I know what you mean about not understanding about racism at a young age. I was around 13 or 14 before I started to become aware. My parents worked behind the scenes fighting for equal rights for Black people. I was barely aware. I didn't have any friends who were Black until the 9th grade at the Catholic high school I went to. By then I was very aware of racism. They didn't teach about racism in that school though. I never heard anything about lynchings until I saw the stories in the newspaper. It was a dark secret in the South and a taboo subject. Recently I commented about the book "The Barn, The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi". I just finished that book and learned a lot about how we don't want to talk about or even know about our shameful past in the South. Of course, it's not just the South. It's the history of this country. The current power structure controlling our government wants us to forget about our shameful past. That would be a really stupid and ignorant thing to do.
This is such an insightful comment, Michael. Have you ever read Lillian Smith? Her book Killers of the Dream gave me words to put around what I was trying to say, about how racism and separating people hurts all of us. It warps everyone, and for generations to come. Facing our truths serves to bring us together. If we let it.
I know what you mean about not understanding about racism at a young age. I was around 13 or 14 before I started to become aware. My parents worked behind the scenes fighting for equal rights for Black people. I was barely aware. I didn't have any friends who were Black until the 9th grade at the Catholic high school I went to. By then I was very aware of racism. They didn't teach about racism in that school though. I never heard anything about lynchings until I saw the stories in the newspaper. It was a dark secret in the South and a taboo subject. Recently I commented about the book "The Barn, The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi". I just finished that book and learned a lot about how we don't want to talk about or even know about our shameful past in the South. Of course, it's not just the South. It's the history of this country. The current power structure controlling our government wants us to forget about our shameful past. That would be a really stupid and ignorant thing to do.
This is such an insightful comment, Michael. Have you ever read Lillian Smith? Her book Killers of the Dream gave me words to put around what I was trying to say, about how racism and separating people hurts all of us. It warps everyone, and for generations to come. Facing our truths serves to bring us together. If we let it.