Thank you very much to Qasim and Ernest for this interview. This was a really helpful guide as to how to take anti-racism work to a deeper level. As a white person, I'm saying that white people need to do deeper work than we are right now, or our country wouldn't be where we are right now. I'm hearing you that taking action is what is needed. I definitely want to read Ernest's book and all the books mentioned - on the Black Panther Party and the James Baldwin book. But I'm not just looking to do a Book Club. I don't want to just sit around and talk and intellectualize. I'm hearing you about getting out of the book and just "talk" or quoting memes of Martin Luther King and moving more into community action. I don't have a great deal of extra money for donations, I donate whatever I can. But I do try to give mindfully when I can give. But I think especially those of us who are white can do a deeper overhaul of our financial lives, even for those of us who feel we are trying to give in a socially responsible way, and see what businesses we are supporting, either through our dollars or our labor and why, and make deeper decisions to change where we put our financial and labor support to more fully commit to anti-racism, morality and justice for ALL, not just the privileged few. Thank you again to Qasim and Ernest, I appreciate the education and will explore more ways to take a deeper level of action.
I am very inspired by what you are posting for Black History Month - followed one of your recommended people & just learned about the first Black woman physician- Rebecca Crumpler.
That was interesting. I live in England and am a "brown" person and poor. Yet I've never really experienced the racism and bigotry on a scale that Americans experience it. Why is that? What keeps American locked into this attitude towards people of colour? Mind you we may have had "servants" in the old days but we never experienced "slavery" in our midst. Don't get me wrong though. We have our bigots but it's not SO in your face! Maybe it's because we have brown and black people living together in the same neighbourhoods as white, wether rich or poor, since, well forever! They live in the same apartment complexes also. Nobody thinks anything of it. I lived in Canada for a few years from east coast to west and saw they way their neighbourhoods were "self segregated" whereas America did it intentionally. People like little dick AKA trump were the estate agents who had a "colour bar" even if you were well off! They wouldn't sell you a house for cash if you were black! I wonder what kept the bigots stuck in that time lock that says we will always NOT treat you well come hell or high water? Is it something in the water!
Vee, I understand where you’re coming from; my maternal ancestors were shipped from India to South Africa as indentured servants. Why indentured? Well slavery had been outlawed by the time the opportunities to literally mine the rich mines were discovered. Not to mention the food crops. Sadly, my maternal ancestors ALSO were essentially slave holders as they ran and owned literal plantations. My very racist albeit ‘brown’ mum said the Indians were brought over because the ‘blecks’ (said with a typical SA accent) were too lazy. I remember looking at her and thinking that she was incredibly mean, cruel and deliberately feigning ignorance. I was in my teens at the time but clarified that her great-great grandparents were hauled from India only BECAUSE slavery had been outlawed. Our ancestors were simply slaves but rebranded.🥺🙄
That's an interesting point Desiree. My mother was from India and although she never said anything bad about people generally, I notice when we were little she would cross the street if she saw a Pakistani person approaching and the look on her face could melt an iceberg! As we got older and she was "out of country" for awhile she softened. My dad fought in the last war. WW2. He joined up at the age of 17 because he had to witness his father come back from WW1 a complete basket case because he was mustard gassed. He stayed in the army for 24 years and fought the germans in many allied countries. Yet when we all (7 kids) finally settled in England the best friend to them both was a German woman whom we called Auntie Gertie! If others would realise that the people you've been "taught" to hate is not a way forward then racism will continue. I moved to another country in my late teens and never visited them for about 15 years for financial reasons but when I finally had a couple of bucks I went back and got another surprise. My mum's friend was a young lesbian woman! Believe me, it showed me that people can change if they are exposed to those changes throughout their lives. Unfortunately some people choose to live in a bubble and only stay associated with people who think like them which is what stops them progressing. Thanks for sharing your story ('-')
Vee, appreciate and love that journey (literal and figuratively) for you. Curious how the Pakistani person was ided as such as I’ve worn many a shalwar kameez, but there’s no moslem connection for my family.
I’m thrilled to learn that your family evolved. Most of my siblings haven’t and still feel the entitlement. I mean they grew up with Apartheid and my mum and her first husband had servants, yet they are brown people, themselves. Sigh.
My family "evolved" as you so quaintly put it because all 7 of us were born in five different countries which exposed us to different cultures that you don't understand by reading a book! I would encourage any young person to take these journeys of awareness to broaden their minds then maybe bigotry will stop being the number one issue all over the world. There are many races and religions living in England now than at any other time in history and except for the odd flare up of racial tensions they mostly co-exist in harmony. Of course we now worry about the far right that little dick AKA trump is exporting to the UK via his man child Elon Musk. The Reform party is an example. Each day the good in people shows itself. When the riots about asylum hotels, led by bigots happened, the people gathered around to protect them. The next day they were in the streets with garbage bags and brooms sweeping up the debris. Mostly women of course but some men also. They wanted to show their support for marginalised people and say we don't ALL feel this way. Maybe you should subscribe to a substack named "Escape The Plantation" authored by James Tolbert. He a Blackman in the USA who's trying to bring people into understanding that people are the same all over. Most want the best for their families. They don't want this constant strife. I've had some very worthwhile conversations on his substack as well as Qasim's.
Thank you for your article. The history of African Americans (black) and Native Americans (aka American Indians) is my parents' heritage. Our history also needs to be acknowledged, and the people given reparations. What my birth country did to both peoples is a disgrace and has never beenatoned for. The USA annihilated them, just like they did the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, but there have not been any reparations made for this crime against humanity, as they did for the Japanese.
