You know, the title of this section really threw me at first, but I\u2019m impressed with how accurate it ended up being. Early on in the first reading (the one this post is named after) a question is introduced, \u201cAre the conditions of slavery as important as the fact that it happened?\u201d This question is pretty loaded, but I\u2019m going to go ahead and say yes. The conditions are important to remember so that the reality of the situation cannot be glossed over or said to \u201cnot have been THAT bad.\u201d In that respect, this question is trying to protect against that exact mindset. Later in the reading (page numbers didn\u2019t print out, so I can\u2019t site, sorry), it gave the example of how \u201cHalf of all slaves were whipped\u201d has a different feeling than \u201cEvery few days, some slave would be whipped.\u201d And that is the point this question is trying to bring home. You have all the loopholes caused by phrasing, all the forgotten rights of those mistreated because some document someone didn\u2019t explicitly say something, or explicitly note that one specific thing needs enforcing. It\u2019s ridiculous and almost comedic.<\/p>\n
On Abraham Lincoln. So, I\u2019ll be honest, I\u2019m not a history buff and I\u2019ve kinda forgotten way more than I should have from AP US History (APUSH, ykwgo). That said, I was pretty shook when I read the excerpts from Lincoln\u2019s speech. Yknow, the whole white supremacy strand, not wanting equality, and all that. And, I get it, I do. Those were the times, blacks weren\u2019t even considered full-fledged humans at this point (which is just, uhhh disgusting? Appalling? Horrifying?). But Lincoln lost respect points from me today, I don\u2019t think I even like $5 bills anymore. Mostly kidding, but lowkey triggered. YET, there is hope and I\u2019ll cling on to it\u2014Lincoln could have been lying. He lied in the next quote about not planning to free the slaves at all. So maybe he was just saying what people wanted to hear in order to get their support. I don\u2019t think anyone knows for sure, but I feel like someone as smart and successful as Abe Lincoln… would understand ridiculous the notion of black people being not-people was. Maybe he somehow knew he was ahead of his time.<\/p>\n
This reading was really frustrating for a variety of reasons. America\u2019s history with racism and slavery is so murky and one-step-forward-two-steps-back that it\u2019s really no wonder why we\u2019re still having issues today. Slavery and Racism were said to have been ingrained in our society in the 1800\u2019s. Not to mention, a lot of the events from \u201cOr Does it Explode?\u201d were… pretty recent in the grand scheme of things. Freaky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You know, the title of this section really threw me at first, but I\u2019m impressed with how accurate it ended up being. Early on in…<\/p>\n