And the point of gaslighting is to get the target, excuse me, is to get the target to accept the gaslighter's version of the story, which is exactly what we see, have seen in America, is that America insists, you know, that it is not a, it was not founded as a place where inequality was a part of the design, that it was not founded on

inequality. I tries not to teach its history of imperialism and imperial violence in, you know, the Philippines,

for instance, in Puerto Rico and South America, you know, not to mention the horrors of slavery and how

terrible and just how heinous the system of chattel slavery was in America.

And we're continuing to see these attempts to do that with, you know, Republicans today who tried to say that there was no coup

on January 6, 2021, people trying to ban books or recommending that certain books be burned

because they tell the truth about American history, this hysteria around CRT, critical race theory, and all these

things, you know, are ongoing, you know, instances of a systemic effort to tell us, especially

tell us black people, that we don't really understand our reality,

and we need to just accept the gaslighter's point of view.

Welcome to the deconstructionist podcast.

I'm your host, John Williamson.

And before we get into this week's guest, I just wanted to give you guys a little insight into what's going on in my life right now.

Normally, I wouldn't necessarily do this, but obviously, for those of you who have been steady listeners,

A, I appreciate you and B, obviously there haven't been a ton of new episodes recently. And so I wanted to give you guys a little insight into what's going on and perhaps why that has been

the case. So, you know, I believe that people go through seasons. And right now my season is

complicated and, um, uh, trying, I think is the word I'm looking for. Uh, it's been one of those,

it's been one of those last six month period. So, uh, just a number of things on a personal level have, have, have happened.

And I'm essentially, at least mentally speaking, and perhaps emotionally, just trying to stay afloat at the moment.

So someone's someone very, very, very close to me.

I will respect their privacy. But someone very, very close to me. I will respect their privacy, but someone very, very close to me

in my immediate family has been diagnosed with cancer. And it's one of the situations where

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