abduction death march to the coast waiting in dreadful dungeons for the dreaded unknown the middle passage for the survivors: arrival in the “new world” the auction block money changes hands work from dawn to dusk work to exhaustion work unpaid for centuries random violence resistance: the underground railroad, escape, rebellion A MOMENT OF HOPE emancipation! freedom! a few years of federal troops protecting rights 40 acres and a mule … whoops! america gets bored and federal troops leave, no acres, no mule jim crow takes over sharecropping lynchings pogroms A MOMENT OF HOPE brown v. board of education redlining private “academies” rise of the “suburbs” 16th street baptist church bombing segregation now, segregation tamorra, segregation foreva A MOMENT OF HOPE civil rights act voting rights act freedom summer deaths of james chaney, andrew goodman, michael schwerner assassinations of martin luther king and malcolm x 1968 election southern strategy, law and order, silent majority A MOMENT OF HOPE black power! black panthers DIY free breakfast program for kids war on drugs war on crime war on the poor mass incarceration school to prison pipeline random humiliations and lynchings by cops a long list of mournful names children arrested by cops in school for scribbling on desks, crying A MOMENT OF HOPE president obama the beer summit obamacare civil rights division enforces the law rise of the terrifying orangeman make america great again um when exactly was america great 2 more mournful names: george floyd and breonna taylor america suddenly notices that black lives matter: a moment of hope, or another variation on the old theme? |