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<< Indeed I can imagine a world in which these symbols are removed while the racist conditions that gave rise to them remain.>> And indeed I can imagine a world in which the racist conditions are gone while these 'symbols' remain: in books and museums where they belong. What is the effect of the sight of a Klan hood, masked conic hat and chewing tobacco-stained flowing was-white robe? What comes to mind when a noose is tied from a prominent tree, the grace of its Spanish moss belied? The burning of a cross? The signs "Colored", "Whites Only" on the restrooms, the water fountains, the lunch counters, the bus depot, the trains? The Confederate flag? More than signs. Warnings. 'Symbols' speak more than the picture's words. Socially recognized, socially understood, socially enforced conventions. Southern blacks were almost born knowing where the back of the bus was. Which school to attend. Who to let pass on the sidewalk by stepping onto the unpaved easement: "Yes, Suh", "No, Ma'am". Yes, I can imagine a world where historians' can comment in pages and inscribe their analyses of such 'symbols' on plaques; where students can be taught in our schools; where the merely curious can leaf through a book or walk hallowed galleries and pause and think and shake their heads in amazed disgust in a land where skin color itself has ceased to be the symbol. I join comrade Wythe as a child of the South, fleeing Mason and Dixon's line, at the age of 15 but having seen much, enough. I differ with and from the comrade only by being born black. JAI On Thu, Jun 18, 2020 at 6:03 PM A.R. G <amithrgu...@gmail.com> wrote: Very much appreciate Wythe's insight as a Southerner... Indeed I can imagine a world in which these symbols are removed while the racist conditions that gave rise to them remain. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
