Post by minx on Jun 20, 2024 9:54:01 GMT -5
A very good reminder of where we were not that long ago and how far we still have to go.
Teaching this history is important. And it shouldn't make white kids feel guilty either. I learned about the struggle for integration when I was in HS and didn't walk away saying 'All white people are horrible, and I should be personally ashamed!'
I did walk away saying that there are many evil people in the world, including in our own country. And that the Northern whites weren't saints either - after all, they all sat by and watched. BUT, there were also many brave white men and women who put their lives on the line and in many cases lost them to help Black get the rights they deserve.
So my takeaway was that there was work to be done, and if I didn't personally feel that I could put my life on the line, the least I could do was acknowledge that terrible things had been done to Blacks at the hands of whites, and we all needed to do better.
wapo.st/3VvnzCv
One thing that is still staying with me this morning was how young those men were. Along with how terrified they must have been in the short time before their deaths.
Teaching this history is important. And it shouldn't make white kids feel guilty either. I learned about the struggle for integration when I was in HS and didn't walk away saying 'All white people are horrible, and I should be personally ashamed!'
I did walk away saying that there are many evil people in the world, including in our own country. And that the Northern whites weren't saints either - after all, they all sat by and watched. BUT, there were also many brave white men and women who put their lives on the line and in many cases lost them to help Black get the rights they deserve.
So my takeaway was that there was work to be done, and if I didn't personally feel that I could put my life on the line, the least I could do was acknowledge that terrible things had been done to Blacks at the hands of whites, and we all needed to do better.
wapo.st/3VvnzCv
One thing that is still staying with me this morning was how young those men were. Along with how terrified they must have been in the short time before their deaths.