“But I am not impressed with America’s progress. I am not impressed that slavery was abolished or that Jim Crow ended. I feel no need to pat America on its back for these “achievements.” This is how it always should have been. Many call it progress, but I do not consider it praiseworthy that only within the last generation did America reach the baseline for human decency. As comedian Chris Rock says, I suppose these things were progress for white people, but damn.”
Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Linda hosts One-Liner Wednesday. Check out her blog for the rules and to see who else is participating this week.
Riddle from the Middle 
I agree that the changes should have happened a long time ago, and we have a long way to go. Things are not okay. I do NOT think we should be praised or get a pat on the back for doing what we are supposed to do. But I struggle with saying there has been no progress. Would the word improvement be a better word than progress? Is a D not better than an F minus? Or maybe it’s more like going from an F minus to an F plus. I’m genuinely trying to understand.
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It seems like her objection to the word progress is the implication that changes shifting away from systemic brutality and discrimination is praiseworthy. Sort of how “isn’t it good that we don’t own people anymore” doesn’t ring right. I believe the danger in lauding “progress” is that people unintentionally downplay the very real dangers facing Black people today. 💛
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I can see the risk of unintentionally downplaying, or distracting from real dangers. Thank you, Laura.
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Thank you for asking the question! Having the conversations is what moves us forward. 🙂
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Too many places are still a million miles from where we should be.
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Feels like everywhere. Sadly.
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Yes so true Laura. We have absolutely nothing to be proud of. It is sad to say that at this point America is still clueless.
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Over the last few years I’ve accepted that being clueless is a choice. All the resources are out there, easily accessible for anyone who cares to look. The number of people I know who choose disbelief is depressing.
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Yes I agree. When I hear someone objecting to removal of statues glorifying the confederacy and claiming southern heritage then I know they are clueless 🤦♀️
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Mr. Brown and Chris Rock are right. The more I read about black history, the angrier I get that my race could be so cruel for hundreds of years and in 2021, continues with its ugly racism. We can change this mindset, but it saddens me that it’s probably going to take many more generations to eradicate racism, if at all.
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This is the longest long game ever played. If I ever doubted the resilience of Black people I only have to look at how they’ve persisted through hundreds of years like this.
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Long game…so true…when it should have always been a short game or no game at all.
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yes-
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This was such a powerful book.
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How true. This should always be like this.
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I find it to be such a catch 22. We have to do better, we’re doing better than before, but it’s impossible for me to praise white people who laud this as progress.
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Yes, it is progress but it should have been done long time ago.
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