That white people think the Civl Rights movement was exclusively Rosa Parks sitting politely and MLK being ~peaceful~ is proof that our educational system is rooted in white supremacy. Black history is turned into a Disneyland version for white consumption and comfort.

This morning I was reading James Baldwin's address to teachers in 1963 while also seeing @harikondabolu's extremely good and also disheartening roundup of white men whitesplaining MLK TO HIS OWN SON and this was like, extremely clear.

It's clear that kids in the US have been educated with the express goal of maintaining white comfort.

If you didn't learn about Malcolm X or the very real role that violence, non-civil disobedience, and even firearms played in the Civil Rights movement, that's not an accident.

I think a really important question for white people to ask is: What are the myths I tell myself about this county and how do those myths perpetuate white supremacy, anti-blackness, and anti-immigrant sentiments?

What lies have I swallowed in order to always be the hero?

"What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors. It’s astounding to me, for example, that so many people really appear to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free." https://www.spps.org/cms/lib010/MN01910242/Centricity/Domain/125/baldwin_atalktoteachers_1_2.pdf

Read this whole thing today and ask yourself some hard questions about what you learned about Black history, about violence, and about what "good" protests or "good" revolution looks like.

https://www.spps.org/cms/lib010/MN01910242/Centricity/Domain/125/baldwin_atalktoteachers_1_2.pdf

You can also listen to his very good speech that Malcolm X gave re: police brutality. Pretty sure you didn't get this during your one sanitized week of Black history in February. I sure didn't.

American education doesn't teach about Claudette Colvin or Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. You don't learn about the Dixiecrats.

It's designed to keep white people comfortable & make sure they have a gut reaction whenever Black folks do something that isn't reciting "I Have A Dream."

The reason a bunch of horrid white men feel OK explaining the work of MLK (again, to HIS OWN CHILD) is because they were taught a very specific story about Black folks in the U.S. It's a story designed to comfort them and make them feel OK about America's repugnant history.

So like, if nothing else — if you aren't going to protest today, if you've already donated money, if you've already alienated your Shitty Uncle Steve on Facebook — I would encourage White folks to seek out Black history and American history in general that makes them uncomfy.

Read "Warriors Don't Cry" and ask yourself who in your family would have been standing at the door, desperate to keep literal children from an education.

Read "Jesus and the Disinherited" by Howard Thurman and ask why that dude was never taught in your 7th grade class.

It's important for white folks to engage and donate and support but I genuinely believe that is impossible to do it in good faith if deep down you still think that the centuries-long battle for rights & respect by Black folks has always been 100% peaceful and polite.

We need to do our homework, y'all, because if we don't know the real story, we aren't of any use.

So anyway here's Gil Scott Heron.