Today, at the age of twenty, I found out about this horrible injustice. I was sitting in my living room with my mother, older sister, and my moms two friends, one male and republican, the other female. We are all white, and save for the man, mostly share democratic views.
My mom informed us of this event while we were discussing our issues with the current president of our country. She told us he was holding a “Make America Great Again” rally on Juneteenth (June 19th, the day of Emancipation) in Tulsa. I understood why it was a big deal for it to be happening on this day but not in this place. Then she read us this post she had found on Facebook.
We were all horrified and confused. How could we have not learned about this in any of our history classes through out our combined schooling? I was the first to give an answer: “the powerful white men write the history books.” I said “they can put whatever they want. Whatever will make them look the best.”
My mom has another friend, an elementary school teacher, also a white woman. She was angry and embarrassed to learn about this, upset that she didn’t know. That the children she teaches won’t be taught about this while growing up.
And as we discussed how obscure it was from the lives of ourselves and the people we know, I wanted to do something to shine a little more light on it. So, I asked my mother to send me screen shots of the post, my hope is that this information will circulate on tumblr and get some more attention. I do not know how well this event is know in other areas of the country but even so, I wanted to post this in the hopes that someone who didn’t know may become educated.
I found out about this massacre one short week after going to my first Black Lives Matter Rally and March. We, as the privileged race of this country, have not been doing enough to help our fellow Americans. The ones we have been screwing over since this country was founded and before. We need to do something now. And I hope learning of, or being reminded of, this atrocity will open the eyes of someone who’s attention previously hasn’t been glued to this important issue.
Black Lives Matter. And White people need to start acknowledging that. Because I, as a white woman who’s mixed race cousin will be discriminated against his whole life, am tired of this bullshit. I can’t even imagine how he, and the rest of Black America, feel. I’ll I can do is offer my help to whoever wants it.