What does it feel like as a parent to have to explain racism to a five-year-old?
Why do we only teach about Martin Luther King Jr as if the only contribution a Black man made was the fight against racism which then forces us to talk about slavery?
Pushing the dialogue about race and racism way before the concept can even be understood.
Explain that up to 15 million enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas to build this country with an estimate of over 2 million dying during the transatlantic voyage alone to a five-year-old.
Yes, history is necessary to teach!
But did our history start there?
Why do we not teach them about the rich diverse culture that created them before embedding the dark suppressive history and trauma of slavery?
And we will never forget the American Indian genocide which I prefer to call the American Holocaust.
The American Indians died as a result of genocide, violence, disease, and displacement caused by European colonization.
Estimates suggested that the population of American Indians may have been as high as 18 million in 1492, and by the 1890s, the population had declined to around 250,000.
This suggests that the population of American Indians may have declined by as much as 95% or more as a result of these factors.
WHERE IS THE TRUE REPRESENTATION BEFoRE THE REAL VIOLENT PEOPLE CLAIMED AMERICA?
Where is the rich history and why don’t they tell it?
Let me tell you why!
Control.
It’s your responsibility to know your history (written or brought down by story)
Yours!
And it has nothing to do with a Black president who couldn’t even talk about his own culture or be represented by it.
What is Black a color darker than white?
As we teach children to fear the dark!
Slavery and racism have also caused physical, psychological, and cultural harm to generations of African descendants and have had a lasting impact on the African diaspora.
The legacy of slavery and racism continues to affect the descendants of enslaved Africans and the African diaspora TODAY through various forms of systemic and institutional racism.
As a Black, Indigenous, and Person of Color, your “imposter syndrome“ comes from internalized racism because of the cultural legacy burden of racism
It is internalized White supremacy culture.
If it affects us as adults why do we continue with our children?
How does it make you feel?
Like you’re not enough because of your race.
When they taught you in second grade that white folk owned black folk!
Tell your children their true history before they embed their violent one.
Africa, my motherland, is the birthplace of humanity and has a rich and diverse history that spans thousands of years.
My ancestors, who were brilliant and powerful, built complex systems of governance, religion, trade, and culture long before the arrival of Europeans.
African kingdoms and empires, such as the Kingdom of Ghana, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire, flourished in West Africa, controlling vast territories and trade routes.
In East Africa, the Kingdom of Aksum and the Kingdom of Meroe emerged as major powers, with their own unique cultures and traditions.
Central Africa also had their own great kingdoms like the Kingdom of Kongo and the Kingdom of Ndongo.
My people had a wide range of social, economic, and political structures, including different forms of slavery, but none of them were the same as the transatlantic slave trade.
Africa has a long history of contact and exchange with other cultures, including trade with Arab and Asian merchants.
But let’s not forget the brutal forced slave trade that occurred mainly of prisoners of war, but this practice was limited to certain areas, and not the entire continent.
As an African American woman, I carry the weight of my ancestors’ history on my shoulders and know that it’s my duty to keep their legacy alive.
I want my children to know joy, kindness, consideration, compassion, understanding, culture, and our collective true humanity.
Sorry Martin you can wait.
Why this picture? Well if I have to tell you you missed the whole point!
#blackexcellence #BlackHistoryMonth #slavery #teachtruth #RacismStillExists #historicpreservation
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