Jimmy Higgins
Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2001
- Messages
- 44,388
- Basic Beliefs
- Calvinistic Atheist
I'm in my early 40s, which means I went to school in the 80s/90s. I wasn't a slacker, I paid attention, I took US History AP, and I apologize to my history teachers if I'm incorrect, but I'm pretty darn certain I am not.
I do not recall learning about the Tulsa Massacre (white people might want to call it a riot to provide cover to make people think the 'blacks were the ones mobbing it around), Juneteenth (I'm just learning that that is a thing),
Is it just me or was US history back then: Colonies / Revolution / Andrew Jackson / Civil War / Reconstruction / Native American Massacres / Spanish American War / WWI / Great Depression / WWII / Civil Rights Movement / Little Caesar's Bigfoot Pizza.
Relative to African American History, there seems to be a notable gap between Reconstruction and MLK and Malcolm X. And when I say MLK and Malcolm X, really that is it. Medger Evers? WTF was he? Why do I need to watch movies to learn about who Evers was (and keep in mind, I'm not aware of a movie about Evers, just the really long time it took to get justice for his Assassination) and the women in Hidden Figures. Yeah, we hear about Rosa Parks, but nothing actually about Rosa Parks.
Yes, today is an odd time. We have more information available at our finger tips, it can become impossible to learn anything. Everything is the tip of the iceberg. But in the 80s/90s, didn't we know these historical things? We learned about the Nat Turner massacre. But not Tulsa or what, a dozen plus others. And we aren't talking about three guys dragging an African American behind their truck to death. We are talking premeditated mass murder by mobs.
Naw! Why teach that? I have no idea what is taught today.
It gets frustrating. I grew up in a very white area, but pretty liberal (South Shore Massachusetts). And the education wasn't bad. It was very good. But I feel that a big problem our nation has is that we have a massive disparity in racial knowledge. Some of which is likely intended, other of which is inertial. There is a lot of history to teach. We certainly didn't learn a lot about labor history in school either. Yeah, you hear about the AFL turn AFL-CIO and the Triangle Fire, but not much else (yeah, so much for the liberal indoctrination right?).
If more people knew this stuff, it might help provide a greater context to our own scars, and finally provide a knife to the throat of white exceptionalism. People sitting back in their arm chairs mocking how primitive the black rioting is. A lot of the crimes against blacks has often been put at the foot of "racists" and the "KKK", but when you really look at the history, it was white people, maybe not every one, but it wasn't contained in this beautifully obfuscated box which allows people to say 'well that was just the bad ones'.
What say the others? What do you know? What did you not know? What did you feel terrible not knowing already?
I do not recall learning about the Tulsa Massacre (white people might want to call it a riot to provide cover to make people think the 'blacks were the ones mobbing it around), Juneteenth (I'm just learning that that is a thing),
Is it just me or was US history back then: Colonies / Revolution / Andrew Jackson / Civil War / Reconstruction / Native American Massacres / Spanish American War / WWI / Great Depression / WWII / Civil Rights Movement / Little Caesar's Bigfoot Pizza.
Relative to African American History, there seems to be a notable gap between Reconstruction and MLK and Malcolm X. And when I say MLK and Malcolm X, really that is it. Medger Evers? WTF was he? Why do I need to watch movies to learn about who Evers was (and keep in mind, I'm not aware of a movie about Evers, just the really long time it took to get justice for his Assassination) and the women in Hidden Figures. Yeah, we hear about Rosa Parks, but nothing actually about Rosa Parks.
Yes, today is an odd time. We have more information available at our finger tips, it can become impossible to learn anything. Everything is the tip of the iceberg. But in the 80s/90s, didn't we know these historical things? We learned about the Nat Turner massacre. But not Tulsa or what, a dozen plus others. And we aren't talking about three guys dragging an African American behind their truck to death. We are talking premeditated mass murder by mobs.
Naw! Why teach that? I have no idea what is taught today.
It gets frustrating. I grew up in a very white area, but pretty liberal (South Shore Massachusetts). And the education wasn't bad. It was very good. But I feel that a big problem our nation has is that we have a massive disparity in racial knowledge. Some of which is likely intended, other of which is inertial. There is a lot of history to teach. We certainly didn't learn a lot about labor history in school either. Yeah, you hear about the AFL turn AFL-CIO and the Triangle Fire, but not much else (yeah, so much for the liberal indoctrination right?).
If more people knew this stuff, it might help provide a greater context to our own scars, and finally provide a knife to the throat of white exceptionalism. People sitting back in their arm chairs mocking how primitive the black rioting is. A lot of the crimes against blacks has often been put at the foot of "racists" and the "KKK", but when you really look at the history, it was white people, maybe not every one, but it wasn't contained in this beautifully obfuscated box which allows people to say 'well that was just the bad ones'.
What say the others? What do you know? What did you not know? What did you feel terrible not knowing already?