I was asked a lot today what I wish I had included in that thread on the Sears catalogue. And I definitely missed a few points. But there was one that I wish I had included because in my classes I always foreground it. #thread
Violence.
I should have (if I had known more than 6 people were going to read it) talked about how Jim Crow shopping always contained the threat of violence. #thread
I should have (if I had known more than 6 people were going to read it) talked about how Jim Crow shopping always contained the threat of violence. #thread
Insist on your place line? Hell, just insist on owning your own stuff? That could bring death. White people were deadly serious about Jim Crow. #thread
These rituals of white supremacy were, on the surface, about shopping. But behind that surface was the omnipresent threat of violence. #thread
Finding another way to shop might seem trivial, but I assure you, that to avoid that danger of white violence was liberating. #thread
The story of shopping, the story of property, the story of working in Jim Crow capitalism was always about control over black lives.
That's what I would have included. #thread
That's what I would have included. #thread
