Medium Post November 11

Before engaging in this weeks material, we have learned a lot about the foundation of the Black Lives Matter movement. This weeks materials focused on an “apocalyptic” future. This apocalyptic future focuses on dismantling the systems that are oppressive towards black people. I think what an apocalypse implies varies. I wonder if an apocalyptic event has happened in America’s history. After the Civil War, the institution of slavery was abolished. After the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow was no longer practiced. However, as we have learned, every time one of these systems is put out of practice, people in power maintain the oppression of black people through other methods (e.g pseudo-sciences after slavery, mass incarceration). Although the overarching oppressive systems were abolished, there was no radical shift in power. The people in power before these events were still in power after, and therefore there was no mark of an apocalypse. An apocalypse, as defined in the Lloyd article, would entail the end of all systems of dominance.

In the interview with the three artists, I thought that Robin D.G. Kelley’s view of white and colored people as a fabrication of society was intriguing. He initially talks about the lack of comradery between white allies and black activists. He speaks about how from comradery, people can better understand the oppression of certain social systems. He describes how people are forced to remake themselves in the relation to whiteness and racism, sexism, and homophobia. A personal bond between white and colored people can provide a better understanding the systems of oppression which affect everybody. Earlier in the interview Jonathan Hortsmann, a recording artist, spoke about how younger people have a better understanding of how oppression affects everybody and not just the overtly oppressed. I thought that this idea combined with the idea of comradery was very interesting. An apocalypse which entails the end of all racist systems that foster oppression, requires a change in thought in all people and if Hortsmann is correct, than perhaps we are seeing this in the younger generation of Americans. Although an apocalypse sounds like a very radical event, according to this week’s materials, an apocalypse doesn’t have to entail some spontaneous event and can entail a shift in thought against racist systems amongst all people.