5 entries.
So powerful, and, as others have said, still so relevant today. Each phrase stays with you for a long time after reading. I like that it doesn't pull its punches, so as a white person reading I felt a visceral discomfort. A necessary reminder that the movement for racial justice needs real allies, not just people who 'talk the talk'. Active anti-racism is the only way!
Such a great concept. It is so necessary to be able to unearth and platform snapshots of history like this, especially those that came from young people's perspectives. I wonder what else the individuals who took part would include if they revisited this idea as elderly people in 21st-century America.
‘The statements that comprise this book were elicited from the teenage participants in a camp experience at the Encampment for Citizenship in White Plains during the summer of 1969.’
So much time has past yet so little has changed. So much of what was said then chimes with us today. Let us hope that the power and courage of todays young people brings an end to this rotten system of racism and oppression
So much time has past yet so little has changed. So much of what was said then chimes with us today. Let us hope that the power and courage of todays young people brings an end to this rotten system of racism and oppression
There is something here as understated and powerful as Studs Terkel's, 'Working'. A collection of voices preserved that highlight how things have changed, and, really, they haven't. Often witty, or glib, many of these responses reveal a harsher truth.
'White is a flesh colored bandaid'
I found this on the Stuff White People Do blog, 13 Dec 2009:
[excerpt]
'The point that I see this 40-year-old, teenager-inspired cartoon making is that ordinary, everyday elements of daily life have been arranged to benefit white people, and not necessarily other people. If something as simple as a bandage indicates that "white" is the assumed default racial status in America, then in what other hundreds, even thousands of ways is that true?'
I found this on the Stuff White People Do blog, 13 Dec 2009:
[excerpt]
'The point that I see this 40-year-old, teenager-inspired cartoon making is that ordinary, everyday elements of daily life have been arranged to benefit white people, and not necessarily other people. If something as simple as a bandage indicates that "white" is the assumed default racial status in America, then in what other hundreds, even thousands of ways is that true?'