Hannah-Jones’ introduction essay to The 1619 project brings up many valid points. One of these points being that African American’s pushed the way forward for an America for where everyone would be equal no matter race, gender or sexual orientation. Jones states “black rights struggles paved the way for every other rights struggle, including women’s and gay’s rights, immigrant and disability rights.” Women and Black Americans to this day are still fighting for equality. There are the LGBTQ+ movements that are going on every year. I do not necessarily agree with the statement that “without the idealistic, strenuous and patriotic efforts of black Americans, our democracy… might not be a democracy at all.” I think this is a biased viewpoint and wrong. It is true that things would be very different today, but there is no doubt in my mind that this country would not be a democracy. I am not downplaying the impact of black people and their fight for equality, because everyone knows how important that was to the system we have today.
I do not think the USA is an “evil” society. Unjust? Yes. Racist? Yes. Evil, however has a certain Hitler, Mussolini connotation which I just don’t see or feel in the US. No one is born racist or with prejudiced thoughts. They’re all picked up at the home and neighborhood you grow up in. My position is that everyone should be treated the same because we are all God’s creatures put here to love and be loved. The hatred from one race to another, one religion to another, one sexuality/gender to another should simply not exist. How can we be a “just” society when everything is Darwin’s idea of “Survival of the Fittest”? Natural selection already evolved humans into complex systems that can think. Now we should all think together on how we can all step up, instead of stepping on others on the way to the top. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has the idea that they’re better or smarter than someone else because of their background. While some may be smarter in terms of books and degrees, there is still a lesson to learn from every person you meet because they’re living their own life that’s just as complex and important as yours. Basically what I’m getting as is to just treat everybody with the same respect whether they be the boss or a low level assistant.
