>>> WE IN AMERICA ARE HAVING
THIS BIG DEBATE RIGHT NOW ABOUT
HISTORY, AND FUNDAMENTAL TO THAT
DEBATE IS A QUESTION.
WHAT IS HISTORY FOR?
WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?
THE ANSWER IS THAT IT DEPENDS.
HISTORY AS JOHN MEACHAM HAS SAID
ON THIS SHOW CAN EITHER BE A
BEDTIME STORY MEANT TO BUCK UP
YOUR PATRIOTISM AND MAKE YOU
FEEL GOOD, OR IT CAN BE A
LESSON, A CAUTION AND AN
INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO AVOID THE
PERILS OF THE PAST AND HOW TO
ACHIEVE REPAIR.
WHEN IT COMES TO THE RACIAL
HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY THERES
A REAL FIGHT GOING ON.
LOTS OF AMERICANS PARTICULARLY
ON THE RIGHT WANT THE BEDTIME
STORY.
THEYRE INSISTING ON IT, AND SO
THEYRE IN A KNOCK DOWN, DRAG
OUT FIGHT TO SHUTDOWN
INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS LIKE
CRITICAL RACE THEORY WHICH
SIMPLY ASKS HOW OUR RACIAL
HISTORY INTERSECTS WITH THE
CONSTRUCTION OF OUR LAWS, OR
JOURNALISTIC HISTORICAL RECK NGZ
LIKE THE 1619 PROJECT.
TOO MANY PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP
AMERICANS BLINDLY NUMB TO THE
RAW, RACIAL VIOLENCE IN OUR
COLLECTIVE PAST.
THEY WANT AMERICANS TO JUST SHUT
UP AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT AMERICAS
FOUNDING AND SING FROM THE
HYMNAL SO THEY DONT EVEN HAVE
TO THINK ABOUT DEALING WITH THE
REPERCUSSIONS OF OUR TRUE
HISTORY AND THE NEED FOR REPAIR.
THEY WANT TO KEEP COMFORTABLY
LIVING OFF THE PROFITS OF WHAT
RIGHTLY CALLS PIRACY WITH NO ONE
EVER ASKING TO EXAMINE THE
CONTENTS OF THE LOOT BOX.
BUT THE PAST JUST WONT DIE NO
MATTER HOW HARD THE DAUGHTERS OF
THE CONFEDERACY FIGHT TO REWRITE
SLAVERY AS HAPPY BLACKS SINGING
IN THE FIELD IN OUR TEXTBOOKS
AND HOW PERSISTENT THE GAUZY
MYTHS ABOUT THE SLAVE HOLDING
FATHERS REMAIN.
MANY AMERICANS NEEDED THE
WATCHMEN TO TEACH THEM ABOUT THE
1920 RACE MASSACRE IN OKLAHOMA
IN WHICH A WHITE MOB BURNED,
SHOT AND USED MILITARY PLANES TO
FIRE BOMB THE GREENWOOD DISTRICT
WHERE BLACK FAMILIES HAD CREATED
A SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY DECADES
AFTER ENSLAVEMENT.
AN INCREDIBLE VISUAL THAT SHOW
HOW PROFOUND THE LOSS WAS, THE
THEATER, THE BARBERSHOPS, THE
BAKERIES, STATELY HOMES AND
STORES THAT WERE BURNED TO THE
GROUND BECAUSE WHITE TULSANS
HATED THE FACT THAT BLACK PEOPLE
HAD BUILT SOMETHING OF THEIR
OWN.
THEY USED THE SAME LIE THAT
LAUNCHED MORE THAN 4,000
LYNCHINGS IN THAT ERA, ACCUSING
A BLACK MAN OF ASSAULTING A
WHITE WOMAN AS AN EXCUSE TO WAGE
WAR ON AMERICAN TOWN.
IF THE MASSACRE THAT WIPED OUT
THE COMMUNITY NICKNAMED BLACK
WALL STREET WERE JUST A ONE OFF,
IT WOULD BE TRAGIC, BUT IT
WASNT A ONE OFF.
TULSA WAS ONE OF DOZENS OF
SIMILAR ATROCITIES ACROSS THIS
COUNTRY IN THE DECADES AFTER THE
CIVIL WAR AND THE COLLAPSE OF
RECONSTRUCTION.
IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, IN 1866
SOME BLACK FAMILIES BURNED TO
DEATH IN THEIR HOMES BECAUSE THE
RACIST MOBS WHO ATTACKED THEM
WOULDNT LET THEM RUN OUTICIDE
AFTER SETTING THEM ON FIRE.
IN NEW ORLEANS THAT SAME YEAR
BLACK FREEDMAN ATTEMPTING A
PEACEFUL MARCH WERE MET BY A MOB
OF FORMER CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS
AND DOZENS WERE KILLED.
THE SPARK FOR THE WILMINGTON
NORTH CAROLINA RACE MASSACRE IN
1898 WAS A CREATION OF A WHITE,
BLACK FUSION GOVERNMENT WHICH
WAS VIOLENTLY CUT DOWN.
THE EARLY DECADES OF THE 20th
CENTURY WERE AN ERA OF PURE
RACIAL MAYHEM AS WAR WAS WAGED
ON THE FORMERLY ENSLAVED AND
THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN
IN THE SOUTH AND IN NORTHERN
CITIES WHERE BLACKS WERE FLEEING
AND SEEKING WORK AND A DECENT
LIFE.
FOUR YEARS BEFORE TULSA THERE
WAS A SERIES OF RACE MASSACRES
IN EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS, IN
JULY OF 1917 IN WHICH MORE THAN
100 BLACKS WERE BEATEN, SHOT AND
LYNCHED BY WHITE MOBS ANGRY OVER
LABOR COMPETITION.
1919 WAS A PARTICULARLY HELLISH
YEAR WITH BLACK, MEN, WOMEN AND
CHILDREN MASS MURDERED IN
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, WASHINGTON,
D.C., AND ELAINE, ARKANSAS,
WHERE BLACK SHARECROPPERS WERE
MASSACRED FOR DARING TO TRY TO
UNIONIZE.
TWO YEARS AFTER TULSA IN 1923
CAME THE RACE MASSACRE THAT
WIPED OUT ROSEWOOD, FLORIDA.
AND THATS JUST SOME OF THE
HISTORY.
THERE ARE DOZENS MORE OF THESE I
CAN TELL YOU ABOUT, AND YOUVE
PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF ANY THEM
BECAUSE AMERICA DOESNT DO
HISTORY, WE DO BEDTIME STORIES.
THATS WHY WE DONT UNDERSTAND
THE WAY WE ARE, THE GUN VIOLENCE
UNIQUE IN THE WESTERN WORLD, THE
RACIAL MISTRUST, THE POVERTY
THAT BREAKS DOWN ALONG RACIAL
LINES.
THE PERSISTENCE OF VIOLENT WHITE
NATIONALISM THAT TODAY THREATENS
OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.
THESE THINGS HAVE DEEP, UGLY
ROOTS INEXTRICABLY TIED TO
SLAVERY AND ITS AFTERMATH.