by Ruth Sheets
As a teacher, I am appalled at what scared white people will do to keep folks, particularly their kids from knowing the truth about what white people have done pretty consistently to Black Americans for 400 years. State legislators should feel shame that they have benefited and are still benefiting from the abuses of power white Americans have perpetrated against Black persons and other people of color. Unfortunately, sometimes with privilege comes the sense that one’s privilege and entitlement are deserved and that the others (fill in the blank) also deserve what has happened to them: poverty, a messed-up criminal justice system and excessive incarceration, deplorable housing, poorly resourced schools, low-quality healthcare, low-paying jobs, you get the idea.
Every white legislator in this nation should read At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray to get an idea of how pervasive and horrific the abuse of Black Americans has been since slavery and how people are still living with the consequences, both white and Black.
So, you Republican/conservative whites don't want anyone to teach about race. Does that mean you want to hide out in the lie that "I wasn't alive then, so it wasn't my fault and I shouldn't be blamed. I have no responsibility for what is happening to Black people today. That’s on them. It has been more than 150 years and . . . . " That’s it? You didn’t enslave people or lynch anyone yourself so you have no responsibility? You might want to remember that white ancestors did the deeds and also rejoiced in the lynchings, the destruction of Greenwood- Tulsa, OK, Rosewood, FL, destruction of the biracial government in Wilmington, NC, the bus riots in Boston in the 1970’s, the incarceration of Black men at far higher rates than would be expected with their numbers in the population, and sooooo much more. Remember that not so long ago, white parents and grandparents participated in redlining and not holding police accountable for abuse of Black citizens. They denied Black people the vote and you, white legislators are working to continue and expand their efforts at voter suppression in states all over the country.
If racism were truly past, you all wouldn’t feel the need to deny any citizen their rights and yet you are working hard to do just that. You would not be pushing over 360 bills in state legislatures to limit voting or make it far more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote. You wouldn’t fight so hard to keep from raising the minimum wage which impacts by percent, Black Americans far more than white Americans.
White people of the American South are desperate to defend the presence of monuments to literal traitors to the United States claiming they are part of their heritage, but slavery isn’t? It seems that rubbing Black people’s faces in Confederate monuments is totally acceptable while teaching about the racism that led to the war that led to those monuments is not acceptable.
So, tell me again why is it you white Republican racist legislators don't want race to be discussed in classrooms and you want to deny free speech to teachers? Is it you want taught only the “whitewashed” history you all have created over time that keeps white Americans at the center of everything, while relegating Black and other Americans of color to positions of either inferiority or invisibility? Your ancestors came here “the right way” while Black persons just showed up here as slaves on the plantations of loving masters and mistresses.
I suspect you know the truth and are trying hard to hide it, or bury it so deep in the footnotes students will be too overwhelmed to investigate. What I really want to know is, to what end? What do white legislators get from keeping students, particularly white students from knowing the truth? Black students already know a lot of the truth because they live it daily. They just don’t get to learn the specifics.
Then you want to go after teachers, teachers who do what, tell the truth? What about freedom of speech, is that no longer in operation in your white Republican/conservative world? Are you frightened that you may have had ancestors who participated in some of the horrors Mr. Dray speaks about in his book? You just told us that you aren’t responsible for what they may have done. Maybe it’s time you let go of your fear of the truth and start to embrace it instead. You don’t need to propose a Nazi or Soviet style silencing effort to subvert the truth if you just accept it, make working with people of color to improve their situation and ultimately the situation of the entire nation your priority, or at least support efforts being put forward by Black people and organizations.
Stop the bullying, the voter suppression, the blaming, the forgetting, the pretending that being in power with no ideas and no concern for the people is acceptable for any American running for public office.
White men and women, Republicans/conservatives in power, racism is real. The acts you are proposing regarding voting are racist. Agreeing to a federal holiday for Juneteenth is not enough, though it is a start. Cutting off unemployment because Black people aren’t jumping in to take those low-paying jobs they once took 2 or 3 of just to survive is racist. Standing against bills in legislatures that propose to improve conditions for poor people, which often means people of color is racist. Telling us you don’t have a racist bone in your body is racist because of course you do, you’re white and all white people have at least a few racist bones in our bodies having been raised in such a deeply racist society. And, ignorance is no excuse. If you just look around, you can notice what is happening, and maybe you can choose to ditch your pre-conceived notions about racism.
Unless you actually do something in support of Black Americans, you are supporting a racist platform designed to keep white men on top, everyone else down, with Black people and some other people of color as far down as the law and the courts will permit, and both permit a lot of down.
We’re watching to see where you go from here and what you do along the way. Will you stand for what is right or just for what is white?
No comments:
Post a Comment