This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism

The year 2020 was a historic one, in which a contentious presidential election, renewed social activism against injustice and hate crimes, and a global pandemic converged. However, Lemon believes that the current challenges in the US are a result of its reluctance to address historical wrongs that date back to the arrival of slave ships in the 1600s. Rather than acknowledge the contradiction of pursuing democratic ideals while subjugating Black and Indigenous populations, the US celebrates a whitewashed history in which slavery isn’t the primary cause of the Civil War and people don’t learn about massacres like the Black Wall Street attack in school. Confederate monuments and movies such as The Birth of a Nation celebrate this mythology while reflecting the marginalization that people of color face at the time of their creation.

Many analysts compare the George Floyd protests to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Lemon, however, feels that this comparison may be unfair. Today’s activists are not continuing their parents’ mission but pursuing their own goals and ideals. The George Floyd protests included people across all races with less inter-coalition feuding that slowed down past movements, and incremental socioeconomic changes favor these groups. For example, businesses now directly advertise to people of color and LGBTQ audiences, and consumers often shun companies that engage in bigoted practices.