My heart is heavy after the last video about the Jim Crow Museum. I wish I had had more time to work my way through this class before the very end, because I need more breaks to process the information than I expected. Even the stuff you know hits you hard every time you are faced with it.
The Obama imagery, in particular, sickened me. It's easier for our minds to distance themselves from something that happened 60 years or more ago, but faced with those hideous images from a decade ago, there is no way to detach. People really still feel this way. It's devastating.
This is such a weird feeling because I've been cautious about making any race topics about me or about my "White feelings"... so it's strange to be invited to explore them outside of personal conversations with people close to me.
To answer the Qs- YES history informs everything today- our bias, our beliefs, our systems, trauma passed down through generations, everything.
This is so powerful, this whole course. I am extremely grateful it was offered at no cost at a time when many of us have less money than usual but more time. I wish I could go slowly through it to really absorb everything, but I understand the time restrictions must be necessary. Either way, it's helping me grow and make connections in a powerful way, so thank you!