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america

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In my Texas suburb, the rodeo girls starkly contrasted my usual peers in class. They wore Miss Me jeans with back pockets so bedazzled and gaudy that they would make scratching noises when they sat down on the bleachers in the arena stands. Joining them, alongside a horse named Doc, helped me survive high school.

I remember sitting in my grandmother’s home in Jamaica, in the sweltering heat, confused as to why George Zimmerman was acquitted after killing Trayvon Martin. 

I was twelve. 

Since then, countless people have died at the hands of police — their killings preserved on dashcam or bystander video, while many others were never filmed. 

It’s easy to buy into America’s mythology, glorify the Constitution’s framers, forgive slavery, justify Manifest Destiny, allow genocide, proclaim emancipation and forget the disenfranchisement of millions. But history without context isn’t history, It’s ignorance. Perspective is key to understanding and…