Just like most people, I am sick of it. I'm sick of pointing things out and watching as change happens slowly, if at all. So many others have spent their lives trying to change the system and are met repeatedly with the same speeches of "change takes time."

In 2021, no the hell it doesn't.

We watched and screamed as, in four years, Trump made several Supreme Court appointments that will have an impact on the country for years to come. We watched as state governments manipulated laws to oppress marginalized communities. And yet, we also watched and contributed to seeing Georgia — a state that's been a "red state" since red has been red — turn blue. So many campaigned, called and held the lines led by Stacey Abrams, LaTosha Brown and others. And they did it, comparatively, quick fast and in a hurry. That's not to say it didn't take years and work, but it didn't take generations either, obviously.

Part of what prompts this is reflecting over years of just how much history we weren’t taught in schools, seeing everything happening over these years and remembering things like the efforts of the Texas educational board to remove so much Black and brown history from the school books. And, too, seeing things on social media like a little girl initially being confused but elated to get a Black doll, then tossing it and crying when her parents laughed and indicated a Black doll was a bad thing.

I remember incidents such as being an older child in PA Sunday school and volunteering to help out with the little kids. How all of those white children were stunned at my being Black. One said something like, "Brown skin? Yuck. Skin's not brown, it's pink." If I remember correctly, the child was referring to crayon (took me a minute to remember — they were coloring), then seemed to realize what she said.

Another child, rushing to my defense, stated that he had seen brown skin before and that it was OK, people could be Brown. Mind you, our church at the time had very few Black people, and some of the youngest never interacted with members outside of Sunday school.

These are some of the things I think about as I watch movies like One Night in Miami, or see posts about the history of Native Americans and reflect on my outside of school reading and education, versus how much we aren't taught in schools. I mentioned the movie just before the riots on January 6 and spoke privately about how different people in the country might be if we didn't glaze over the histories of Black leaders and legends in schools — if we weren't taught inaccuracies like "the 'Indians' are extinct."

Nancy Greene

Writing since February 2022 · 1 story contributed