This essay focuses on the executive branch support. been watching these things for a long time,” my father, now in his 85th year, tells me. “Change is coming, I think.”
“I’ve never seen so many white people marching, and I’ve been watching these things for a long time,” my father, now in his 85th year, tells me. “Change is coming, I think.”
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
Many groups in U.S. history have sought recognition as equal citizens. Although each group’s efforts have been notable and important, arguably the greatest, longest, and most violent struggle was that of African Americans, whose once-inferior legal status was even written into the text of the Constitution. Their fight for freedom and equality provided the legal and moral foundation for others who sought recognition of their equality later on.
America may be ready to trade white supremacy for Black equality. Or this moment could be more gaudy illusion. The country rarely misses an opportunity to disappoint its Black citizens. Less than a week after George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston, police shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, another unarmed Black man, in Atlanta, after responding to a complaint that he had fallen asleep in line at a Wendy’s drive-through.
More Black death. More oppression. constriction.
America loves a performance — especially a staging of democracy. But florid corporate statements never freed anybody. Performance is not policy. Yet Black men who grew up picking cotton, calling white men “Mr.” and reading torn books, remain hopeful. Maybe today America is ready to make good on that hope with real emancipation and freedom for all.
Tamara Winfrey-Harris is the author of “The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America.”