No Accident
The Miseducation of America
Michael Hall
It’s no accident, that
You learned about Helen Keller
instead of W.E.B. DuBois, and the
Watts and
L.A. Riots, but not those in Tulsa
or
Wilmington; or, that
You learned that George
Washington’s
dentures were made from wood,
rather than
the teeth of slaves; or, that
You learned about the New Deal
and black
ghettos, but never about redlining
and Black
Wall Street.
It’s no accident, that
You heard and learned about
“black on black
crime,” but white criminals have
never been
lumped together and discussed in
such terms
as their race, creed, color, or
gender identity; or, that
You learned about “states rights”
as the cause
of the Civil War, fought to preserve
the Union,
but not that slavery was
mentioned 80 times
in the articles of secession.
It’s no accident, that
Privilege is having history
rewritten
so that you don’t have to
acknowledge
uncomfortable facts. Racism is
perpetuated by
people who refuse to learn or
acknowledge all
of these truths and realities. But,
there is
nothing great about hate. On rare
occasions,
poetic justice is just the karma
due to
soul-writers and truthsayers who
carry their
truth in their heart, wielding words
as their only
weapons and calling it art; though,
it’s a hard
road to follow.