1619 Project

What an excellent book. Clearly written, very careful and insightful synthesis. Reading it myself it’s clear that racists' attempt to smear the scholarship is completely without merit. It’s a thoughtful history from a different perspective. Also meticulously researched and footnoted, the scholarship is much more careful than the standard (presumably out of self defense).

It’s rough reading in parts just for the unflinching litany of crimes and abuses. But an honest reckoning of history is essential for restoration. The book has lots of inspiration and some joy, too. The inclusion of poetry between history chapters was a smart idea.

It strikes me as like some of the German writing I’ve read about the Holocaust. A direct, meticulous description of hideous human rights abuses and the cultural and political forces that allowed it to happen. I admire the neutrality that some of the anti-Nazi education material brings to the subject. Not because the subject is neutral, and I’m sure the German authors aren’t trying to escape moral responsibility. But because it’s important to document the facts in a way that can’t be misunderstood or ignored. The absolute magnitude and horror of the crimes are self-evident. And often deliberately evoked at the monuments through displays meant to evoke empathy with individual sufferers.

We need writing like that in America, for slavery and subsequent subjugation of African Americans. I grew up with a grandmother who tried to convince me slaves were happier and better off under slavery. My brother in law believes racism doesn’t exist and wishes all those whiny Black people would just stop complaining. The US has never truly accounted for its crimes against its African-American people and this book is useful in setting a stake in the ground documenting all those abuses. (The chapter on medical experimentation.. I’m still upset about it.)

The final chapter is a call for reparations. At the start is a quote that really stunned me for its insight. “Wealth, not simply securing equal rights, is the means to security in America.”