These thoughts were written by our 2020 summer interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
As part of the Civitas 2020 Summer Internship, students were asked to read each essay in the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project and share some of their thoughts. Here is what they wrote for the essays found on pages 44-57.
Myla C. : All of the essays are interesting. Every time I read an article from the 1619 Project, I always learn something new. For example, I did not know that Gabriel Prosser organized one of the most extensively planned slave rebellions in the state of Virginia. When I read that other enslaved people exposed his rebellion, I was disappointed. Also, I did not know that the Act of Prohibiting Importation of Slaves went into effect in 1808 because black families continued to be separated. The last essay on myths about physical racial differences was extremely disturbing. It resonated with me because I always hear my mom talking about the built-in racism in the healthcare field. Therefore, she always recommends having a black or foreign doctor.
Gabe L.: I’ve said several times that the interstates are evil and that cars are bad. In the abstract, it makes sense. Cars pollute. Interstates promote pollution. People die from car accidents. All of these general, otherwise unnoticed events. But, there’s a very distinct racist thread tied to the existence of highways and cars that is perverse and ever present and must be frustrated with all haste. There’s a reason why the State Route 40 in Baltimore only passes 12 streets: the people forced it to halt. Now it stands as a ditch through West Baltimore, a monument to the evil of people willing to bulldoze black communities to better ferry white ones.
Maggie H.: It’s interesting that this country began by marginalizing Blacks within its early systems yet even when these systems of healthcare, housing, human rights, etc. grew and expanded through each time period, Blacks continually were disadvantaged by them. Blacks have always had a “higher mortality rate than that of whites” (45). Now, the medical field is speaking out about this and recognizing this devastating problem and its subsequent effects. However, white supremacists also fear for Blacks to be “free and healthy… would upend the racial hierarchy” that they want to uphold so badly (45). Another connection between then and now is when the Freedmen’s Bureau was created yet lacked doctors and equipment for Black communities, which is what is happening in Black neighborhoods during COVID-19. Also, since the beginning of decision making in this country, groups have formed to disenfranchised Black people and maintain the social structure and racial division. Racism is written into our laws and built into our society. When you question why we don’t have universal healthcare, education, etc., turn to our racist, elitist origins. Not even the anger that builds up into a rebellion or a wrong law righted can change racism committing its damage to Blacks. This should not prevent us though from actively working to change these systems. I have to believe that justice outweighs ignorance.
Sophie L.: Freshman year, I took a class called Identity and Inequality that covered the shifting racial and ethnic makeup of the United States from its founding till roughly the present day. That class covered much of the 1619 Project articles that were read for today, further highlighting the message of the project: this racism is intentionally systematic and made to ensure that Black people never achieve the power, capital, or health necessary to “upend the racial hierarchy” (45). Healthcare, interstates, medical experiments–all were designed to segregate, to keep movement under control, to prevent any kind of equality. Each essay focuses on making Black people an example, of showing them the place that white society has designated through understaffed bureaus and medical experiments meant to dehumanize.
Martriana M.: I really enjoyed reading the five essays. It’s really interesting to read the histories for healthcare, interstates and traffics, medical myths, politics and paragraphs, and reflect and compare who it is today. How you can see pretty clearly if you’re looking at the details that the racism behind them all is pretty deeply rooted. I’ve grown up listening to the stories my grandmother told of working in healthcare and the discrimination she received from white patients and how other black doctors were treated as well, so I’ve always known a little about the racism of healthcare facilities, but it was really great to hear more about it. This was also, personally, the first time I have heard about some of these medical myths and the absurdity of them.
Alexia N.: I am often fascinated, yet at the same time horrified by the essays I read from the 1619 projects. This is because I always learn how most of America’s history of discrimination not only ignored black communities and their problems, but blatantly and strategically took away their rights and liberties based upon stereotypes created by racist systems in order to maintain the illusion of white safety and comfort. White people in power did not want the black people that worked for them to become too healthy and revolt, but they also did not want them to be too weak to work, so they gave them as few healthcare resources and doctors as possible. They did not want black people to be given as many opportunities in medical fields as their white counterparts and did not want them to treat people in black communities, so they ostracized them from working in those jobs. Everywhere these African-Americans turned, they were denied access to these necessities and turned down from opportunities just because of the color of their skin. These issues continue to affect minority groups to this day, yet we are still fed the idea that America has, for example, the best healthcare system in the world and that it would only harm us to change or replace, it when in reality it would be the first step of many needed towards equality and equal access. However, many with political power don’t want that because of their racist and non-inclusive ideologies.
Daria N.: I thought that the interstate and health care essays were particularly interesting. I’ve always thought that interstates are super bad not only because they hurt the environment but because things are so far apart and if you don’t have a car to take you to where you want to go, you probably won’t get there. I feel like for this reason there isn’t a direct interstate from south county to north county, it probably has to do with the racist methods that were described in the 1619 essay. I’m also really glad to have read more about how black people in particular are affected by the health care system. For example, I had heard that COVID-19 has been affecting the black community a lot harder than white communities and this essay gave me some good background on why that unfortunately is the case currently.
Stephanie N.: I never would have thought that there were lines to draw between Medicare and racism/slavery. But as I read the essays it seems very obvious. It’s odd how I’ve never been taught that it was black people who pioneered medicare- a program that benefits a lot of people across the board. I think the way whites pushed back those movements at the time showed how threatened they were by black empowerment. Also how flawed their inferiority arguments were because if whites were truly superior they wouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail to maintain that superiority.
Emily S.: Once again these essays show just how much more I need to learn about systematic racism in the United States. From Atlanta traffic to healthcare, these essays highlight how racism is ingrained in almost every aspect of our lives and it is truly horrifying to realize. The article that shocked me the most was Linda Villarosa’s essays on the myths of physical racial differences. I was astonished to find out that some of these myths are still believed and transferred to how doctors treat Black patients – although I shouldn’t really be surprised. Less than an hour after I read these articles, I had a discussion with my mom on systemic racism in America and I used these articles to help show her where systematic racism exists and how it exists. This just proves to me how influential and helpful these articles are in beginning to shift the mindset of racism in America.
Riley W.: This article held the most surprises for me so far. Like most of us, I had been told that interstates were bad, but was never really told why. This article really enlightened me. In regards to the health care side of the article, it reminded me a lot of the research I did on black women maternal mortality rate. I lot of people like to chalk there high death rate up to lack of health care, but they often are just ignored more often than white women.
Ethan W.: I found all 4 of these articles very interesting. I participated in the New York Times webinar about how race plays into the country’s reaction to COVID-19, so I already had some familiarity with that article. One of the points made in the webinar was that as soon as the data came out that black and brown people were more likely to suffer complications from COVID, that was when mostly white protesters came out to support reopening. I was also intrigued by the 3rd article. I learned about Calhoun and nullification in my history class, but we never talked about how those ideas still persist today. We were taught that the ultimate test of nullification was the Civil War, and it never happened again. There were also a number of parallels between Atlanta and St. Louis in the article about interstates and public transportation. There is a reason that the metrolink doesn’t extend to Webster Groves and deeper into the wealthy suburbs of the county: rich white people believe it will bring poorer POC into their community.
