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- Photo: Shutterstock, Helen’s Place LLC – Determination: What Anti-Victim Mentality Looks like.
Helen’s Place LLC Update: September 30, 2023
Statements that slavery was an inherent benefit, or that black people’s lives were enhanced from slavery – like from a type of apprentice program, are part of the wrongful action underway to whitewash history in classroom textbooks and the historic record.
The thought that people, especially children, should only learn history with a positive spin on it, just creates anxiety and confusion when it doesn’t match the reality or history they experience in the world around them.
People often don’t give children enough credit to know what’s going on, but by the age of eight many start figuring things out on their own. This is what humans do, despite efforts to indoctrinate them.
Governor Ron DeSantis’ new education curriculum in Florida, is full of feel good misinformation about slavery that has been debunked by educators, historians and fact checkers, and many black leaders have spoken out against it.
We need to stand in solidarity with the truth: Slavery and the residual racism that persists in America, are obstacles that most people of color fight to overcome every day. Hence, the words still ring true – “We shall overcome,” as Martin Luther King Jr. so famously said.
The refusal to be a victim and continue fighting to exist and achieve as a valued person of color, represents the best of the American spirit.
In the news, acts of racism and injustice are frequently covered, including violence against people of color by police and hate group members or lone wolfs.
The under reported story is about black culture that existed in America in slave times, and has continued and evolved through the decades, despite slavery and the racism that followed.
We can trace black history in so many ways – through churches, music, art, literature, and food. Writers like Zora Neale Hurston set out to document and celebrate as much black culture as she could find. Today, her work is carried on by black artists, writers and historians.
Museums, like the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, in Washington D.C. stand out as a tribute to black greatness.
Our society benefits from hearing stories of black success, along with those about real issues that still plague America including racism, violence and poverty. This is because people learn more from what they turn to rather than just what they turn from.
Understanding history with awareness in the present are equally important to gain perspective in this world.
As writer and philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Today, renowned historians, like Michael Beschloff, echo this sentiment – we should remember history, in order to learn from past mistakes so we don’t repeat them in the future.
Imagine what our society would become if we had no self-reflection without the willingness to learn from past events? This is true for individuals as well.
Who are we if we aren’t willing to identify and self-correct? Therefore, we should work hard to get in the habit of facing the truth, learning, and making better decisions.
Fortunately for America, many people of color, based on their experiences, are laser focused on correcting past mistakes to help the U.S. reach its highest ideals of liberty and justice for all.
They’re also able to discern facts, make wiser political decisions, and choose leadership, based on highly developed survival skills to identify and stop fraud and misinformation.
Telling a black person, for example, that racism no longer exists and therefore no one needs affirmative action rules anymore, is a belief that’s obviously untrue.
It was wishful thinking and premature on the part of the Supreme Court to do away with affirmative action. The fight for justice to fix this error just intensified because of it.
Looking to the future, it’s probable that the 2024 presidential election will be decided by people of color and younger voters. In fact. it’s more likely than ever that this huge swath of voters will be the ones to save our democracy from forces trying to destroy it.
Although Friedrich Nietzsche’s saying, “whatever does not kill me makes me stronger,” isn’t always true, the capacity to take adversity and turn it into motivation for the greater good, is a profound human ability – showing that power is in your hands.
Related audio/video recording(s):
Daniel Dale fact checks Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ statements during the second GOP presidential debate regarding changes to Florida’s African American history curriculum:
CNN, Daniel Dale, September 28, 2023, “CNN fact checks DeSantis’ debate comments about Florida’s Black history curriculum.”
Martin Luther King Jr. speech delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington D.C. on March 31, 1968, just days before he was shot and killed, rings true more than ever.
Adding to the list of injustices, we now have misinformation and attempts to rewrite history and whitewash the true human cost of slavery. It inspires us to keep going, tell the truth and fight for justice:
YouTube, Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech to music, “We Shall Overcome.”
Other related article you may be interested in:
New York Times, September 15, 2023, Erica L. Green and Abbie VanSickle, “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Calls on Nation to Remember Ugly Past Truths.”
Helen’s Place LLC, September 30, 2023 “MLK Quotes and Meanings: Inspiration to Keep Going.”
Helen’s Place LLC, February 22, 2022, “Black and Innocent Lives Matter in Truth and Denial Age”
Helen’s Place LLC is an information and educational materials company celebrating English Language Arts, Cognitive Science and the love of birds.
It’s the maker of printed instructional, educational, and teaching materials for children and adults in the field of English Language Arts and Cognitive Science.
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