That was an excellent piece and I appreciate you writing it. It makes me feel uncomfortable enough to WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL THE SHIT that the anti-wokist folks are so afraid their children will find out they’re afraid of
I interviewed Hanks once (briefly) and badly wanted to drag him home to meet Mom.
Saw him on Stephen Colbert recently talking about his first book, I'm paraphrasing but when Stephen asked Tom what the hardest thing was about writing it, he said something about sitting down in front of the laptop. A shoutout to writers everywhere!
Your comment made me visualize the scene in You've Got Mail where he sits at his laptop, lifts his hand dramatically into frame, points one finger down, and smirks before typing.
I didn't know about the Tulsa Massacre until a few years ago, and I am 67 years old. Also, when I was going to high school in the 70's, nothing was taught about the WWII Japanese internment camps even though there were many Japanese families living around me in Eastern Oregon who were personally affected by this atrocity. I learned about this shameful point in history over dinner conversations of sticky rabbit and Okazu at my Japanese friends' homes.
I forget when exactly I heard about it first, but yeah, I wasn't much younger than I am now (63). That was about the same time I first heard about the Wilmington Coup, and *I've lived in NC all my life*. I forget what they taught us in school back in the 70s about Reconstruction beyond "it failed", but I know for sure they never mentioned that bit.
As a white person, I felt the same outrage when I first learned of the Tulsa race riots, it was maybe 15, 20 years ago. Also the rage at learning of sunset towns and lynching parties, with commemorative postcards, why did I have to find out about this incidentally? Why were we not taught this in school? I am so grateful that my children had a more balanced history education. But I live in godless New York so our curriculum is a bit more inclusive than what one might find elsewhere.
3rd grade teacher here. My students appreciate learning about history, the good and the not. Sometimes I introduce stuff with “This will break your tiny hearts,” but they don’t shy away.
I've been a history buff all my literate life -- and I am an old man now -- yet I had not heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre until a few years ago. It was likely here, through Wonkette, that I first learned of it.
There are many things to be embarrassed about in American History, besides all this, there's the treatment of the indigenous people from day one. The government failing to honor any of the treaties with the tribes.
Also:
Manifest Destiny.
The blatant religion of "capitalism" over the environment. Ken Burns' "American Buffalo" documentary just about killed me.
And as a reminder that this is International Women's Day. The treatment of women as property with no rights to speak, or as livestock.
I tried giving up F bombs for Lent, but that is one giant "fail" for me.
I got pretty ticked off when I heard that Father Junipero Serra, and Columbus were not such cool dudes. Growing up in California we went on field trips to missions, and of course celebrated Columbus Day.
The whitewashing of history isn’t limited to how African-Americans were treated. I remember learning about Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh without once hearing about their rabid antisemitism and Nazi sympathies.
While the Tulsa Massacre is probably the most extreme of these actions, the violent destruction of black townships happened all over the South. Look up the Rosewood Massacre in Florida or the Charleston Race Riots of 1919. Basically, anytime black people got uppity in the South, that was it.
The fact that more Americans learned of the Tulsa Massacre by watching Watchmen on HBO, and I bet many of them thought it was a fictional plot device.
That’s where I first learned about it. It’s a travesty that a superhero mini series gives us a more accurate representation of history than our schools.
Where “uppity” meant having as much, let alone more, than even the poorest and most disadvantaged of their white neighbors, or gawd forbid, trying to vote or organize politically in any way, or sometimes just *looking* at someone white—*especially* women—the wrong way.
That was an excellent piece and I appreciate you writing it. It makes me feel uncomfortable enough to WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL THE SHIT that the anti-wokist folks are so afraid their children will find out they’re afraid of
I interviewed Hanks once (briefly) and badly wanted to drag him home to meet Mom.
Saw him on Stephen Colbert recently talking about his first book, I'm paraphrasing but when Stephen asked Tom what the hardest thing was about writing it, he said something about sitting down in front of the laptop. A shoutout to writers everywhere!
