Reply To: From Separate to Equal and The 1619 Project

[Bryant_Dean]

#754

From Separate to Equal Response:

Among many thoughts and feelings I had while watching this video, sadness and inspiration were two that really stood out to me. While hearing of events such as the incident with W.E.B. Du Bois’ son who couldn’t get treatment at Atlanta University to the various oppressive acts against blacks in the healthcare system saddened me a bit. It serves as a parallel to some of the things that are still happening within our modern-day healthcare system. It shows us that while we have made such amazing strides towards the goals that we have achieved as people, we still have much to go. And that revelation gave me the inspiration to carry on the legacy of hard work and revolution that the people before me have been pioneers for up until this point. It encourages me to build upon their towers of achievement so that I can do the same for the generation after me.

What was most profound were a few words by Charles Hammer when he was referring to the lack of black obituaries being run by the Kansas City Star. He said, “Black people didn’t die, they just vanished”. This statement really paints a picture of how whites thought about how expendable and valueless black people were. It was dehumanizing to think that the deaths of African Americans were shrugged off like the killing of an insect.

The 1969 Project Response:

To be honest, some of the excerpts from the reading made me feel a small sense of anger. Just to read the type of things that happened to some of those people really makes you want to get out and take action against the systems that continue to keep us down.

The attitude behind slavery being just a business to people is what was so profound to me. It goes back to the sentiment I had before about black people being treated like objects that they can just sell and trade as they please.