Black History Month Presentation

[gobiggergoredder]

 

 

The animated video, which was presented by a VCU graduate to the entire student body, showed men and women, both black and white, running a race through American history.

http://wric.com/2016/02/05/controversial-video-shown-to-students-about-race-sparks-debate-at-glen-allen-high-school/

 

 

 

 

What is a kid of any race supposed to take from this?

Black - You have no chance.

White - You should feel bad for what you have done at 15 years of age.

 

 

[zoogs]

What people of any age and race should take from this is an understanding and appreciation of history -- which includes realizing that the world today, while much better, is still not the same. History isn't wiped out at the stroke of a pen; we are but a couple of generations removed from an era of segregation. And as inclusive as we are today, there are powerful, inertial forces and stereotypes that have yet to wash away.

 

It's up to us - all of us - to fight for that. And it starts with acknowledging & understanding the injustices that exist. Blame or guilt don't come into this; at least, not for me. We should all feel bad about injustice whomsoever it befalls and however it arose.

[Landlord]

The video was okay, but I think much better illustrations and explanations of racial history/climate exist.

 

 

 

 

Piggybacking off of what zoogs said, here's what I think we all have to spend some time chewing on seriously. This country was founded by white people. The government of this country was created by white people, for their own prosperity and well being. The expansion of this country was at the hands of minority slaves and the genocide of minority natives. Every single foundational element of how the United States began was meant to be advantageous towards whites only. We've come a long way, but has that foundation really been replaced?

 

Some people would have you feel guilty for being white. Don't listen to those people. There's no guilt or shame in your skin color. No one has to apologize for their skin color, their advantages, their privilege. But that doesn't mean that privilege doesn't still exist. When we talk about racial injustice, we aren't talking about nefarious, evil people that are consciously and purposefully against people of color. We're talking about the momentum of a few centuries worth of disadvantages still at work in society. So I might not be a racist in the sense of calling blacks by the N word or thinking they're inequal, but I can still be contributing to the ongoing racist climate of our country by being neutral, or unconcerned ("If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.").

 

It's been proven that people with black sounding names are less likely to get jobs than people with white sounding names, but the exact same credentials. It's a fact that most every single major bank has paid tens or hundreds of millions in settlements for providing unfairly high interest rates on home loans to minorities. It's been proven that country wide, racial profiling exists in government/police work, with minorities being significantly disproportionately more likely to be pulled over, arrested, charged, etc. Poor communities are generally minority communities. This means that people of color have worse schools, worse health care, worse infrastructure and environments less capable or willing to help them make something of themselves. These are just a few examples of how people are disadvantaged by systems and culture that has nothing to do with hillbilly rednecks shouting n****r.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

 

Should I feel guilty about all of that? No. That's not my fault. But I have to live with myself if I want to try to ignore these things because they don't effect me, and if I don't try to do my part to make it better. MLK Jr. said this a lot better than I could:

"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."

Should minorities act like helpless victims? No. They should still fight and work hard and do everything they can to make a life for themselves. But I wish people would just be honest in assessing that for way, way, way too many POC, they're born into situations where their back is up against the wall in a big way with hardly anything to grab hold of. It's just not as simple as pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.