ABOUT

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I am a suburban white mom who watched the George Floyd video and thought, "How in the H--- did we get here?!?" Like most of America, I was literally sick, and I decided I needed to learn how we got here. This is my attempt to understand the black experience, one so different from mine, to try and figure out what and how we as whites need to change to make this country a true democracy FOR ALL.

Beginning with 1921, I have researched one incident per year up until now, 2020,  of the horrible treatment of African Americans in this country and I present those to you in this blog. For each story I tell, there are hundreds more. For every murder and lynching, there are thousands more whose stories are never told. For every injustice, there are countless more- I am barely touching the surface of the crimes against blacks in this country through the centuries. I have literally spent hundreds of hours on this project.

This has been one of the most gut wrenching experiences of my life. But also one of the most transformative in gaining empathy, understanding, and learning to "mourn with those that mourn." I have cried, I have lost sleep, I have been brought to my knees, praying to a God I believe in for relief of the suffering which our black brothers and sisters have and continue to endure.

As a former history teacher, I am ashamed to say that I did not know over 95% of this information. There is a failure in our education system, even for the college educated, to know our whole history. This is my small attempt to help rectify that.

I am a new person- even though I still have much, much more to learn. There is always room for growth, and as long as I live, I am committed to growing in this area.

Thank you for joining me in this journey. 

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