Thread by @marthasjones_

So much that is important, and will be part of our Sunday brunch talk here in Greenport, courtesy of ⁦@nhannahjones⁩. Indulge me a few lines. #1619Project nytimes.com/interactive/20…

“It is we who have been the perfecters of this democracy.” - @nhannahjones

“The United States is a nation founded on both an ideal and a lie.” - @nhannahjones

“For this fleeting moment known as Reconstruction, the majority in Congress seemed to embrace the idea that...we could create the multiracial democracy that black Americans envisioned even if our founding fathers did not. But it would not last.” - @nhannahjones

“Anti-black racism runs in the very DNA of this country, as does the belief, so well articulated by Lincoln, that black people are the obstacle to national unity. “ - @nhannahjones

“This caste system was maintained through wanton racial terrorism.” - @nhannahjones

“No one cherishes freedom more than those who have not had it.” - @nhannahjones

“as much democracy as this nation has today, it has been borne on the backs of black resistance.” - @nhannahjones

“But crucially, you cannot view those statistics while ignoring another: that black people were enslaved here longer than we have been free.” - @nhannahjones

“What if America understood, finally, in this 400th year, that we have never been the problem but the solution?” - @nhannahjones

“We were told once, by virtue of our bondage, that we could never be American. But it was by virtue of our bondage that we became the most American of all.” - @nhannahjones

With all this to talk about from @nhannahjones, Sunday brunch will slide into early dinner followed by coffee and cognac by the fire pit. I’ll use my grandmother’s dishes; she was the daughter of former slaves. She will smile down at us because we are her dream. #1619Project