2019 Reflection: What was the point of my 400 Years project?

I hope my 52 blogs made this point about our history: the brutality regarding the owning, torturing, and oppressing other human beings is almost beyond comprehension, yet this history affects profoundly most Black Americans today. White oppression of enslaved people and their descendants, as well as other people of color, is under-appreciated by those with the power to repair the harm done.

Others disagree. They think that anti-racism activists are always stirring up guilt and “playing the race card.” They claim that Obama’s election and the many successful Black people on television prove that racism is dead. They say that some people of color leading academic and intellectual communities are now the real oppressors.

In this final blog of the year I cannot focus on the very real trauma white people suffer due to racism. My point is that the depth of suffering of Black Americans is exponentially greater. White supremacy has caused horrible embodied trauma and intergenerational poverty. My 400 Years project, like the NY Times 1619 Project, is trying to make this point so that we more effectively address the wounds of racism. White Americans, living in a system that continues to profit from 400 years of oppression of people of color, have much work to do.

But, as explained in this month’s issue of The Atlantic, a battle rages over the legacy of this grim 400th anniversary. On one side are those who admit the centrality of slavery and racism. On the other side are those who see the ideals of democracy, equality, and liberty as our dominant national narrative.

Five prominent historians - Sean Wilentz, James McPherson, Gordon Wood, Victoria Bynum, and James Oakes - defend our idealized traditional narrative in a letter to the Times on December 4. They claim to support the idea of the 1619 Project, but but blame it for not acknowledging that whites fought against slavery, from early abolitionists to young Union soldiers.

While true, this critique forces Black American activists to again navigate white fragility. White Americans want to feel like heroes, but we should set aside this superficial desire and work to repair what 400 years of oppression has done to people of color. Working in solidarity with victims of racism is our path to liberation. That’s what I have tried to say this past year. Now, the work continues.