Dolly Chugh

Still, reading important books is not enough. I am still left with the ominous emotions of guilt and shame, dissuading me from connecting dots and embracing contradictions, not just intellectually but emotionally.

The civil rights movement was divisive. Some people pushed for change and other people pushed back hard. Without the divisive times in our country’s history, we would still be “united” in slavery and segregation. Divisiveness is not always bad.

“I didn’t have to unlearn it,” explains Michael. He can pinpoint the costs of not unlearning. “People don’t see why things are the way they are. So they don’t understand. If you don’t know the history of redlining, if you don’t know the history of segregation, if you don’t know the history of how schools are funded, then you’re more susceptible to those notions of white supremacy where black people are not as smart or don’t work as hard because you don’t know your history.”

Scientists are always testing hypotheses, collecting more data, making discoveries, rejecting faulty theories—all in search of the truth. In other words, scientists are always learning and unlearning.

Before adding knowledge, we must shed knowledge. We have mental models, born of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, that are barriers to the learning we want to do.

As a result, many of us are unaware how individual choices in the past created and upheld systems of oppression that have lasting ramifications today. Most of us still want to turn away.