Maybe you and I were too busy throwing tidbits in class to remember, but when were we taught about Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre?
Despite your feelings about my motive, that’s the reason I posted this - BWS was something I’d heard about from artists like Prince and Miles Davis but never knew too much about, so I thought others might find it as fascinating (and infuriatingly sad) as I did.
I guess you didn’t feel the same way.
Actually, as an educator and life-long learner, I’m surprised every day by the knowledge I acquire when I open my mind and heart to listen to others whose experiences differ from mine, especially people of color who have suffered for centuries (and continue to suffer) a brutal, racist legacy in a country ironically founded on the principle that “all men (sic) are created equal.”
But since it’s graduation season, and I’m tired from the years of leading you to the water while you stubbornly refuse to drink, I’ll leave you with one last attempt to appeal to your better angels before I block you from your obsessive, Pavlovian instinct to comment on everything I post.
You purport to only deal in “facts and logic,” so here’s a fact we’ve discussed before: racism is not the same as bigotry or prejudice.
Despite your feelings about it, racism is not a two-way street. It flows in one direction - from the dominant culture to marginalized cultures. Your attempts to call my (or MLK’s) words “racist” reek of ignorance. Maybe if we lived in Wakanda you could say that, otherwise, to put it kindly, you’re just being purposely obtuse.
Also, again for you (and others that have found this hard to grasp): the BLM movement (and Kapernick’s peaceful protests that you also thought were “disrespectful”) are about police brutality against POC.
That’s the simple fact. Your feelings about what they should focus on are irrelevant.
Trying to “throw more tidbits around the classroom” and change the subject from police brutality to abortion or inner city violence is not only illogical, it’s a convenient, if not unempathetic way to rationalize the horrible treatment - indeed unjustifyible deaths - of POC by the police in this country.
Besides, for two decades I’ve taught the hard working, kind, loving families in marginalized communities. What have you done besides use them as a deflective talking point?
So as you graduate today, I leave you with one final quote that I hope will inspire you to listen to, reflect on, and learn from POC: “Ignorance is not saying, ‘I don’t know.’ Ignorance is saying, ‘I don’t want to know.’”
Good luck, old friend. I truly wish you the best.
Despite your feelings about my motive, that’s the reason I posted this - BWS was something I’d heard about from artists like Prince and Miles Davis but never knew too much about, so I thought others might find it as fascinating (and infuriatingly sad) as I did.
I guess you didn’t feel the same way.
Actually, as an educator and life-long learner, I’m surprised every day by the knowledge I acquire when I open my mind and heart to listen to others whose experiences differ from mine, especially people of color who have suffered for centuries (and continue to suffer) a brutal, racist legacy in a country ironically founded on the principle that “all men (sic) are created equal.”
But since it’s graduation season, and I’m tired from the years of leading you to the water while you stubbornly refuse to drink, I’ll leave you with one last attempt to appeal to your better angels before I block you from your obsessive, Pavlovian instinct to comment on everything I post.
You purport to only deal in “facts and logic,” so here’s a fact we’ve discussed before: racism is not the same as bigotry or prejudice.
Despite your feelings about it, racism is not a two-way street. It flows in one direction - from the dominant culture to marginalized cultures. Your attempts to call my (or MLK’s) words “racist” reek of ignorance. Maybe if we lived in Wakanda you could say that, otherwise, to put it kindly, you’re just being purposely obtuse.
Also, again for you (and others that have found this hard to grasp): the BLM movement (and Kapernick’s peaceful protests that you also thought were “disrespectful”) are about police brutality against POC.
That’s the simple fact. Your feelings about what they should focus on are irrelevant.
Trying to “throw more tidbits around the classroom” and change the subject from police brutality to abortion or inner city violence is not only illogical, it’s a convenient, if not unempathetic way to rationalize the horrible treatment - indeed unjustifyible deaths - of POC by the police in this country.
Besides, for two decades I’ve taught the hard working, kind, loving families in marginalized communities. What have you done besides use them as a deflective talking point?
So as you graduate today, I leave you with one final quote that I hope will inspire you to listen to, reflect on, and learn from POC: “Ignorance is not saying, ‘I don’t know.’ Ignorance is saying, ‘I don’t want to know.’”
Good luck, old friend. I truly wish you the best.
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