Today in the U.S. there is no doubt that it is more difficult for a person of color to obtain a good job, a good education, a car loan, a reasonable house mortgage, live in a nice neighborhood, live a long, enjoyable life, get smiles from strangers, receive excellent medical care, stay out of court, stay out of prison, be a head coach, be a college president, be a corporate executive, stay away from illicit drugs, have the same parents throughout life, be an elected official, not be stopped by the police, not be killed by the police, have your baby survive infancy, get a management position, receive community awards for citizenship, have friendly neighbors, not be afraid of vigilantes, not have your church bombed or burned, and not receive racial slurs or condemnation. Life for persons of color is an obstacle field that privileged whites do not have to face. There is no doubt that racism is endemic in the United States of America, deeply embedded into the social fabric of this country, and fiercely defended by White Supremacists.
A long, inhuman history
Slavery was begun in the colonies by the British in the 1500’s. They raided Indian villages in the southern colonies, capturing Native Americans, and placed them as slave labor wherever labor help was needed in the colonies. Some 60,000 of the native Indian population were placed, against their will, into indentured servitude. This British plan did not work very well; most of the captured Indians promptly fled back into the wild country they knew. That attempt at establishing slavery in America did not succeed; but the African slave trade soon followed, ballooning into a full-scale crime against humanity.
The first Africans placed into slavery in the American Colonies were brought over by the Spaniards in 1526. The growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and the growth of labor- intensive agriculture in the southern colonies, chiefly tobacco and indigo, greatly increased the demand for slave labor, and the slave trade blossomed. It became a highly profitable business in spite of the great loss of life, under miserable inhumane conditions, on the trip over from Africa. A total of some 600,000 Africans that survived that hellish boat trip were brought to the colonies and sold into slavery. The slave trade was not abolished until 1806, under Thomas Jefferson. This did not stop slavery as an institution, however. In fact, it flourished. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was the first to legalize slavery in 1641, and other colonies followed. By the time of the 1860 census, the total African American slave population was over four million.
Left out of the Constitution
Slavery is not mentioned in the newly formed United States Constitution, adopted in 1789. Obtuse language is used to refer to the slave population, yet the onus of slavery was on everyone’s mind. Everything the new Congress did related to slavery in some fashion. This new constitution probably would not have been passed by the necessary two thirds of the colonies, had not the northern colonies caved in, and allowed the southern colonies to count the slave population as three fifths, adding to their population count and their influence in the House of Representatives. Slavery, however, was constantly and hotly debated in Congress, leading to angry confrontations. When Lincoln won the presidency in 1860, on a platform of abolishing the expansion of slavery, the American Civil War was born, in 1861. Some 750,000 American citizens lost their lives on those battlefields, fought over whether slavery should be allowed to exist or not. When Lincoln was assassinated, whatever advantages had been gained by this great loss of life, in order to eliminate slavery, were immediately cancelled. Some 750,000 of our finest lost their lives for no benefit.
A timeline of empty legislation
Andrew Johnson, who became Vice-president under Lincoln, using abolitionist claims, showed his true colors once he became the president. He was deeply racist, and believed that all people of color were inferior human beings. He vetoed civil rights legislation, sabotaged efforts toward reconstruction of the southern colonies on a humane basis, and made no effort to intercede when violence toward Blacks occurred. As a result, deep prejudice against the Black population became further embedded in the south, passed from generation to generation, leading to an abomination of Jim Crow laws, illegal seizures of Black property, hangings, bombing of churches, police brutality, legal injustice and the Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre.
Progress against this social abomination has been slow in the U.S. It is now almost five hundred years later, and we still suffer under its evil suppression.
In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation under Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States of America, by executive order. Slavery may no longer have been legal, but bigotry and violence against people of color increased in intensity.
In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment formalized that previous executive order, abolishing slavery in all states of this country. This constitutional change did nothing to help the plight of Black Americans, who were segregated, shunned, used as indentured labor, treated with contempt, and worse.
In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment stated that all citizens of the United States of America had equal protection under the laws of this nation. Color, race, religion or country of origin did not matter if that person was a citizen of this nation. The amendment did not change social behavior at all. Persecution of Blacks continued, with hangings, house burnings, church burnings, and seizure of private property, even though this amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment stated the right of all citizens of this nation, regardless of description, to vote. The response of White Supremacists was, and still is, to prohibit that right to vote in any way they can. They continue to legislate further restrictions of registration, polling places and ballot boxes, in an attempt to prevent Black people from voting.
In 1922, at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, only one Black person was invited to speak. All the other orators and officials were white men. The most glaring hypocrisy at that historic event, however, is that the crowd was segregated. Blacks were not allowed to sit with whites.
In 1964, the American Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national heritage. It prohibited the unequal application of voter registration requirements, as well as racial segregation in schools and public accommodations. It prohibited employment discrimination. In spite of this sterling legislation, for which we have Dr. Martin Luther King Jr to thank, suppressive treatment and police brutality directed toward the Black population have continued.
The tide turned — but turned again
When we elected a Black president in 2008, many of us were ecstatic. It seemed that perhaps we were coming to an end of this awful crime foisted upon our Black population over the last five hundred years. That opinion was expressed in my essays and books. I was completely wrong, blind to the continuing acts of prejudice and expressions of racial hatred in this country. Then we got a POTUS who is a Christian bigot, White Supremacist and extreme narcissist. The smoldering anger of White Supremacists was immediately fanned into flames by the bellows of Donald Trump. Under his tutelage, social programs promoting equality were eliminated and voting rights diminished. Police brutality and gun massacres have been promoted by the inflammatory language coming from Donald Trump.
This White Supremacist section of our country is trying in every possible way they can to preserve their prejudicial status. The school voucher system that is promoted in many states is a thinly disguised attempt to re-establish segregation. The outcry of Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis against Critical Race Theory and a “woke” society are a blatant attempt to prevent our school children from understanding that our social system has been violently suppressive of our Black population for the last five hundred years, and still today, surreptitiously, broadly, promotes inequality. These White Supremacists do not want our children to understand that it is time for this evil burden to end. They say that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, founded on the equality of our citizens. It is not, and they are to blame. We have a racist society; it is time that this country openly admits to its grievous errors of the past, and the continuing Black suppression of today.
Our people of color deserve better. Our people from other nations deserve better. Our children deserve better. They deserve to have what our constitution says is their right in our country; equality of opportunity. The richness of citizen variety is what brings vibrancy to our lives. All races, beliefs and colors should be embraced and welcomed, not condemned. It is time for this great ethical evil, systemic racism in the United States of America, to end.
Written by Carl G. Schowengerdt.
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