Inspired by this reconstructed conversation.
Solar Soul: There are a lot of young brothers and sisters who don't have the first clue about what happened to us here.
PTCruiser: I'm not trying to be funny or annoying but are you telling me that there are blacks in your generation who do not know that our ancestors were enslaved?
P6: I don't think so. I think he's saying they don't understand why 'freedom' hasn't worked for us. I think he's talking about the time between slavery and now.
Solar Soul: I'm saying that and more. Most young folks know that slavery once existed, but they don't know where it started, why it started, how long it lasted, how widespread it was, or how it was perpetuated, any more than most white people do. They certainly don't know what happened between "emancipation" and the civil rights movement, except that we were segregated, and they damn sure couldn't tell you how our recent past is related to our present condition.
P6: Most people know only what they remember of what they were taught. And they still teach elementary school kids that Lincoln freed the slaves because slavery was wrong.
Students are taught legends, and are left to fit history into it IF they go to college.
no1kstate: And because they don't really know the details of Jim Crow, including the North's racism and backlash to open housing, they can't quite get their hands around James Crowe, II.
Plus, what they're taught has a beginning and an end. CRM ended, its in the past, and the history book implies it got the job done and everything is alright.
Osiris_E and The Family Clone were in the mix, and I didn't quote everything but that's the juicy stuff.
No, one more juicy part, from waaaay up at the top of the thread.
Solar Soul: ...having the historical context that explains how we got to where we are would equip me and a lot of other folks with a better map for figuring out where to go from here
That's why the other stuff was juicy. It seems people need a narrative.
Some more than others.
I did wind up reading a lot of history looking for examples of typical human patterns to validate my own theories of how things works. Now it's more to gather the information necessary to shut someone da hell up (often a more useful goal than proving someone wrong). But I don't recall being influenced by an historical narrative, but a lot of folks were, and are...especially if you include the KJV and its descendants as historical documents.
I don't know if an historical narrative is necessary to figure out your next move, but a narrative of some kind is probably necessary. Call it a model of events. I think you need to know if you want to change things or adapt. I think if you gather your best knowledge and make your best decision when decisionsa are called for, and learn from the result, you never have reason to look back.
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Narratives are important.
Narratives are important. One of the reasons that folks go into therapy is because they lack a coherent narrative about their lives or some aspect of their lives. Stories are part of what makes us human.
Those who ignore history are
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. - somebody smart
I've always been headstrong and took pride in being the smartest person in the class. Especially if a classmate thought they had a better score than I did on a test, when I actually did better, and so they never asked me what I made again.
So, no. Knowing my history wouldn't have motivated me any more or less. But after spending every academic year in the "rarified" air of academic excellence, it sure is nice to know I'm not an exception to the rule. White folks aren't as fun to be around all day as they like to think, and knowing I was part of a continuing narrative of intellectually untouchable black folk was a comforting feeling.
And for the record, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "descendents" of KJV Bible. But every version I know of, including the NKJV, are based on the original Hebrew and Greek. That's neither here nor there in terms of our discussion. But, you know, "descendents" isn't quite accurate.