2019 marks the 400th year since enslaved Africans were brought here, before this was even a country. Black people have only had any semblance of full citizenship for about 50 yrs. I don't think the public always grasps the enormity of state-sanctioned oppression on that timeline.
If you kick someone for 350 years, and then stop kicking them (but really just kick them in a different way) for a *seventh* of the amount of time you spent kicking them, it would be completely disingenuous to look at the person and be like, "What's wrong with you? Just get up."
I just think it's worth reflecting on the incessant, intergenerational violence that black folks in this country have experienced, and the sheer amount of time they've experienced it for. All things considered, it's remarkable what our community has done in spite of this history.
The Obama Diary 