Do you think these historical events, rules, and laws still impact our society today?
These events, rules and laws still play critical roles in our society today. It's obvious even from commentary in some of the videos that racist ideas about immigrants bringing diseases to infect "our people" is still a popular tool used to manipulate folks into thinking that immigration is dangerous. What is further infuriating is that those same people don't acknowledge that the bringing of diseases originally came from Europeans bringing diseases and purposefully infecting Native Americans as a form of genocide.
What are your thoughts after viewing these videos?
My thoughts are of my privilege currently. As a white woman, this history and the effects that reverberate today are not something I've had to think about on a daily basis. I know that being Anti-Racist involves calling out my own privilege and a lot of work to learn about and actively work against these oppressive systems and right in this moment I'm thinking of a way to build a system for myself to incorporate active deconstruction of racist thinking in my own life and in my family.