welcome to my history class: allow me to educate you on the history of black people being oppressed in the US because i fucking paid attention in history and know that the oppression of black people goes beyond the civil war era.  #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter

please note: im not a history teacher. im a 17 year high school junior who simply cannot tolerate people complaining about their tl being full of the same tweets when a innocent man is dead bc of his skin color. please correct me if anything is inaccurate.

the oppression of black people in the US actually began with the start of slave trading in the 1500s. europeans who had migrated to north america brought the concept of slave trading from europe, who had been trading slaves since the 8th century.

people literally made it an occupation to travel to africa to capture africans to auction them off to traders, who would then bring them to america and auction them off there. and it was fucking brutal. they were chained in racks the size of a coffin.

slaves were auctioned off and tortured. they were whipped, beaten and burned. women were r*ped. some were starved. they worked brutal hours in the summer, picking cotton in 95 degree weather.

when the french and indian war and the american revolution, both times slaves were promised freedom if they fought but they never actually fully gained it. some were even forced to go back to their owners.

imagine going to war, risking your life numerous times under the impression when all is said and done, you’ll be a free man only for you to gain nothing.

as we all know (or should know), the civil war happened because of slavery, and this country was literally divided by longitude and latitude because of it. the missouri compromise stated that all states west of 30 36 were legally allowed to have slavery.

there were free black men and women in the US at the time of the civil war era. but some free men were captured back into slavery, shown in 12 years a slave.

but please understand that lincoln abolishing slavery and freeing all slaves with the emancipation proclamation ≠ the end of racism. if anything, it actually made it worse.

we all know of the awful jim crow laws. the ones that designated where white people could go to the bathroom and where black people could go to the bathroom.

racism was literally at an all time high in the 50’s and 60’s in the south. remember the little rock nine? remember how people didn’t send their children to SCHOOL because they didn’t want their children around black people?

it took a goddamn march on the capital that is to date the largest civil demonstration in the history of the US, a speech by a pastor and millions of other civil disobedience demonstrations to desegregate our country.

and even after all of that, people (more specifically white people) STILL call black people the n word. people STILL discriminate black people for having skin that has a few more doses of melanin.

soloman northup didn’t lose 12 years of his freedom to slavery for black people to be still treated like this. rosa parks didn’t not give up her seat for black people to be still treated like this.

dr. martin luther king jr did not boycott the birmingham bus service, march on our fucking capital with 300,000 other americans of all races, give of the greatest speeches in american history and LOSE HIS LIFE for black people to still be treated like this.

if i had a list of every black man, woman, and child that has lost their life due to systematic racism, we’d be here all day.

isaiah shoels was one of the 13 victims who were killed in columbine. one the last words that he ever heard was the n word.

i am a white 17 year old girl. i am WELL aware that i will never have to fear for my life every time a cop talks to me. BUT i am also aware that not everyone has this privilege. and that is why i REFUSE to let it get in the way of speaking up about racism.

they have a name. so fucking say it everytime. i refuse to let george floyd become a statistic. he was a innocent man, who was loved and cherished. he had family and friends.

USE your platform. if you’re gonna complain about the tl being full of #BlackLivesMatter , block me right now because i don’t want to hear it.

end of class. text “FLOYD” to 55156. sign the petition please. #BlackLivesMatter #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #icantbreathe http://chng.it/ZgycDgpb