So thankful for this moment. I finally framed this amazing photo that I ordered from @Driftfotos on Etsy. Larry is debatably the best automotive photographer in the industry, and I’ve always wanted one of his… https://t.co/QudUDSu4Sz
Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory, or an acceptance of the way things are. It's a celebration of progress. It's an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible––and there is still so much work to do.
https://t.co/5XCRdnk3iR
Today reminds us that progress might be slow. It might take decades. But no matter what things might look like today, it’s always possible. Happy Pride month, everybody.
Reconstruction was hindered by propaganda that claimed it was a means of helping lazy and inept African Americans, a conspiracy against white southerners.
Meanwhile, the black community organized at record pace and was incredibly successful despite these setbacks.
19/
As this was done, paramilitary groups like the KKK performed domestic terrorism, attacking African Americans using their new freedom, as well as the white allies who helped them.
In this way, the Confederacy became an invisible empire enforced by law and violence.
17/
Meanwhile, white supremacists worked behind the scenes to create laws that could keep freed slaves as close "to the condition of slavery" as possible.
The developing laws were meant to hide the insidiousness of blatant white supremacy behind laws and government.
16/
Johnson installed white supremacists as governors in the south, including Florida's William Marvin, who told freed slaves to still call their masters "master" and that they were not equal to white people and to never believe otherwise.
15/
What we don't discuss much is Andrew Johnson, who took over following Lincoln's death. Johnson was a toxic white supremacist who fought against Reconstruction and denied dignity and rights for freed slaves.
This is what happened.
13/
In addition to not understanding what the Confederacy was, the myth that it simply went away when it surrendered militarily has done massive damage.
America re-absorbed the Confederacy and ingested its blatant white supremacy and continued its customs and laws.
8/
The Confederacy never died.
We absorbed it, and coded white supremacy into our laws and culture.
Our history was rewritten to give white supremacy shelter and safety in America.
What we learned in school were lies by omission.
Read this thread. You need to.