damage and just adding to our responsibility. It is non-sensical. Just non-sensical.
It's amazing what a parent will allow their child to experience just so the child will build some 'muscle" and a sense of can do. I heard a child in the store tell his dad, "I have to use the bathroom" and the pop told him - "Just go son." Never telling him where to go or showing him a direction or stopping and taking him. He cared less if the kid got lost or kidnapped--"Go". He figured he would survive or pee on himself and build "muscle in the world" on the way. That's dangerous to me. But what can I say, white parents can be odd or careless, or simply don't know what is dangerous or not. Teaching white parents to parent is a loosing battle. They pet bison on vacation in Yellowstone National Park and get gored all the time! But can't read a book about the history of American slavery without screaming bloody murder and thinking it will hurt their kids self esteem. Go figure! What they call safe guarding or over-protecting for the child and what they "fear" is just whacky.
Thank you for this, William. It is helpful for people like me who keep encountering their own ignorance and thirst for more knowledge.
Thank you for telling history that never gets told🦉
I really do value the history you present, I wish they would have taught more of it in school. But as an old white guy, I must say that I wince just a little every time you say the whites did/do this or that. I realize that you probably don’t mean ALL whites, but then again maybe you do. Anyway please keep giving us the history lessons we didn’t get school.
you can't fight reality. our population is going to be mostly brown.
Good!
white gets really dirty.
Thank you for writing this @William Spivey.
In the UK we are by no means perfect, but it's still fairly scary to think that my daughter probably learned more about Jim Crow, segregation and the fight for civil rights in the US in a predominantly White High School in the north east of England than one of her peers in Florida...
It's actually part of the UK history curriculum: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zttbr2p
Why not call it history.
Include us all in looking at it askance.