CB: Right before moving — I'm getting on a bit of a tangent here and I'm sure you have another question.
"I think that seeing the seedlings of that confrontation and seeing us beginning to wrestle with what it really means that our nation was built on the back of forced labor and enslavement — that gives me hope."
PS: No, go for it.
CB: Right before moving to Sydney, Australia, I went on this trip to Montgomery, AL, and I went to the state memorial there and the EJI Museum. Took a long road trip through the South, but was really going for that reason. And even I, a Black person — like I write in the book, someone who by definition should be cynical of the American dream — even I when confronted with the reality of our brutal history, was shocked at some of it. You know, I as someone who believes himself to be educated on that reality.
I think there are so many that don't try to confront it whatsoever. And to get back to the question, I think that seeing the seedlings of that confrontation and seeing us beginning to wrestle with what it really means that our nation was built on the back of forced labor and enslavement — that gives me hope. Seeing that we're starting to do that work.
