Profile picture
Douglas A. Blackmon @douglasblackmon
, 8 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
It has taken a VERY long time for @UVA to finally begin seriously reckoning with the grotesque birthmark of slavery that has ALWAYS been obvious but until recently denied or ridiculously obscured.
But it has begun.

(1 in thread)
washingtonpost.com/news/grade-poi…
2/
But what is most significant about UVA’s confession of its origins in slavery and culpability in its long denial is that it is the quintessential American story.
The moral failures of UVA, where I work, are the same moral failures of thousands of others places and people.
3/

UVA represents the banal “normalcy” of slavery as the American origin story. The way that the rape and looting of Africa is fundamental and inextricable to the origins and success of America.
4/

UVA represents our reliance on the exploitation and preservation not just of slavery but of the misguided core American value of white supremacy. UVA’s indictment of itself is a shared indictment of dozens of institions of higher learning.
4/

UVA’s self confession represents the whole society in the same way that revealing Thomas Jefferson’s comfort with sexual enslavement represents the ubiquitous sexual exploitation of African-American women by *many* founders & millions of white men during and after slavery.
5/

UVA’s century of delusion & denial about its origins in an immorality parallel our nation’s. It is most terrifying because, like our society, UVA masked horror w/ classical beauty of white columns & Corinthian capitals....
6/
...UVA’s success was America’s success in deluding ourselves that a massive, inoperable deformity embedded in the body of society was just a blemish. A regret.
It was a cynical fantasy that slavery’s cruelty was somewhere else, done by someone else, to benefit someone else.
7/
This history of American self deception, embodied and now partly confessed @UVA, also reminds us why we must never abide the open deceit of local & national leaders, clergy who absolve us, historians who misguide us & apologists for a President whose lies condemn our future.
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Douglas A. Blackmon
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!