The things that America tries to forget about

America has a deep and dark history that it constantly tries to rid itself of. But the fact of the matter is that it made America exactly what it is. No matter how much the narrative is manipulated or altered. And this more so goes for the African American community as a whole in America. Along with other black and brown nationalities as well. Minorities if you will. So, here are three things that intrigued me about the core of American history.

First there’s the Civil War and the impact it had on African Americans. There were two separate things I took away from this topic. One being inclusion and the other being about the so called heroes of this so-called great land. During the time of the Civil War, many African Americans saw themselves as equal. But they were sadly mistaken. Naturally, all us as black people wanted to do was be accepted. On top of being respected. Especially since we went out, fought, and risked our lives standing next to the exact people who hated us most. The heroism within America I believe, is shown through a lot of memorials and towering monuments. And now as we all can see, this has caused a ruckus with the times we are living in today. Personally, I think it’s interesting how this ended up coming full circle. Simply because of the true meaning behind these figures and the people they represent. Nothing but slave owning, hateful individuals who lived their lives spreading nothing but terror upon a race. A race that they hated simply because of the natural color of their skin.

Next, is the impact of Jim Crow Laws. Which caught my attention with the five pillars of freedom that impacted minorities specifically. Continuing to make their lives even more of a living hell. These five pillars are: safety and justice, voting, wealth, education, and social status. As far as safety goes, I think that minorities in America have never been safe and we may never be safe. And if we aren’t killed, then we are most likely to be either locked up and thrown away or completely torn down in many other ways. The first thing that came to mind when I heard voting was the word manipulation. Minorities were purposely disenfranchised of our rights to vote. And when we finally had the right to vote, it came with nothing but terror and force. On behalf of a lot of practices that we still see today. For wealth I thought of the overall generational struggle. The struggle for minorities to obtain any type of wealth within America. Yes, one can be rich but there is no true wealth associated with minorities in this country. Next is education and how it was used as the perfect setup to steadily cripple minorities. And in today’s time it has gotten to the point where many of us either don’t like school or just rather not even bother. A factor that is playing directly into the narrative of ignorance that was forced upon us for so long. At last there’s social status. And all I would like to say being a black man is that, us as black people have to stand up to protect and take ownership of ourselves as a whole. Meaning in every single way possible.

Lastly, there’s the overall idea of democracy. A so-called democracy that has always been misused. And played the role of just another tool to continuously oppress whoever doesn’t look exactly like the founding fathers of this country who voted for all of this. Since the beginning there has always been a lack of inclusion. A democracy is supposed to be about the people working together as one to become a majority. Creating a uniquely fair system for all who live in this country. But the question is, how could that ever be when you have an entire race that sees themselves as superior over whoever doesn’t look like them?

In conclusion, it’s about time that we all agree on the true history of this nation. No more ducking and dodging issues. It’s about time that we agree to have these types of discussions to better further our understanding of one another. And it’s also time that we simply do our best to coexist amongst each other. We don’t have to be the best of friends, but the least we can all do is respect one another. Even if we have to compromise and agree to disagree.