Saturday, August 24, 2019

We, As Americans, Are Responsible to Know The Truth

It has been too long and I'm not happy about it. I'm deep into the Anxiety Road podcast trying to lay down information that can be useful. That sucker + a work week + doing other stuff makes for a lonely blog.

But I do want to put this item into place so that it can be found six months or six years from now.

You see, I recently saw a video of a speaker having a roomful of white Americans recite that they are not responsible for the actions of their ancestors, that they have nothing to be ashamed about and are proud to be who they are in this space and time.

Before you can disclaim responsibility you have to know what your ancestors did to native people, Africans, Asians, Latino/Hispanic people and a whole bunch of other folks.

You have to know what you are trying to separate yourself from, and when you do understand what your ancestors did then you might feel a little twitchy about what is going on right now with some of your peers.


Now there are reprints of the magazine from NYT but that shipping cost is twice the cost of the magazine. Not to worry. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting has the magazine posted as a pdf and other educational materials to aid in your education.

For those of you that would like to listen to the content there is an audio series by NYT being delivered by podcast at https://www.nytimes.com/column/1619-project

The second part; they have nothing to be ashamed about.

Dude and Dudette, if you are an American citizen, you need to understand this is a shameful part of our collective history. When you take on being an American whether by birth or choice, you take on part of the shame, no matter who you are. These are fact that cannot be smudged away with with emotional feel good blinders.

Now I know that there are folks that do not cotton to reading. Not to worry. There is a podcast for your alternative access to information.




NPR interviews Nicole Hanna Jones on the 1619 Project.


As to the third item. I can't speak to that.

So yeah, I'm gonna dive in because I know I have culturally induced patches in my historical education. And I am still and American, unless somebody starts messing with an amendment and then yeah, we'll have a situation or two if that happens.

Don't let it happen. 

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