A friend sent this to me, I wanted to share.
#BlackLivesMatter
400 years ago white people brought black people here, enslaved them & sold them, treated them as less than human for 250 years, while white men built the country and created its laws and its systems of government.
#BlackLivesMatter
400 years ago white people brought black people here, enslaved them & sold them, treated them as less than human for 250 years, while white men built the country and created its laws and its systems of government.
10-15 generations of white families got to grow and flourish and make choices that could make their lives better.
Then 150 years ago white people "freed" black people from slavery. But then angry white people created laws that made it impossible for them to vote.
Then 150 years ago white people "freed" black people from slavery. But then angry white people created laws that made it impossible for them to vote.
Or to own land.
Or to have the same rights as white people.
They even erected monuments glorifying people who actively fought to keep them enslaved. All while another 5-10 generations of white families got to grow and accumulate wealth and gain land and get an education.
Or to have the same rights as white people.
They even erected monuments glorifying people who actively fought to keep them enslaved. All while another 5-10 generations of white families got to grow and accumulate wealth and gain land and get an education.
Then 60 years ago we made it "legal" for black people to vote, and to be "free" from discrimination. But angry white people still fought to keep schools segregated, and closed off neighborhoods to white people only.
They made it harder for black people to get bank loans, or get quality education or health care, or to (gasp) marry a white person. All while another 2-3 generations of white families got to grow and pass their wealth down to their children and their children's children.
Then we entered an age where we had the technology to make PUBLIC the things that were already happening in private - the beatings, stop and frisk laws, unequal distribution of justice, police brutality (police began in America as slave patrols designed to catch runaway slaves).
And only now, after 400+ years and 20+ generations of a white head start, are we STARTING to truly have a dialog about what it means to be black.
White privilege doesn't mean you haven't suffered or fought or worked hard.
White privilege doesn't mean you haven't suffered or fought or worked hard.
It doesn't mean white people are responsible for the sins of our ancestors.
It doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of who you are.
It DOES mean that we need to acknowledge that the system our ancestors created is built FOR white people.
It doesn’t mean you can’t be proud of who you are.
It DOES mean that we need to acknowledge that the system our ancestors created is built FOR white people.
It DOES mean that we aren't disadvantaged because of the color of our skin.
It DOES mean that we owe it to our neighbors — of all colors — to acknowledge that and work to make our world more equitable.
#BlackLivesMatter
It DOES mean that we owe it to our neighbors — of all colors — to acknowledge that and work to make our world more equitable.
#BlackLivesMatter
