Unforgivable Blackness

[deep]

Any serious study of American history inevitably engages the question of race and the monumental hypocrisy born at our founding; the existence of slavery in a country that had just proclaimed to the world that "all men are created equal..." In the story of Jack Johnson, these questions come to a profound crux. This is not just a story of supreme athletic achievement, nor even just a story of sex — black and white relationships — which got Johnson into so much trouble. It's not even wholly about race, though Johnson's "unforgivable blackness" propels this extraordinary story. In the end this is a story about freedom, and one black man's insistence that he be able to live a life nothing short of that of a free man.
— Ken Burns

link here

 

[Jamila]

Thank you, deep, for this link.

I learned about Jack Johnson and the very unfortunate experiences he was put through due to the unfounded fears racism present at the time in the US years ago. I think it is important for our future that Jack Johnson's life, troubles and accomplishments be talked.

On this day, 15 January, Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday - this is a very appropriate thread for discussion and reflection.

Thanks again, deep.