As you all may know its black history month. Many discuss the history of black people and slavery will probably pop up. If you go to a school with more white people than black like me you may find that white students may have a different outlook on slavery. In my experience some of my classmates thought slavery was good for plantation owners. They may say dumb things in class like ‘why didn’t the slaves run away or fight back’ or they might say ‘slavery wasn’t that bad.’ As a person of color you might feel uncomfortable or entitled to stick up for why slavery was bad. I’ve had numerous encounters with my white classmates when I had to put them in the slaves position and explain to them that slavery was cruel and bad and that even though it benefited the white land owners it was still horrible and no matter how much land or power you had slavery is NOT okay! You may also find that the history teacher will just stop the kid and move on or talk over them instead of explaining to the kid that they are being racist, inconsiderate, and are just wrong. As you go on with life there will always be someone who thinks slavery was good or okay, just explain to them otherwise or ignore it. They can’t help that they were raised this way and sometimes they aren’t going to be open minded and willing to change their mindset so just keep your head up and don’t let people get to you!
Stay Strong,
Jazziah
Melanin Swimmers 