Culture in America used to be amazing. Yeah, maybe I was brainwashed, but things felt normal. I know for a fact that 2006 to 2009? The music? Insane. Most importantly, I felt like I understood my position in this world.
That belief has been, and is in the process of being, dismantled, clarified, and revealed in real time. It’s exhausting. I feel like I’ve been burnt out by whatever this country has going on right now.
Mainly because I know what’s going on is rooted in hate, not love.
I’ve been thinking recently about how advanced the world would probably be economically, culturally, and technologically if slavery in America had been properly rectified.
I know, that’s a crazy mic drop. But I don’t care. I stand by what I believe because I know it would benefit all people.
The advancement of Black Americans in this country, especially during the Civil Rights Movement, opened the doors for people of all backgrounds to make it in this country.
In the end, that whole movement didn’t even benefit our group in the ways we fantasized about or were promised. Many of the leaders of that movement were either killed or imprisoned.
You mix several wars, welfare policies, drugs, and systemic neglect into communities that are underfunded, overlooked, and overpoliced, and eventually it starts to feel like all that hope was for nothing.
Back to the mic drop.
When I say “rectified,” yes, I am talking about acknowledgement and reparations.
I don’t know what proper acknowledgement and reparations look like in terms of tangible or material things. Maybe I’ll discover that through writing this.
I’ve had ideas, theories, wishes, hopes, and dreams about what that might look like.
I really love being an American, and my experience in this country has been unique, just as unique as my ancestors’.
I understand that’s an interesting choice of words. I don’t want to frame everything negatively. But my awareness of the history I was taught versus the truth passed down through my own people is honestly crazy. A lot of what I learned in school feels historically inaccurate and distorted.
A lot of what I experienced feels distorted too. As I dismantled my own understanding of my ancestors’ experiences, I realized race isn’t real.
I already knew that intellectually, but actually integrating that into my life so I wasn’t constantly feeling personally attacked for existing? Yeah, that was a relief.
If you ask a white supremacist about the history of America, they’ll probably be able to paint a more direct picture of what happened and what’s still happening.
I’m not saying their beliefs are truth or reality, but they’ll openly discuss the actions, choices, and systems used to enslave and traumatize Black people, women, children, and other marginalized groups.
They’ll speak about it with pride. They’ll defend it like it’s honorable.
I’m not saying that to ruffle feathers. I just think it’s a reality most people don’t want to look at directly.
I also want to note that I don’t know if the average white American thinks like this at all.
Honestly, I think most people are too overwhelmed, distracted, or disconnected to think deeply about any of this.
Which is a problem, because the economy is tanking, the culture feels unstable, and people seem less trusting of each other by the day.
And unfortunately, I think many groups in America are now reckoning with the reality that this system eventually stopped benefiting them.
America was built on the backs of enslaved people, and the laws of this land were documented and created primarily by white men.
If I were a white man for a day, omfg, I would do whatever the fuck I want. I’d probably just drive around without my license for the day.
At least I wouldn’t have to wonder if a traffic stop could become life or death.
I never want someone who consciously or subconsciously fears me to have the power to decide whether I live or die.
Slavery is a part of human history. Historically, it has often had more to do with class and economics than “race.” Race itself is literally a construct. The word “race” was popularized by a French philosopher named François Bernier in the 1600s. The entire concept comes from Europe. It’s not even native to this land.
For whatever reason, ideologies were passed around and used as a mask to justify domination, greed, jealousy, and power under the illusion of “objective truth.” Somehow, the idea of race was born and integrated into the beliefs of the world.
If I’m being honest, I believe everything happens for a reason. I already had my phase of being a social justice warrior. I’ve argued with people about politics, morality, identity, and oppression. I’ve been angry at the world. I’ve hated myself and my skin before.
Yeah. I already lived through that.
I haven’t felt that way in a very long time, and honestly, I’m at peace.
I don’t really care about surface-level opinions anymore, and a lot of think pieces these days feel narcissistic and attention-seeking in nature.
Really, I just want people to understand that we are better together than apart. That we actually can know our neighbors. And that if groups want to organize themselves around religion, culture, ethnicity, or shared values, that should be their choice.
Now, I’m not here promoting segregation. However, it does remain true that many Black American communities developed strong economic and cultural ecosystems during and immediately after Reconstruction.
When Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow laws expanded throughout the South, many of those thriving communities were violently attacked, destabilized, or destroyed. Black Americans were terrorized, displaced, lynched, robbed of land, and often left unprotected by the law.
Imagine a group of people wanting to separate themselves from you by law, only to later come back and burn down your neighborhood while being protected by that same law.
That level of psychological instability gets passed down through generations.
Oh! A reparation idea just popped into my head.
The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 states:
“This amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime.”
That’s… extremely vague and very easy to manipulate within the legal system.
13th by Ava Durvaney explains in detail how that loophole contributed to systems that continued exploiting Black Americans long after slavery officially ended. I genuinely think anyone who wants a better future for society as a whole should watch that documentary.
If it were up to me, the updated amendment would be much more thorough. It wouldn’t just be about Black Americans. It would be about all Americans who have unknowingly been playing checkers inside a chess game.
My amendment would go something like this:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States or any place subject to its jurisdiction, including as punishment for a crime.
The United States acknowledges the historical and generational harms caused by slavery, segregation, racial terrorism, discriminatory housing policies, economic exclusion, and unequal enforcement of law against descendants of enslaved persons.
Congress shall have the power and responsibility to establish programs, protections, and investments designed to eliminate the enduring social, educational, economic, and legal disparities directly resulting from these systems. Such measures may include land grants, housing assistance, educational funding, business investment, healthcare access, and community restoration initiatives.”
To me, this sounds like a foundation where people could actually thrive. A country where people feel like the system governing them wants them to live safely and meaningfully.
Maybe that’s why I feel nostalgic about America sometimes. Even if I didn’t fully understand things back then, I believed in this country. I felt like I could make my dreams come true here, despite all the unnecessary trauma and bullshit connected to the color of my skin.
I believed in the American Dream.
Now it feels like that dream either died or transformed into something else entirely.
I’m not sure how we get back to unity without first going through chaos and destruction.
Then again, maybe we were never truly unified to begin with.
I just think it’s interesting how much more fun life felt when we were all living in ignorance.
