white People Refuse To Handle The Truth

This narrative that black people who want an accurate reflection of history are "angry and resentful" leaves us with one logical takeaway:

White people don't want to know history because they can't handle the truth.

A thread. pic.twitter.com/YXDoUQReRU

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

First, let's be clear: The Founders were racists.

They weren't "products of their time." They KNEW slavery was wrong. They KNEW it was inhumane.

Gouverneur Morris, who literally wrote the Preamble said this during the Constitutional debates pic.twitter.com/CoOODu5BQQ

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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James Madison, who wrote the Constitution, "thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea that there could be property in men."

Even Lincoln was a white supremacist. That's not my opinion. He said it himself when asked about freeing slaves: pic.twitter.com/Rz1T3RfxRw

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

In the only book Thomas Jefferson ever wrote, "Notes on the State of Virginia," he dedicated pages to explaining why black people were inferior.

Washington knew slavery was wrong but wouldn't manumit his slaves. He stalked Ona Judge, a runaway, until the day he died.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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BUT here is the thing:

When these truths are pointed out by black people or actual historians, it doesn't mean we want to erase everything they did. It doesn't mean we don't think the founding fathers' legacy should be deleted.

We just want y'all to tell the truth.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

The problem is that many white people believe that being a racist is an all-encompassing trait that stains everything else a person does. They believe it is an evil feeling that lives inside the heart.

I do not.

I think racism is a noun.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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For instance:

The fact that police disproportionately shoot black people is racist. It does not mean that individual officers go to work hoping to kill black people. It means they work for a system that disproportionately target black Americans.

That is racism.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington and others did not explicitly say they hated black people.

They just created a system that dehumanized black people and treated black people as property. And, while we often focus on slavery, it was not just about slavery.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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White supremacy is the reason there is an electoral college There were more enslaved people in the south, which would give the South a political advantage if they counted slaves as whole human beings.

The founders' solution?

Count them as 3/5ths of a person.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

White supremacy is the reason every state has different voting laws.

Some states allowed free black landowners to vote, which was unthinkable to other states.

The founders' solution?

Every state gets to set its own rules.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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White supremacy is the reason behind America's military might.

Southern states didn't think the federal government should be able to raise an army because they feared black soldiers might invade the South to free their black brothers.

The Founders' solution?

The 2nd Amendment pic.twitter.com/MqUdnGG2p9

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

So, instead of facing these historical truths and force us to reconcile with how this country has treated black people and indigenous people since its inception, we'd rather lie about it.

And, in the vacuum created by this intentional whitewashing, racism flourishes

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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Why wouldn't you hate the idea of defunding the police if you didn't know that American policing descended from slave-catching rules?

Why wouldn't you think Confederate statues are monuments to white supremacist traitors if you believe the Civil War was about "states' rights?"

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

Why wouldn't you think black people are lazy and less intelligent if you didn't know about redlining and how it still influences school funding?

Why wouldn't you be against reparations if you didn't know how black ppl were excluded from the GI Bill, the New Deal & gov't loans?

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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Why wouldn't you think a speech at Mount Rushmore was a great idea if you didn't know how America stole the land from the Sioux after signing a treaty that said it belonged to them?

But white people are right about one thing:

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

Confederate monuments do represent history.

They represent the historical lengths this country has gone to whitewash the past. They represent the lie of "liberty and justice for all." They represent their willingness to ignore racism in order to honor whiteness in all its glory.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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Removing these symbols of white supremacy has nothing to do with anger or resentment.

If black people ever unleashed their anger, there is not a sword in the world that wouldn't be wet with throatblood.

But we know that's not the answer.

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

There is only one way.

See, a long time ago, we read another activist explained exactly how to eliminate racism and give our people justice.

It came from an admittedly whitewashed historical document but it still has a few relevant points, especially when he said:

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

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"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free:"

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) July 5, 2020

True Fans

Grace And Wisdom

Thank you to @VinceSchilling of @IndianCountry and many others who identified the proud Native man who is being harassed. He is Mr. Nathan Phillips. I’m reposting this video from “ka_ya11” on IG. This man’s words pierce my heart. The grace. The wisdom. The hope. pic.twitter.com/BKOA40SVq5

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) January 19, 2019

https://twitter.com/JonLionFineArt/status/1086807588681990149

President Obama: Truly The People’s President

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Here’s the full text of President Obama’s essay:

In the evening, when Michelle and the girls have gone to bed, I sometimes walk down the hall to a room Abraham Lincoln used as his office. It contains an original copy of the Gettysburg address, written in Lincoln’s own hand.

I linger on these few words that have helped define our American experiment: “A new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Through the lines of weariness etched in his face, we know Lincoln grasped, perhaps more than anyone, the burdens required to give these words meaning. He knew that even a self-evident truth was not self-executing; that blood drawn by the lash was an affront to our ideals; that blood drawn by the sword was in painful service to those same ideals.

