What we don’t know keeps tha contracts alive an Movin’
They don’t gotta burn tha books they just remove 'em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as tha cells
Rally round tha family, pockets full of shells
RATM is unfortunately going to stay relevant the rest of this century…
Republicans think that’s okay because no child will know who Ruby Bridges is if they’re successful.
When I was a kid learning about the civil rights struggle nobody bothered to mention that Ms. Bridges was around my parents’ age. And the thing these people don’t get is that as a white kid in Ohio I didn’t feel bad learning her story, I felt angry. Because I didn’t see myself as the racists, I saw myself in the little kid who had to be escorted to school by the national guard. I saw myself in the people protecting her, and the ones forcibly desegregating her school. And maybe if kids do see themselves in the racists, they should feel bad.
I think you bring up a good point (or maybe I just read into it). A lot of what I learned about the Civil Rights Movement was about how it mostly happened in the south. Nobody explicitly said “that’s where all the racists are,” but it felt like that. Now, I grew up in one of the most diverse schools in the country, so much so that we had a POTUS at one of our high school graduations because they felt we were such a great example. The problems of racism always felt so far away to me.
Yeah my school was more “white moderates” if you will. I’m still unlearning that style of racism. As a private catholic school in an extremely white area it felt natural at the time, but when I moved elsewhere I learned the disservice done by lack of exposure to black folks.
I suppose it may be that us northern white folks were made to feel like the good guys. But like it’s not hard to find people to emphasize with on the right side of history, even if you’re only looking for people who look and sound like you. Antiracism has always been a multiracial coalition.
You always see civil rights photos in black and white so you forget it was very recent. The fact that Ruby Bridges is alive and well should remind people.