Your comment made me visualize the scene in You've Got Mail where he sits at his laptop, lifts his hand dramatically into frame, points one finger down, and smirks before typing.
Great words Dok. Great story.
OK, the good news is that people discussed the Wilmington Coup, the Tulsa Massacre, and Red Summer.
The bad news is we talked about it because the Greensboro Massacre happened.
I didn't know about the Tulsa Massacre until a few years ago, and I am 67 years old. Also, when I was going to high school in the 70's, nothing was taught about the WWII Japanese internment camps even though there were many Japanese families living around me in Eastern Oregon who were personally affected by this atrocity. I learned about this shameful point in history over dinner conversations of sticky rabbit and Okazu at my Japanese friends' homes.
I forget when exactly I heard about it first, but yeah, I wasn't much younger than I am now (63). That was about the same time I first heard about the Wilmington Coup, and *I've lived in NC all my life*. I forget what they taught us in school back in the 70s about Reconstruction beyond "it failed", but I know for sure they never mentioned that bit.
Ta, Dok. Like Hanks, I learned about the Tulsa Massacre from the newspaper. I loathe and detest everyone who whitewashes history.
As a white person, I felt the same outrage when I first learned of the Tulsa race riots, it was maybe 15, 20 years ago. Also the rage at learning of sunset towns and lynching parties, with commemorative postcards, why did I have to find out about this incidentally? Why were we not taught this in school? I am so grateful that my children had a more balanced history education. But I live in godless New York so our curriculum is a bit more inclusive than what one might find elsewhere.
https://www.nps.gov/afbg/index.htm
3rd grade teacher here. My students appreciate learning about history, the good and the not. Sometimes I introduce stuff with “This will break your tiny hearts,” but they don’t shy away.
I've been a history buff all my literate life -- and I am an old man now -- yet I had not heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre until a few years ago. It was likely here, through Wonkette, that I first learned of it.
There are many things to be embarrassed about in American History, besides all this, there's the treatment of the indigenous people from day one. The government failing to honor any of the treaties with the tribes.
Also:
Manifest Destiny.
The blatant religion of "capitalism" over the environment. Ken Burns' "American Buffalo" documentary just about killed me.
And as a reminder that this is International Women's Day. The treatment of women as property with no rights to speak, or as livestock.
I tried giving up F bombs for Lent, but that is one giant "fail" for me.
I was in my fifties and had to find out about it from a Chinese-born Australian. Next question: what else haven't we been told?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer
I sure didn't learn about the 1898 Wilmington coup/massacre in my required yearlong History of NC course.
I got pretty ticked off when I heard that Father Junipero Serra, and Columbus were not such cool dudes. Growing up in California we went on field trips to missions, and of course celebrated Columbus Day.
The whitewashing of history isn’t limited to how African-Americans were treated. I remember learning about Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh without once hearing about their rabid antisemitism and Nazi sympathies.
Yo tambien.
While the Tulsa Massacre is probably the most extreme of these actions, the violent destruction of black townships happened all over the South. Look up the Rosewood Massacre in Florida or the Charleston Race Riots of 1919. Basically, anytime black people got uppity in the South, that was it.
The fact that more Americans learned of the Tulsa Massacre by watching Watchmen on HBO, and I bet many of them thought it was a fictional plot device.
Look at the census map in 1920. Lots of black towns in America. In Oklahoma.
Look at the census map in 1940. Lots of blank spaces.
We know about Tulsa because people survived.
That’s where I first learned about it. It’s a travesty that a superhero mini series gives us a more accurate representation of history than our schools.
Where “uppity” meant having as much, let alone more, than even the poorest and most disadvantaged of their white neighbors, or gawd forbid, trying to vote or organize politically in any way, or sometimes just *looking* at someone white—*especially* women—the wrong way.
Removing Confederate monuments is erasing history, though, right?