The 1619 Project

began hearing about Critical Race Theory (CRT) 3 years ago and what I understood was that it covered U.S. History that was never taught in schools.  It did seem that our history had been whitewashed.  What I learned about the Jim Crow racism and the internment of Japanese people during World War II was out of school.  I learned about racial injustice by reading To Kill A Mockingbird.  I learned about Japanese internment by reading Hawaii.  My shocked awareness of the Holocaust came from reading Exodus.  I read these books between the ages of 14-17, in the late 1960s-early 70s.

As shocked as I was by these books, I told myself that things were better now and we were on the right track to being an inclusive country treating all people equally.  After all, the Civil Rights bills were passed in 1964-65 so there would be no more discrimination against people of color.  I did wonder why it took so long for black people to get the right to vote, never knowing then that they’d had that right since Reconstruction.  It had just been taken away again in the form of repressive poll taxes, literacy tests, and just plain terrorism in the Pres. Andrew Johnson administration.

The furor over CRT bothered me.  What was so terrible about it that Repubs like Gov. Abbott & Gov. DeSantis were on the warpath about it?  Why were textbooks being minutely scrutinized for any mention of slavery or internment?  Why were some people suddenly protesting about it and declaring it would make their children “uncomfortable”?  I saw The 1619 Project being offered on an eBook list and so I had to see if the library had it.  I remembered seeing 1619 being referenced a lot in connection with CRT and I decided it was about time to get the whole picture and understand what it was all about.

Nikole Hannah-Jones created The 1619 Project. Her series appeared in the New York Times, and she won a Pulitzer Prize.  The book I checked out from the library contained essays, poems, and short stories by many other writers as well.  Although it reads like a text book, I couldn’t put it down.  I was never taught that the first enslaved people arrived here in 1619, long before we became the U.S. 

I am totally convinced that there is rampant systemic racism in the U.S. and it’s rooted in slavery.  The masters (in the book they’re referred to as ‘enslavers’) soon realized they were vastly outnumbered by their slaves.  Fearing an uprising, they began putting restrictions on slaves.  That fear and belief that blacks were inferior began there and continues to be a thread to this day.

Why are so many black men killed by police at mere traffic stops?  Why did it take so long for the police in Uvalde to stop the mass shooter?  Could it be because of the color of their skins?  I hate to say it but I think it’s so.  Why are white Repub legislators making such a big deal of CRT?  It’s because facing the truth of embedded racism hurts.

I learned from reading this book that legislators have tried to do the right thing at various times.  During Reconstruction after the Civil War, blacks got the right to vote.  They could run for and win political offices.  Confederate property had been seized from the masters, divided up into plots and were awarded to former slaves who wanted to work the land and support themselves.  These were good things but when President Andrew Johnson took over after Lincoln’s assassination all of that was quickly reversed.  Jim Crow laws and injustice reigned.  I remembered those issues from Mockingbird.

Segregation was in force when I was born.  While my mom was pregnant with me, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled against segregation in Brown v. Board of Education.  When I began school, it was normal for me to have classmates of color.  I was shielded from the Civil Rights movement mostly because my Deaf parents couldn’t follow newscasters and so TV was rarely on.  Later, though, after Rev. Dr. King was assassinated, I saw pictures of protesters being threatened by police with snarling dogs and fire houses during past peaceful demonstrations.  I was shocked that such a thing happened.

When the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts were passed, I thought to my preteen self that surely now everything had been set right.  I didn’t realize how difficult life continued to be for black people.  The 1619 Project taught me that when the slaves were freed in 1863, they were basically dumped with no assistance whatsoever.  Many starved to death, homeless and without money.  That was bad enough but then I also learned that black people today continue to be at a disadvantage economically.  There’s also still discrimination with housing and jobs.  Passing laws didn’t make white supremacy go away.

In fact, we seem to be entering an “undo all the good” stage that occurred after Reconstruction.  The present SCOTUS has six justices determined to undo fundamental rights protected in the last 50-60 years.  First, they overturned Roe v. Wade which protected a woman’s reproductive rights.  They are now eyeing overturning the laws protecting gay marriage and privacy in the bedroom.  What’s next?  No doubt overturning Brown v. Board of Education and rights protecting disabled people.  Where does it end?  SCOTUS is taking a case next year that could completely undo the legitimacy of our votes. Radical right-wing supremacists are everywhere now: in government, the police force, and the military.  This is why we’re in the “undo all the good” period again.  White supremacy never left Congress and it seems like half the voters in this country support them.

The truth is painful.  But working through that pain instead of hiding or running from it is the only way to heal.  I wish everyone would read this book, especially the right wingers.  It won’t change the minds of the white supremacists but it may open the eyes of people deluded by the belief there is no racism anymore.

It needs to be taught in schools.  Immediately.