1619 PRoject - the book

Ida B. Wells is Nikole Hannah Jones’ hero. NHJ is mine. This thinker, writer, creator has upended our discussions about history, race, colonization of the mind and body like few others I can count in my generation. Her bravery, panache, and wit are a glory to witness. Yet it is stunning to see the misrepresentation of her work by the right wing - have they read the magazine, the book, listened to the podcast? Are they really that afraid that a re-telling of the past will beat back current power structures? We are in a necessary state of reckoning as a nation. We are a collection of mixed race peoples with mixed histories. How can we possibly face the future without listening to different perspectives on our beginnings? 1619 is one re-telling, not the only. Indigenous groups cultivated the soil of this land for more than 10,000 years. They prospered in trade, agriculture, arts long before Europeans settled. In that there are many stories of our origins. Ignoring any of these histories buries hatchets of hatred to bloom into choking vines of ignorance. So let’s reckon with this collection of works that is the 1619 project. Read it, share it, celebrate it. Let it grow into a project of your own.