Finally got through that Atlantic piece. Goddamn.
I would've liked for a bit more direct relation to today's problems and examples of things like housing discrimination and segregation going on today. That felt kind of tacked-on at the end. I could imagine people reading this whole thing and still saying "but that's all over now." Maybe write a clearer connection between that past discrimination and today's wealth gap.
However, one of the quotes might be the most concise description of gang mentality I've ever read. "You dont have nothing, so you going to take something, even if its not real." Seriously that Brooks dude was real.
The message the young black boy receives from his country, Billy Brooks says, is  You aint shit. You not no good. The only thing you are worth is working for us. You will never own anything. You not going to get an education. We are sending your ass to the penitentiary. Theyre telling you no matter how hard you struggle, no matter what you put down, you aint shit. Were going to take what you got. You will never own anything, nigger. 
What's kind of sad is that I don't see HQ-40 going through any time soon, not with how much American politics seems to be sliding to the right these days. Maybe that's just my perception.
Anyway, my mom read most of this and wondered how you try to talk about black reparation without talking about Native American reparation, which I feel might be an even more scarcely imaginable weight.
