Wow, that's... not a resource I would recommend for learning about black history. Or really, any history outside right wing white bigot guys'. Which, if you think about it, is kind of most of American history (at least what we got when we were kids).
I was actually embarrassed the other day, going through a box of stuff from when I was a young teenager, to find I had a bandana with a confederate flag on it! I know it was from when I spent my summers down south, and it was just the "hip" thing to do, and I didn't fully understand the implications of such. But still, it was a visceral shock to find it in my stuff. I'm not even sure what to do with it. Burn it? Bleach it out and use it as a rag?
*nodnod* It's just so prevalent in the South. You can't go anywhere (at least not where I live) without seeing a Confederate flag on someone's truck or a shirt or something.
I grew up (and still live) in the area around Richmond. There were people in my class who genuinely believed and still argue that the Civil War was all about state's rights and had nothing to do with slavery, and that by displaying the Confederate flag they were doing nothing more than displaying their political beliefs of anti-federalism.
For the 4th of July there was someone who had a 13 colonies flag, four american flags, and two Confederate flags hanging from their house, just a block down from mine. I kind of wanted to punch them.
If your mom is religious, she might like the book I read on the history of the civil rights movement, since it emphasizes the role of the black church. I reviewed it here. Though it might be a little too academic for her, I don't know. He does get all down and dirty with the organizational politics--but there is still some very inspiring stuff in there.
I read the reviews on Amazon of the book you mentioned, and I could not draw a bead on the writer's position.
What is it that woke them up finally, after all these years of denial, during which they insisted that racism was a thing of the past?
Was it the research indicating that job applicants with white sounding names have a 50 percent better chance of being called back for an interview than their counterparts with black-sounding names, even when all qualifications are the same?
No.
Was it the study that found white job applicants with criminal records have a better chance of being called back for an interview than black applicants without one, even when all the qualifications are the same?
...
Could it be that they've read and been moved by the dozens of studies that show the cumulative health effects of racism and discrimination on people of color, and which indicate that doctors do indeed treat patients of color differently, and worse, than their white counterparts? Or perhaps the research that finds how even black women with college degrees, decent jobs and good incomes have infant mortality rates for their children that are higher than the rates for white women who dropped out before high school? And the way that researchers believe stresses associated with racial discrimination are implicated in the worse fetal and neo-natal health of these mother's children?
No.
Perhaps it's the research that shows black students being suspended and expelled from school at far higher rates than white students, even though there are no significant differences in the rates at which students of different races violate serious school rules?
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I was actually embarrassed the other day, going through a box of stuff from when I was a young teenager, to find I had a bandana with a confederate flag on it! I know it was from when I spent my summers down south, and it was just the "hip" thing to do, and I didn't fully understand the implications of such. But still, it was a visceral shock to find it in my stuff. I'm not even sure what to do with it. Burn it? Bleach it out and use it as a rag?
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Not at all.
Yeah. I've never had a confederate flag, but I can remember doing other racist things when I was a kid. I cringe.
Just throw it away?
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Well, I guess you could say that the Confederate flag is a matter of heritage, it's just a heritage of which one should be ashamed.
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For the 4th of July there was someone who had a 13 colonies flag, four american flags, and two Confederate flags hanging from their house, just a block down from mine. I kind of wanted to punch them.
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I read the reviews on Amazon of the book you mentioned, and I could not draw a bead on the writer's position.
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And on and on like that.
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