- I mean, I think for me, anti-blackness refers to the systematic denigration, dehumanization, and targeting of black people, communities, and history, both on an interpersonal level and a systemic level across all kinds of institutions, schools, housing, criminal justice, healthcare, all of that.

So the denigration and dehumanization of black people in communities.

And it's, you know, it's rooted in the history of this country.

It is woven into the fabric of the country.

It is the sort of necessary flip side to white supremacy, which has been here since the beginning too.

Keeping in mind, you know, the very first law that Congress passed of any substance after the Constitution was ratified, before they did anything, was passed the Naturalization Act of 1790.

And it said one thing and it said it very clearly, "All free white persons and only free white persons could be citizens of the country."

So when you say, this is the most important piece of business we got, we're not gonna worry about taxes, we're not gonna worry about the military, we're gonna tell y'all who this is for and who it's not for.

And it's for us and not y'all.

What you are telling me is, in anti-blackness, is the fulcrum around which America rotates and has from the beginning.

- [Narrator] A Slice of the Community is made possible by the support of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.