Should Be Required Reading

A friend on Facebook (yes, Facebook), posted the following article yesterday. I found it more than a bit incredible and a surprising good, even important read.

Will Racism Ever End, Will I Ever 

Stop Being a Nigger?

For me, it was incredibly quotable. I'll just stick with this one, however:

"...the greatest trick of a racist is getting folks to believe that racism doesn’t exist in the first place or that the people with no power and no privilege are the real racists, the real oppressors."

It reminded me how little, how precious little we Americans know of our own history, our own national history. It also reminded me how we need much more of it in our schools. Besides the above, I think people should have to read the following.

This book:

Slavery by Another Name

And if not reading that last book, then at least seeing the PBS special on it:

Slavery by Another Name

And finally, this article from 2 years ago:

The Case for Reparations 

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

It's fairly outrageous what we don't know or, worse, deny.