On Monuments and More
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
This powerful article was published a few days ago by the New York Times. It has since been widely reproduced.
Ms Williams is described as a poet. She is a writer in residence at Vanderbilt University.
“I am a black, Southern woman, and of my immediate white male ancestors, all of them were rapists. My very existence is a relic of slavery and Jim Crow.”
We hope Keir Starmer, who seems to have disowned the Black Lives Movement, will read it.
This article was originally published by the New York Times on Fri 26 Jun 2020. Read the original here.
You want a Confederate monument? My body is a Confederate monument
The black people I come from were owned and raped by the white people I come from. Who dares to tell me to celebrate them?
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The rape of women is wrong regardless of who they are. The rape of black women by the slave masters was an abomination, as was, and is, slavery and exploitation, of anyone. However, a word of caution – there isn’t a ‘white gene’ nor a ‘black gene’. We need to understand racism not as biology but as a means of controlling the population. It is is part of the mechanism for the rich and powerful to stay in control. As Shelley said, ‘we are many, they are few’. Divide and rule, which was so clearly recognised by MLK among others, keeps the rich in power. There is a wonderful study (in 3 Volumes) by Theodore Allen ‘The Invention of the White Race’ where he explains the roots of racism and the invention of ‘whiteness’. I would recommend it.
Dear Caroline
Thank you for writing this powerful piece. It will give me food for thought. I’ve thought about African-Americans not knowing their ancestors and the feeling of helplessness that feeling would bring having felt that way before I traced some of my own ancestors. But you do know where you are from and that is bitter-sweet. I totally agree with your need to rid yourselves of street names, monuments, stations, statues and all artefacts that caused and continue to cause pain.