As Dr. King told us, a riot “is the language of the unheard.” That’s why so many are quick to pat black people on the head when our blood has been spilled, because that’s easy, requires no sacrifice. It’s a way for white people and black people to keep in place what historians who study the antebellum South sometimes refer to as the “Magnolia” and “Sable” curtains. During a time in which white people beat and raped and “sold” black people, white people believed black people saw themselves as beloved members of the white family and appreciated the guidance of their wiser, more moral white
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