RACISM
Should Black People Be Thankful for Slavery? One White Man Had a Lot to Say
The Big Lie has emboldened anti-Black racism. Let’s unpack this.
As a Black woman, I often search for safe digital places. And as one of the cofounders of Writers and Editors of Color, I’m really thankful to have found a supportive community. But, outside of that network, I often face disgustingly racist threats and verbal assaults. On Saturday, a White man told me that I was a dumb n-word, that he hates Black people, and that we must leave America. And as if that wasn’t enough, he said that all Black people were lazy, steal, and use drugs. Of course, he said all of this riding high off internet-sanctioned anonymity.
So, you may be asking yourself what a Black woman did to provoke his response. I was advocating for us to have a national conversation to “examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.” Someone initially said that Black Americans were not seeking restorative justice from the Jim Crow era or Redlining — just slavery. But, the language in HR40 shows that, if passed, Congress would also evaluate discrimination stemming from the slave trade. That nuance seemed to set the White man’s hair on fire.
