Prometheus 6

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.