Thread by @MimZWay

Today I had a productive “uncomfortable conversation.”
A neighbor whom I have known for 30 years - asked me why I had a “Black Lives Matter” sign in my yard, when black people continue to “murder each other every day in the city, and clearly black lives don’t matter to ‘them.’”

After I informed him that I was black (I’m very light-skinned - please see pic) - I asked him, “Why do white men continue to massacre people in: supermarkets, churches, schools, concerts and clubs repeatedly? And what was the white community doing about it?”

Then he got a lesson

I explained how my father, a mathematical genius, was told he was not “college material” - and so went to the US Navy to get an electrical engineering degree - but then told that “Negros were not accepted into that program,” & how he had to prove himself to get into the program.

White men were automatically accepted in the program w/out my dad’s credentials.

I explained, my parents could not buy a home or get a mortgage & my father could not get the GI Bill because they were black - while white folks received low interest mortgages and a free education

While white people were being elevated by the government (education & housing) , black people were being denied these opportunities!

How this PURPOSEFUL & SYSTEMATIC treatment by the US government created a gap in wages & opportunity between black people and white people.

Then I pointed out that here in #Roc - George Eastman would not hire black people & would not allow black people to be educated at the University of Rochester & pressured other Rochester industries not to hire black people either.

democratandchronicle.com/in-depth/news/…

In Rochester, NY - without any good jobs or education - how were black people supposed to succeed???

But we carried on.

We were poor - but we somehow managed to find a way.

I explained that of course “everyone matters.”
But in this case - it’s like a dinner party where everyone else gets their meal except the black guy. Of course, everyone’s food “matters”- but because only the black guy doesn’t have his meal - that’s why his meal matters more.

I told him about the history of slave catchers & their ties to policing - and the massacres of black communities during Reconstruction & how black Congressmen & Senators were assassinated during this period. About how black Veterans returning from WWI were systematically lynched.

I spoke of the massacres of black towns and black erasure.
He had never heard of any of it.

Then I explained that this is why we need Critical Race Theory - or simply an accurate history of the United States taught in schools - because it explains economic/social disparity.

Critical Race Theory gives us the why.
With knowledge of why things are the way they are - we can create an environment that will lift EVERYONE up.

We don’t need a “bottom” & a “top” - there are enough resources on our planet for everyone to live a good life.

My neighbor was stunned after our morning conversation.
I asked him to research “black erasure” & “black town massacres.”
I’m looking forward to our next discussion.
I think I opened his mind to new possibilities.
I am glad we had the “uncomfortable conversation.”