“George is American, white, and from a wealthy, largely homogenous neighborhood of Long Island, New York. His accent is flat, his voice stable, he liked categories and frameworks. He liked order and linearity. Cause led to effect. Action led to reaction. When we argued, he often called my claims and conclusions groundless, illogical, and contradictory. That my ground was different-- was less constant, was wilder-- than his ground was not something he was willing or equipped to consider. He understood the world through analytic deduction. I leaned more heavily on a more corporeal form of knowing.” WisdomKnowledgeKnowingDiversityExperience Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks
“A study from New York's Mount Sinai Hospital found that genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors were capable of being passed on to their children. Our genes change all the time when chemical tags attach themselves to the DNA and turn genes on or off. The study found that some of these tags--found in the genes of those survivors -- were also found in their children. The changes led to an increased incidence of stress disorders. This passing down of environmentally altered genes is called *epigenetic inheritance.*” StressTraumaGenesGeneticsHolocaust Survivors Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks
“Everything on this earth is connected!" my father exclaimed. "A better religion, to me, is the practice of noticing that connection, of deepening our understanding of it." In Christianity, there was no need for microscopes or space shuttles or radiocarbon dating. Questions were frowned upon. Everything was already decided. "And that is absolutely maddening," my father said. "If that's the case, why live?” LifeReligionKnowledgeLearningCuriosityConnectionHuman Connection Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks
“But the box, I suppose, formalized their absence, gave it a name. Knowing and accepting the inevitable are two different things.” TruthKnowledgeAcceptance Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks
“Black people are expected by the white world to be strong but not angry. Pain must be hidden. Daily slights are to be borne with grace, humility, even gratitude. Weakness is intolerable. Vulnerability must wait until the day is done and the mask can come off in the privacy of our won homes. And by then we are too tired or too stiff to feel it. This is not just true for black people living in Europe or America. It is also true, in a different form in Africa and the Caribbean, where black people are the majority. People in former European colonies must see their lives in relation to the lives of white people. As communities, as individuals, we have been told we are inferior. Our economies, our livelihoods, are reliant on Western economies, white people's livelihoods.” EmotionsWhite SupremacyColonizationBlack In America Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks
“Black women," Toya said as I walked her to the subway, "are the meatloaf at a Greek diner. People sometimes talk about ordering it, but everyone's surprised when someone does, even black men.” InequalityBlack WomenWhite Supremacy Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks
“This hypothesis, believed by many Western scholars at the time, held that there were two races present in Africa: the Hamitic race and the Negroid race. The Hamitic race was thought to be a superior race of people who originated in northern Africa. British historian C. G. Seligman went so far as to claim that all significant discoveries and advancements in African history, including those of the Ancient Egyptians, were achieved by Hamites. He argued that Hamites migrated into central Africa, bringing more sophisticated customs, languages, and technologies with them. Hamites were believed by Westerners to be more closely related to white people. Tutsis were believed to be descendants of Hamitic people because they had more "European" features. Hutus were believed to be Negroid. Tutsis were therefore allowed better educations and jobs. Ethnic identity cards were introduced to ensure tribal division. Many have argued that this division was at the root of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, during which members of the Hutu majority murdered as many as eight hundred thousand Tutsi people.” RacismDivisionRwandaRwandan GenocideRacial Division Book:Aftershocks Source: Aftershocks