Category: lillian e smith

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“The critical moment is on us. Now is the time to deal with it.”: We Cannot be Moderate

As I was scrolling through social media a couple of weeks ago, a meme popped up that really caught my attention, and I have been thinking about it ever since. The meme shows Devarjaye “D.J.” Daniel, a 13-year-old from Texas who received a brain cancer diagnosis in 2018. Doctors gave him five months to live, and he has lived for seven years since that … Read More “The critical moment is on us. Now is the time to deal with it.”: We Cannot be Moderate

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We Must Remain Ever Vigilant of Ourselves

The generational trauma of oppression impacts everyone involved: the oppressed and the oppressor alike. While the trauma does not impact each in the same manner, it creates psychological trauma that each must endure. Lillian Smith points this out in Killers of the Dream when she writes “that the warped, distorted frame we have put around every negro child from birth is around every white … Read More We Must Remain Ever Vigilant of Ourselves

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“We’d find it hard to have enemies if we cared about what happened to them”: How the Construction of “Enemies” Harms Us All

Fear arises not just through a lack of action but also through, as Lillian Smith puts it, “the singsong voices of politicians who preached their demonic suggestions to us as if elected by Satan to do so.” The creation of an enemy, of an other, outside of ourselves, someone we look down upon as “uncivilized,” “unintelligent,” “inferior,” or “”bestial,” serves as a weaponization of … Read More “We’d find it hard to have enemies if we cared about what happened to them”: How the Construction of “Enemies” Harms Us All

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We Must Act to Ensure Our Freedom

A few weeks ago, we had a protest in our small, rural town about the administration’s immigration policies. We gathered on the side of the road supporting our neighbors and participating in our right to freedom of speech. Before I went to the protest, I talked to a few people about going; however, they didn’t want to go because they were afraid of what … Read More We Must Act to Ensure Our Freedom

“You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!

When most people think about racism and oppression they think about the oppressed. They think about individuals who live under the heel of the oppressor. They think about the atrocities that the oppressor commits. They think about the acts of resistance against the oppressor. They do this and then they label it “the Negro problem” or “the Jewish question,” placing the onus of the … Read More “You, the white people, invented race”: Now Ask Yourself Why!