“Having been enslaved for 250 years, black people were not left to their own devices. They were…”
“Having been enslaved for 250 years, black people were not left to their own devices. They were terrorized. In the Deep South, a second slavery ruled. In the North, legislatures, mayors, civic associations, banks, and citizens all colluded to pin black people into ghettos, where they were overcrowded, overcharged, and undereducated. Businesses discriminated against them, awarding them the worst jobs and the worst wages. Police brutalized them in the streets. And the notion that black lives, black bodies, and black wealth were rightful targets remained deeply rooted in the broader society. Now we have half-stepped away from our long centuries of despoilment, promising, “Never again.” But still we are haunted. It is as though we have run up a credit-card bill and, having pledged to charge no more, remain befuddled that the balance does not disappear. The effects of that balance, interest accruing daily, are all around us.”
– The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates
(via smokeandsong)
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1TDivI1.
Tags: we desperately need a truth and reconciliation commission, to expose and address the legacy of violence and evil, I think we have to build it person by person, community by community, if we wait for mother and father bird to come, and stuff it down our throats, all we're ever going to get is worms.