Thank you very much to Qasim and Ernest for this interview. This was a really helpful guide as to how to take anti-racism work to a deeper level. As a white person, I'm saying that white people need to do deeper work than we are right now, or our country wouldn't be where we are right now. I'm hearing you that taking action is what is needed. I definitely want to read Ernest's book and all the books mentioned - on the Black Panther Party and the James Baldwin book. But I'm not just looking to do a Book Club. I don't want to just sit around and talk and intellectualize. I'm hearing you about getting out of the book and just "talk" or quoting memes of Martin Luther King and moving more into community action. I don't have a great deal of extra money for donations, I donate whatever I can. But I do try to give mindfully when I can give. But I think especially those of us who are white can do a deeper overhaul of our financial lives, even for those of us who feel we are trying to give in a socially responsible way, and see what businesses we are supporting, either through our dollars or our labor and why, and make deeper decisions to change where we put our financial and labor support to more fully commit to anti-racism, morality and justice for ALL, not just the privileged few. Thank you again to Qasim and Ernest, I appreciate the education and will explore more ways to take a deeper level of action.
I am very inspired by what you are posting for Black History Month - followed one of your recommended people & just learned about the first Black woman physician- Rebecca Crumpler.
That was interesting. I live in England and am a "brown" person and poor. Yet I've never really experienced the racism and bigotry on a scale that Americans experience it. Why is that? What keeps American locked into this attitude towards people of colour? Mind you we may have had "servants" in the old days but we never experienced "slavery" in our midst. Don't get me wrong though. We have our bigots but it's not SO in your face! Maybe it's because we have brown and black people living together in the same neighbourhoods as white, wether rich or poor, since, well forever! They live in the same apartment complexes also. Nobody thinks anything of it. I lived in Canada for a few years from east coast to west and saw they way their neighbourhoods were "self segregated" whereas America did it intentionally. People like little dick AKA trump were the estate agents who had a "colour bar" even if you were well off! They wouldn't sell you a house for cash if you were black! I wonder what kept the bigots stuck in that time lock that says we will always NOT treat you well come hell or high water? Is it something in the water!
Vee, I understand where you’re coming from; my maternal ancestors were shipped from India to South Africa as indentured servants. Why indentured? Well slavery had been outlawed by the time the opportunities to literally mine the rich mines were discovered. Not to mention the food crops. Sadly, my maternal ancestors ALSO were essentially slave holders as they ran and owned literal plantations. My very racist albeit ‘brown’ mum said the Indians were brought over because the ‘blecks’ (said with a typical SA accent) were too lazy. I remember looking at her and thinking that she was incredibly mean, cruel and deliberately feigning ignorance. I was in my teens at the time but clarified that her great-great grandparents were hauled from India only BECAUSE slavery had been outlawed. Our ancestors were simply slaves but rebranded.🥺🙄
That's an interesting point Desiree. My mother was from India and although she never said anything bad about people generally, I notice when we were little she would cross the street if she saw a Pakistani person approaching and the look on her face could melt an iceberg! As we got older and she was "out of country" for awhile she softened. My dad fought in the last war. WW2. He joined up at the age of 17 because he had to witness his father come back from WW1 a complete basket case because he was mustard gassed. He stayed in the army for 24 years and fought the germans in many allied countries. Yet when we all (7 kids) finally settled in England the best friend to them both was a German woman whom we called Auntie Gertie! If others would realise that the people you've been "taught" to hate is not a way forward then racism will continue. I moved to another country in my late teens and never visited them for about 15 years for financial reasons but when I finally had a couple of bucks I went back and got another surprise. My mum's friend was a young lesbian woman! Believe me, it showed me that people can change if they are exposed to those changes throughout their lives. Unfortunately some people choose to live in a bubble and only stay associated with people who think like them which is what stops them progressing. Thanks for sharing your story ('-')
Vee, appreciate and love that journey (literal and figuratively) for you. Curious how the Pakistani person was ided as such as I’ve worn many a shalwar kameez, but there’s no moslem connection for my family.
I’m thrilled to learn that your family evolved. Most of my siblings haven’t and still feel the entitlement. I mean they grew up with Apartheid and my mum and her first husband had servants, yet they are brown people, themselves. Sigh.
My family "evolved" as you so quaintly put it because all 7 of us were born in five different countries which exposed us to different cultures that you don't understand by reading a book! I would encourage any young person to take these journeys of awareness to broaden their minds then maybe bigotry will stop being the number one issue all over the world. There are many races and religions living in England now than at any other time in history and except for the odd flare up of racial tensions they mostly co-exist in harmony. Of course we now worry about the far right that little dick AKA trump is exporting to the UK via his man child Elon Musk. The Reform party is an example. Each day the good in people shows itself. When the riots about asylum hotels, led by bigots happened, the people gathered around to protect them. The next day they were in the streets with garbage bags and brooms sweeping up the debris. Mostly women of course but some men also. They wanted to show their support for marginalised people and say we don't ALL feel this way. Maybe you should subscribe to a substack named "Escape The Plantation" authored by James Tolbert. He a Blackman in the USA who's trying to bring people into understanding that people are the same all over. Most want the best for their families. They don't want this constant strife. I've had some very worthwhile conversations on his substack as well as Qasim's.
Thank you for your article. The history of African Americans (black) and Native Americans (aka American Indians) is my parents' heritage. Our history also needs to be acknowledged, and the people given reparations. What my birth country did to both peoples is a disgrace and has never beenatoned for. The USA annihilated them, just like they did the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, but there have not been any reparations made for this crime against humanity, as they did for the Japanese.
I just ordered two copies, one for myself and one for our church library! 😊 thank you
🙏🏻❤️👏🏻👏🏻
we mustttttt come to terms and reckon with our bigoted american selves. period
not body has any freedom unless all do. hundreds of years of persecution and rewriting history is OUT.
I love this dude. Follow him on instagram, it’s great to see him here.
Mr. Crim is the real deal.