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The article I am responding to is “Five myths about Black history” from The Washington Post. The author Keisha N. Blain writes about the misconceptions that people have over black history and the importance of acknowledging the truth. She argues that becasue of our lack of knowledge, many myths are spread about Black past. The first myth that she presents is that slavery was solely a southern phenomenon. Slavery was not limited to the south. In fact it was very common in the northern states such as New York and New Jersey. They reason that people might think that slavery ended earlier is because it was banned in New York in 1827 whereas it was banned across the US in 1863. It is important to acknowledge the accurate past and view the entire nation becasue every individual’s experience mattered. Every individual impacted society in some way. We cannot simply forget the history of all of the slaves who suffered in the north. Knowing accurate information is important because we don’t want to discredit the sacrifice of millions of people. Another myth that Blain brings up is that Abraham Lincoln ended slavery and freed the people. This is not necessarily inaccurate but it is also not accurate. People only give credit to Lincoln for the abolition becasue of the emancipation proclamation. But in reality, it did not end slavery or even free a large number of people. It allowed Black people to enlist in the union army which allowed them to confiscate land and declare themselves free. Additionally there were many other leaders including Fredrick Douglas and Maria Stuart that contributed to building the movement to end slavery. It is important to recongnizre the work that all the people did. there was not just the work of a single white man that changed history. This was a powerful movement started by powerful black people. It is important to acknowledge that these people did not wait to be rescued. they took matters into their own hands and changed the course of history for themselves. The article mentions three more myths including that the black power was separate from the civil rights movement, that the Tuskegee study infected black people with syphillis, and that the Brown v. Board of education ended school segregation. These are not completely true and there were a lot more people and history behind these things. these myths demonstrate the fact that history is written by white people who may white wash it. It is important to look deeper than a history book and look into first person sources. there is so much to learn from our past if we look into different sources and find the real truth.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/kamala-harris-woman-vp/2020/10/29/2764734c-188c-11eb-82db-60b15c874105_story.html

This article addresses the issues that women face in this country that men will never understand since they have never been in a women’s shoes. Kamala will change this country becasue she knows the challenges that a women faces. She knows them and she has suffered through them which will motivate her to eliminate them. As a woman, she will help many others becasue she has lived the struggle. This affects me and millions of other women in America because we have never had a leader who can identify with us. Being a woman and sympathizing with a woman are two totally different things that do not result in the same affect. A good analogy of these two positions is that you have an essay due tomorrow or your friend has an essay due tomorrow. You are going to stay up all night and focus really hard to make sure that your essay is ready for tomorrow. If your friend has an essay due then you might stay up a little later and help a little bit but really it is not your priority. This is the difference between a man handling a woman’s problem and a woman handling a women’s problem. Once Kamala steps into office, she will prioritize issues that have affected her and millions of other women. She will represent us and provide us with change which will hopefully lead us to a fairer society. For me personally, this change may result in my extended family realizing the struggles that I face and hopefully they will be more understanding. At new trier, Kamala might affects us by bringing attention to the fears that girls face. Hopefully new trier will acknowledge her presence and see the struggles that girls must face in order to achieve positions of power. I hope that New Trier will create programs to teach students the disadvantages that women have faced because of their sex and ask students to find ways to eliminate this struggle. This will not be an easy task but as a community we can accomplish large goals.

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I think that this article made me realize that we are looking at the world through a pair of glasses that eliminates the ad form the world. if we take off those glasses and acknowledge the real world, we can see the disparities that flood our world. This article addressed how when we think of racism in the school system, we think of funding disparities and bullying. However, that is only a piece to the injustices that black students across America face. Assignments ignore the brutal and cruel history that black people have faced in America. This girl made her teacher acknowledge her family’s past and honor it. This girl has brought up an issue that we need to recognize. There is a trend in assignments that are focused on a certain people’s past and that needs to end becasue it dishonors other people’s past. I think that in our class we could focus on assignments that celebrate people’s ancestry and assignments that encourage unique input. This class should be inclusive and encourage each persons culture to shine through. At new trier, I think that a lot of the assignments are targeted towards a certain ancestry or race and that needs to end. Although majority of our population is a certain race, we should create more inclusive assignments because those who are not of that race feel excluded and unimportant. Additionally, assignments that are more inclusive can also help us learn form each other’s cultures and not make mistakes that have been made in the past. Honoring each other’s culture is of the utmost importancy becasue it can teach us many lessons. In my personal life, I sometimes target my writing or work to certain groups of people, and my writing could be much stronger if I include people from all walks of life. I think that people all have lessons to share and that every persons story is valuable to the world.

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