He understood as well that our humble efforts, our individual ambitions, are ultimately not what matter; rather, it is through the accumulated toil and sacrifice of ordinary men and women – those like the soldiers who consecrated that battlefield – that this country is built, and freedom preserved. This quintessentially self-made man, fierce in his belief in honest work and the striving spirit at the heart of America, believed that it falls to each generation, collectively, to share in that toil and sacrifice.

Through cold war and world war, through industrial revolutions and technological transformations, through movements for civil rights and women’s rights and workers’ rights and gay rights, we have. At times, social and economic change have strained our union. But Lincoln’s words give us confidence that whatever trials await us, this nation and the freedom we cherish can, and shall, prevail.

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The White House inspires some of its inhabitants: https://t.co/5xrd5phASW pic.twitter.com/JzVjdEZlo0

— Cody Keenan (@codykeenan) August 1, 2017

Chat Away

Daniel Webster's 1832 speech on the abuse of executive power: "Nothing else but pure despotism" pic.twitter.com/0G2EHc9Fcv

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) February 4, 2017

At the Abraham Lincoln museum in Springfield IL pic.twitter.com/IxRBIIQ6iL

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) February 4, 2017

Abe Hangs Out With President Obama

Abe drops by his old haunts. #HauntedWH pic.twitter.com/7LQgFw9zQN

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) October 28, 2016

Cuba: Picture And Tweet Of The Day

President Barack Obama smiles next to a painting of President Abraham Lincoln at Havana’s City Museum during a visit to Old Havana, Cuba

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This says so much. #CubaVisit #Cuba @BarackObama @POTUS @lacasablanca @WhiteHouse @ric23 pic.twitter.com/4SvUWDm7Iu

— Luis Miranda (@LuisMiranda) March 20, 2016

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“The Toil And Sacrifice Of Ordinary Men And Women”

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President Barack Obama

Happy Presidents Day, everyone! Last week, I traveled back to Springfield, Illinois – where I got a chance to reflect a little bit on my favorite president and fellow Illinoisan – Abraham Lincoln.

As I said there, Lincoln wasn’t always the giant of history that we think of today. He didn’t have formal schooling. His businesses and his law practice often struggled. He left Congress after just one term because his opposition to the Mexican-American War damaged his reputation. But then, something happened that shook his conscience. Congress effectively overturned the Missouri Compromise, that flawed law that had prohibited slavery in the North and legalized it in the South.

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Over the next six years, his arguments with Stephen Douglas and others helped shape the national debate around slavery. And it was on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield where he uttered those brilliant words, that “A house divided against itself cannot stand;” and that “this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.”

Lincoln went on to become the first Republican President, and I believe our greatest president. Through his will, his words, and most of all, his character, he held a nation together and helped free a people.

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Late at night, I sometimes walk down the hall to a room Lincoln used as his office that contains an original copy of the Gettysburg address. I linger on a few words that have helped define our American experiment: “A new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Lincoln grasped, maybe more than anyone, the burdens required to give those words meaning. And he understood that it is through the toil and sacrifice of ordinary men and women that our country is built and freedom is preserved.

Pete Souza The Great: 2014 In Photos

January 28, 2014

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“At the annual State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol, Chuck Kennedy captured this poignant moment between the First Lady and U.S. Army Ranger Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg. Cory first met the President in 2009 at a D-Day ceremony in Normandy. Four months later, Cory was badly injured in Afghanistan and in a coma for three months. In early 2010, shortly after Cory came out of his coma, the President happened to be visiting patients at Walter Reed Hospital. As he walked into one of the patient’s rooms, hanging on the wall was a photo I had taken of the President and Cory in Normandy. The President then realized that he had met this badly injured Army Ranger at Normandy. Two years later, we were visiting Arizona, where Cory had gone home to further recuperate. The President asked if Cory would be able to greet him backstage. Amazingly, Cory was able to salute the President and walk across the room aided by a walker to shake hands with the President.” (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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February 4, 2014

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“Members of Congress vie for the President’s attention following a meeting with the House Democratic Caucus in the East Room of the White House.”  (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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My 2014 Year in Photos: http://t.co/VAgXxaChBf

— petesouza (archived) (@PeteSouza44) December 30, 2014

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March 1, 2014

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“The President talks with some of his national security advisors before a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine. I’m sure there will be people quick to comment about his wearing casual clothes and having his feet on his coffee table. Let’s keep perspective in mind: it was a Saturday, and a President is the President whether he’s wearing a suit on a weekday or casual clothes on a weekend. And a President, any President, isn’t disrespecting the office if he puts his feet on a table or a desk; he’s just being relaxed.” (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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March 18, 2014

The Day In Pictures

Pete Souza: Potus helps flotus off the stage at last night’s state dinner

Pete Souza: Pres Obama gives a thumbs-up to one of the stage participants before he signed a minimum wage Executive Order

VP: PHOTO: Talking the #ACA in Florida, the VP meets w/ moms & health care workers about enrolling before 3/31 deadline.

Interior: Happy 205th birthday to Pres. Lincoln! Let’s celebrate with this great photo of his memorial by Andrew Geraci. #dc

White House: Today, President Obama raised the minimum wage to $10.10/hour for federal contract workers. #RaiseTheWage

Barack Obama: Happy birthday, #16.