Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

You know the drill by now. I don't like talking about Black history. Americans know Black history. I want to talk about white American history. In other words, racism, and the erasure of both positive achievements of, and injustices suffered by, non-white people. That's what people don't know.

Try this: Ask your white US friends what the statue of liberty celebrates.

Now ask your Black friends. Or French folk of any color.

1/N

#BlackMastodon

Hint 1: It's called the statue of *liberty*. Not the statue of immigration or statue of independence.

Hint 2: Broken chains on the feet.

Hint 3: Idea for the statue started in 1865. What else happened in 1865?

Hint 4: What the sculptor said it's for? OK that's not really a hint!

An abolitionist designed the statue. A group of abolitionists paid for the statue. There's a plaque at the feet telling everyone what it's for. They named it the Statue of Liberty. It's arguably the largest anti-racism monument in the US, and the most recognizable anti-racism monument in the world...

Except people don't even know it's an anti-racism monument. They think it celebrates the huge influx of white immigrants from Europe that came to the US.

People that got "As" in AP history, that didn't know this, are running to their favorite search engine right now to try and fact check this. Let's wait for them... ⏳

Why do US people not know their own history?

Before folks ask, "Why was I not taught this in school?!" Look at what DeSantis is doing to AP history in Florida. You know exactly why you weren't taught this in school. Because it's easier to get you to accept mistreatment of Black people, if you don't know white American history.

🧔🏿Is the confederate flag racist? Why did the civil war happen? Where were you born?

🧔🏻Not racist! States' rights. Alabama!

🧔🏻Super racist! Slavery, murder of Black folk. NYC

Can you be mad at Alabama dude when their history textbook (from the same publisher!) lies about this?

The same publisher prints two different versions of the same highschool textbook about the causes of the civil war: one closer to the truth, used in Northern states, and one that lies about the cause, taught in the South🤡

I don't want to talk about Black history yet. I want to talk about why if you grew up in the North or West, your high school history book likely talked about the "Articles of Secession,"

but if you grew up in the South, those parts are removed and lied about.🙂🙃

Disinformation.

You can literally go and read the "Declaration of Causes of Seceding States," primary documents written by confederates themselves, on why they are Seceding.

https://web.archive.org/web/19980128034930/http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html

Some schools refuse to teach this.

Declaration of Causes of Secession

I used to live in Texas. I would get so mad at dudes I knew that downplayed the confederate flag, until I realized that their textbooks literally lied about the reasons for the civil war!

Showing them the articles of secession blew their mind. Some stopped rocking the flag. 👍🏿

Imagine how much less racist the US would feel if 10% of all confederate flags just disappeared. Disappeared!

Folks don't even know the reasons of the civil war or that the flag designer said "Let this be the flag of white supremacy!"

I bet 50% of them would drop it on learning.

NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Sr removed confederate flags from his car after learning about its true origins from a Black friend. His son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. vocally supported NASCAR banning the confederate flag. 👍🏿

Yes, some racists still like the flag after learning about it. But there are way fewer of them.

@mekkaokereke

To me ridicule and mockery are great tools to fight racism. They work pretty good.

There's a lot of unintentional self-mockery: hold up a particular flag -- say something stupid.

Racism is bad, mockery of racism is a legitimate good (imho).

I am from that "culture" [quite a word to use here]. When you know literally nothing else from birth it can take quite a struggle to SEE it.

Some good mockery exposes the stupid to the light.

Mom always said hate the sin not the sinner.

@mburr @mekkaokereke
Imo
"hate the sin, not the sinner"
… is just another way of giving perps a free pass to drop responsibility for their harms.

Can sin happen by itself with no perp? No? Then drop the illogical quotation.

Also imo, the only people who get to say what response to perps is acceptable, are those the perps harmed. Btw I've heard the above quoted by _none_ of those.

I think all others have Zero rights to that quotation & may now drop it plskthx.

@GertyBz @mekkaokereke

> Imo
> "hate the sin, not the sinner"
> … is just another way of giving
> perps a free pass to drop
> responsibility for their harms.

I agree with you. Believe it or not I was mocking my mother because she would say this.

I don't think she believed or didn't believe it but rather knew that it was a thing to say to that often had the effect of scoring her a point, apparently, at least to herself.

@mburr @mekkaokereke
People who say words just to say them (echolalia etc aside) alert me to broken NT brains to keep a big distance from.

Same for repeat travellers on the inflammatory-escalation-IS-the-desired-outcome road e.g.

Me: "[Do a part-of-your-job task] please?"

They: "[gaaaaasp] You're so rude!"

Me: "Oh kaayyyyy, will you do it or not?"

They: "[gasp] I will not be spoken to like that!"

Me: "If you won't do it just say so already, jeez."

:(

@mburr @mekkaokereke
Re your mother,

After anyone abandons the logic I can work with, I'll say things like

"Wet water, green grass, boots fence moo cows squirrel"

After they shake their heads & say

"That's … wait, whaaa …?"

… they shut pretty much all the way up. So, result! :)

This method works pretty much every time.

I suspect your mother uses that nonsense phrase for precisely this purpose.

But I like mine a lot better, it's kinder I think.