Very thought provoking. After having read the History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter, I had a limited understanding of eugenics, the native american boarding schools and the transformation of the word race. I have been taught about the Japanese Internment Camps. But, this was the extent to which i was exposed to the history of racism and just how much it has been swept under the rug. In the light of recent events, it just makes me think that if we don't "understand our history we are doomed to repeat it." I was completely unaware of the horrible medical acts that have taken place, the gasoline baths at the border town in El Paso and never even considered environmental racism. Its amazing how i have been taught some of this history under the context of "this was the necessary evil of the time" with no mention of any accountability or progress to make sure this doesn't happen again. But as we see from recent events, it is still taking place just on a different stage. So much to take in.
This was my thought as well! I was in high school when I learned about the Japanese internment. As a nation, we are so quick to point out the faults and actions of other nations, but we gloss over so much of the things we have done ourselves. I definitely feel like these actions contributed to how things are now. If you start out treating someone like they aren't human and don't do anything to change that, it will continue. We can't do better if we don't KNOW better.
These videos are able to communicate some of this country's greatest atrocities in just a few minutes each. It's definitely not the end of my learning but it's a start. My kids watched/listened along and we're talking about it. These are difficult conversations which is a signal to me that it's necessary. I feel like I was aware of many of these but would not have felt confident discussing them. The gasoline baths at the border was new for me. It was said in one of the videos that these events did not happen in a vacuum. It's important to remember that it can and is still happening today.