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ending it. So they chose a third option that, in recognized in their own time. The bully is the 5
some ways, was the most dangerous: they chose ideology of white supremacy. It is the notion that
to ignore him, to pretend that he and his tyranny the lives of white people are inherently worth
were not what they were. And then there was the more than those of anyone else. central text
bully’s family. They loved and cared for him but In many ways, we live in one of the bully’s 15
never corrected his behavior. Indeed, they never golden ages, a time when the mere mention of /
held a mirror up to show him what he was white supremacy is an anachronism. Absent the
becoming. hoods and burning crosses, we presume the
When the world around you seems to accept bully dead. But he’s still operating in the DeRay Mckesson
bullying as normal, it’s hard to imagine a world shadows; he’s just working through insidious
without it. And if the burden is inevitable, why means. The fact that many people refuse to
fight against it? acknowledge him means that we cannot
I am no longer on the walk home, but I still dismantle what he has wrought. And in our
know the bully. blindness we’ve created a host of studies to
We would recognize him today as much as explain away his legacy. In the meantime, he is
2
1
Bull Connor and Jim Crow , the poll tax, police at work. When we see 21 percent of kids of color
violence, the Black Codes, and redlining were in poverty, that is white supremacy at work.
When we see a president refusing to allow
1 Bull Connor was a white politician in Birmingham, Alabama immigrants from majority people-of-color
during the Civil Rights movement who urged the police under his countries into this country, that is white
authority to use extreme measures to respond to protesters, supremacy at work. Defunding public
including using fire hoses and attack dogs. —Eds.
2 The term Jim Crow refers to the time period of the late 1800s to mid education, gerrymandering, and scaling back
1900s in America, particularly in the South, when local and state the Voting Rights Act are all manifestations of
laws enforced racial segregation, keeping African Americans from
having the same access as whites to voting, education, and the this ideology.
justice system. —Eds.

This painting is titled The Wolf and the
Lamb.
Why is that an appropriate title based
on the scene depicted? How is this
scene similar to what Mckesson
describes about his experiences?

The Wolf and the Lamb, c.1819-20 (oil on panel)/ Mulready, William (1786-1863)/ROYAL COLLECTION/ Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2020/Bridgeman Images

43
Copyright © Bedford/St. Martin’s. Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample chapter.
Distributed by BFW Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

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