“The Confederacy, the American Civil War, was fought, and it was an act of rebellion. It was an act of treason, at the time, against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the U.S. Constitution. Those officers turned their back on their oath.”
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley
Yet the generals and leaders of this “act of treason” were never charged with war crimes, nor ever held up as traitors. In fact, some of these confederates, now citizens of the very country whose constitution they attempted to subvert, became Congressmen or Senators.
These elected officials, men that killed and maimed in a war which was fought to overthrow the United States of America were now sitting in Congress making policy for the future of America. Some of these laws (policy) left the door open for what would soon become known as “Jim Crow” laws, and we all know what occurred during the era of Jim Crow.
So today, January 18, 2021, twelve days after the modern version of the civil war, the blatant attack on the Capitol of January 6, 2021, the same cries can be heard. “It’s time for healing” “both parties must now work together to heal the wounds” yada yada yada.
It’s always after their actions are halted that the Republicans, the White Supremacist, the Alt-Righters and now the Q anon’ers, begin to cry out for reconciliation. I am sick to my stomach as I watch the news and the very elected officials that even after the violence at the Capitol went into the Chamber to vote against certifying Joe Biden, those that added fodder to the flames, the flames that ignited the insurgency, now stand to say we must work together.
Where were those Republican, White Supremacist, Alt-Righters, and Q Anon’ers calling for us to work together during the summer of BLM?
Until elected officials at the highest levels of our government stop pandering to the whims of public opinion, especially the public opinion of the extreme right, and begin to truly confront the problem of race and inequality will true healing begin. If White America continues to behave like an ostrich, burying their heads in the sand, not facing the truth of the past, namely Slavery, Jim Crow, Suppression, Oppression, and Devastation of people of color especially of the Native and African American peoples, America will continue to be a powder keg ready to explode at any given moment.
What happened during the Trump era has truly diminished America’s standing in the world. The United States of America can henceforth no longer stand on the moral high ground. After the first African American President was elected and completed two full terms with no moral scandals, no crisis of the conscious, the extreme right came forward to dismantle everything he did. Let us not forget that it was Mitch McConnell that began the obstructionist agenda. The battle cry at the time was to ensure that nothing he (President Obama) put forth was passed. It was in this atmosphere that Donald J. Trump and his so-called birther movement was born. As the saying goes, let’s call a spade a spade many white Americans, not all, but many fear what is known as the Browning of America.
Historically many Caucasians have believed that they (whites) are the supreme race. They have used the bible to justify these thoughts, they have skewed scientific evidence to justify these views and used political power to enforce it. It has been a constant struggle for people of color in America to just assert themselves as human beings. Just think, the native Americans helped whites survive that first bitter winter in this, the new world (mind you it was only new to whites there were people of color already living here). The welcoming became known as thanksgiving. Then as a way to pay the natives back for their hospitality, the Caucasians began killing them off and taking their land.
Again, not all Whites are evil White Supremacist, but it is also true that all Klansmen are white. African’s chained up and brought into America against there will to be enslaved for the purpose of build this nation and for picking cotton, Chinese imported to work on the railroad lines, Mexicans to pick fruit, Puerto Ricans to work the factories of the garment districts, etc, etc, etc.. Black, Brown, Red and Yellow people have been subservient and “kept in their place” while forced to build this nation into the mightiest on Earth. America has professed to be the great beam of light, showing the world how great democracy it is. Condemning other nations for human rights violations. Teaching other nations how to establish fair elections. All the while violating the human rights of a large segment of its population. Having places for whites only and for blacks only. Killing and lynching people who simply wanted to exercise their constitutional right to elect their representatives. What happened on January 6, 2021, that segment of the population that buys into this sick mindset, the mindset that says that they are the supreme one’s, the moral one’s, the righteous one’s all the while negating the fact that this land was stolen from the true American people, the Native Americans. Forgetting that this nation was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of people of color, and that white wealth was distributed among them, and it was kept from the rest is one reason for the disparity.
When black people say black lives matter it is not saying that other life doesn’t. It is to let those that kill black and brown people, simply because they can, know that just as your life matters, so do ours. There is not a historical fact sheet that shows black law enforcement killing whites, that just does not exist. There is no historical record that shows blacks owning white people as they own cows or other livestock, it just does not exist. There is no such a thing as a Murphy Dance (my own equivalent to Jim Crow) that justified the lynching of white men by black for looking at a black woman, it just does not exist. White people were not called wet back, spic, chink, or nigger. That just did not happen. Prejudice is a sickness that gets passed down from one generation to the next that is why many white people do not value black life. Yes, black lives matter. We are all children of God. It is time for the pseudo-Christians to step up and practice the words that they espouse. Love thy neighbor. All life matters and part of that equation is black lives. Yes, black lives matter. It is time for the talk. Time to stop skirting the subject, time to address the elephant in the room, so to speak, time for the talk about race, and [to paraphrase Rodney King] see if we “Can we all just get along”?