Hannah-Jones Reflection #3

Throughout Hannah Jones’s “The 1619 Project,” she has emphasized the idea that the efforts of African-Americans were what created and achieved the ideals of freedom and equality as the indisputable truth of American history. In her piece, Jones discussed the many things that African-Americans had contributed to most of America’s great successes and triumphs, including their contribution of cotton that accounted for “half of America’s exports and 66 percent of the world’s supply” back when cotton was considered to be the nation’s most valuable good.  This may relate to more recent immigrants, as they contribute to the diversity and prosperity of America by making a living there.

Through her use of “we” and “us,” Jones indicates that Black Americans were the ones who perfected democracy and allowed the rest of America’s citizens to prosper. In this case, it is not possible for the “we” and “us” to include every individual person with equality, because Jones’s words imply that it was not the white people who perfected democracy or contributed to America’s success, it was solely the Black Americans. In a sense, this seems to be a reasonable claim to make since white slave owners in the past mostly left labor to Black Americans and it seems that it was only when Black slaves rebelled that Americans became fully conscious of the concept of human rights for the first time. 

At the very core of the nation of the U.S.A., I don’t believe it to be an evil, unjust, and racist society. This is because determining evil is a subjective matter that pertains to the individual’s beliefs and moral principles. While most people today would agree that slavery was evil, it can’t be denied that slavery was useful and efficient for those with the authority to utilize it. In this case, it could be argued from said authority’s point of view that they have the right to utilize slavery and believe it’s not evil. However, that is not to say that slavery wasn’t unjust to the victims of slavery; it was the opposite for them. Given the subjective nature of evil, it can’t be said that the United States is inherently evil at its very foundation. As for whether or not the U.S.A. is a racist society, I would say that it’s not. I would even say that as a whole, the structure of the U.S.A.’s society supports a diverse and anti-racist climate. It is because of this diverse climate that the U.S.A. is able to progress so far as a nation by accepting all manner of techniques and belief systems from other nations, creating a melting pot of races that intermingle with one another for the sake of their freedoms and prosperity. While it is true that there are some areas in the U.S. where racism does occur, they cannot be said to be indicative of American society as a whole. As an Asian person living in America, I don’t act racist against other people as it would not benefit me in any way and would prevent me from making beneficial and enjoyable relationships with other people.