I’m a living apology, I’m sorry.
Annaleis Thibault,
Bolton, MA.
As a white, middle class american, I feel as though I owe reparations for the crimes committed by my ancestors.
We’ve got a new lawyer now
David Rotenstein,
Silver Spring, MD.
Africville was a community of African Canadians on Bedford Bay in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was settled in the early 1800s by former American slaves who went to Canada as Black Loyalists and as slaves during the American Revolution and War of 1812. After decades of neglect by the city of Halifax, Africville’s homes were razed and its residents displaced into public housing projects elsewhere in Halifax. In the 1990s the former residents and their heirs sued for reparations. After achieving a small settlement – a park was created in the former community, an apology issued, and a museum was built – Africville’s people still wanted to be made whole. My six words, told to me in 2016 by one of the former residents, captures the hope and despair of people in communities throughout the Americas whose lives and livelihoods were destroyed by environmental racism and greed.
Not aplogizing for my white skin
Jillian Kurekova,
USA.
I am a 21 year old white female living in the ghetto. I have always been the outcast. I grew up in foster homes with black foster mothers and siblings, I have lived in all-black neighborhoods and went to all-black schools. I have never felt out of place surrounded by black people or white until now. I don’t know of it’s because of the fact that I am not a teenager anymore or because of the current events but the racial tension has gotten unbearable. Black people consistently refer to me as “the white girl” and not in the joking matter that they did when i was a child. For all of you people who think black people can’t be racist, I am here to tell you that they can. No, not prejudiced; racist. They genuinely feel superior to you. It is hard for a black woman in America and I will never understand but I can tell you that it is also very hard for a white woman in the ghetto and that’s something a black woman will never understand.
