We are Sinking in the Same Boat Here
This is the last in a series of papers, I have authored in Medium and other web publishing, social media, on the subject of Racism today. “I will not Equivocate, I will not Retreat a Single Inch, and I will be Heard..”, “Ashamed to be White”, “The Republic and Oligarchy”, “Henry Ward Beecher…A 165-year-old-Prediction.” Reviews of historical speeches and papers of the late 1800’s on the subject of racism in a time of reconstruction of the Union. Each paper relating the past to the current issues of racism today and the inequality of the black American and minorities of today and why this issue continues in our society.
When we consider, that when we look back since 1865 June 19th when we officially record in history the end of slavery with the last state Texas, in the reunited union learned of the end of Slavery that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed at the end of the American Civil War in 1863. With his Emancipation Proclamation and Congress later with a constitutional amendment what followed is the reconstruction of the Union. An attempt to reunite the North and the South with measures, economic relief, and a physical reconstruction of a war-torn nation. Both its physical, moral, and social reconstruction of the union. The challenge was building a stronger relationship with the South and the North states with a renewed effort at the federal level to mend political and sociological difference between those of the North and the South over the issue of a new class of freemen and women. It was now a time to elevate a new class of citizenship from a state of slavery, and subjugation of humane rights to a class of productive citizens with rights to own property, vote in elections, own business and a right to an equal education.
History will show that though the battle for freedom may have ended in freedom for the African American. The war as continued for 157 years with the southern states behind slavery and the succession of the union, did not give up the fight to restore their confederacy. History shows the many successful battles in Southern state legislation, to continue the subjugation of African American’s rights from making laws contrary to Federal laws, laws that continued to subjugate the Black community, making them less and less freemen. Though these southern states could not legally restore slavery, by oversight of the federacy, they still had the rights as a state to govern their states and make their own laws. So, though the African American had the right to vote, southern states enacted voting rules that limited the Black American’s qualification for registration to vote. Set literacy qualifications that were stricter than those of White Americans. When the equality of education was limited to the Black American and the money sent for that education dollar for dollar for white education were as little as 1$ for black schools and 4$ for white schools. Segregation laws where another southern tool to limit the Black American’s opportunity for an equal education when black schools where underfunded. Another tool preventing a Black American’s access to vote was related to a Tax law that said a registrant to vote had to have paid his taxes in full one year before his registration. Though that applied to the White registrant as well, other laws limited the right of Black Americans to own business, wage discrimination and even a licensing process that made it impossible for a Black American to find gainful supportive work. Therefore, though slavery ended, 20, 40, 60, 75+ years later, southern states still found ways to subjugate the Black American, where they were still forced to do the cheapest jobs, the most demeaning jobs, and live in segregated communities where their living conditions where no different than that of enslaved Negro before 1863.
To ensure the souths efforts to have a state of slavery despite Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation every southern state republican, that Grand of Party we know as the GOP today. Took every effort to skirt the U.S. Constitution and any effort to elevate the Black American to equality with the White citizenship. To this day, we have these efforts found in the attitudes that the South is alive and well, that the confederate flag, confederate generals, hero’s, and Confederate leaders of the succession from the Union remain memorialized in statues, names of military bases, parks, streets, and portraits hanging in state capitals, U.S. capital and federal buildings. In far too many places we find these images in places of that were traditionally anti-slavery states and supported the North. As if to remind these states that the South and what it stood for is still an important part of our history. I am reminded of 1930’s with the rise of the Nazi regime that lead to the atrocities of Hitler’s madness and his pogrom of genocide of the Jews, and those who were seen by Hitler as an inferior race. An inferior race that the Aryan Race of white supremacy saw as a lessor race of animals unable to be educated, immoral savages, and fit only to be owned property and enslaved to benefit the white race. Now this notion wasn’t a new concept for Hitler, it was the same concept that lead to the state of slavery in the colonies of the New world by those who believe they had moral right to enslave the weaker native of Africa. The ideal of an Aryan race goes back in antiquity and the notions of many sociological studies and views of those who believed the White race was the superior race with a superior mind, body, and soul.
In Germany where the Hitler regime started and ended in 1945 after millions of Jews and non-Aryan people were put to death in gas chambers and other methods of death. After the end of a second World War to end Hitler’s murderous regime at the cost of ally nations lives, property, and economy. The symbol of Nazism and its history and those who strive to restore its glory are banned, removed, and under the strongest hate laws in Germany, and around the world Nazi symbolism is a hated. Yet, the United States, the symbolism of the South since the 1860’s remain so evident in our states and the mind of the Southern states, that slavery, its views and acceptance continue to encourage the inequality of the Black American that they are an inferior race, undeserving of the rights of White folks. U.S. History shows the many events of hate crimes and violent actions toward the Black American, lynching’s’, Black church burnings, and massacres of Black American in mass. The rise of the KKK in the late 1800’s in answer to the continue hate of the Black American, and the rise of White supremacy in many levels of our communities, politics and government continue the American Civil War and by those who still believe the South is still alive and want it to remain that way.
Just to clarify, given the 300,000,000+ million living in the United States. The percentage of White Supremacist may not seem that large. Officially, the number of White Supremacist organization and its members may be known and counted. What is not counted is the larger number of those who are influenced by those recognized members and their ideology. Then there is the political arm of White wealth, that hide behind a shield of deep seated views and notions that they are the better man, that wealth and power is the only way they can control and manage the lessor races in this nation. To control wealth and power over them by keeping them minorities, the minority race through subjugation and control of the laws that govern their lack of equality. Is this 1860’s, or 2020. Today we deal with unrest of minorities over systematic racism, Police brutalities and a GOP that is no longer the Grand Old Party, Abraham Lincoln was a member of. As history has shown, the southern state primary republican leaders since the Emancipation Proclamation of 1963 remained in power of these former slave states and thus the reason for our unrest this day in June 2020. Why has 157 years passed, and we still have racist unrest, and a GOP who have turned a blind eye to the reason.
First the GOP resist the removal of confederacy images, and clearly state that we should not remove the heritage of our American History. (2) they turn a blind eye to the wrongness of that American History. (3) They believe in a GOP platform that is so outmoded it encourages racism. (4), they support a President who has proven he is unfit to be that President. (5) Wealth equates to power, and power equates to subjugation, and subjugation equates to more power and wealth.
Then we have the other side of the issues here as the only solution to end racism and police brutality is to defund Police, as a first step to end police brutality. As if by doing so, other reforms will fall in step naturally. Police brutality is a culture that stems from individual choices to with violence often unbridled by common sense and appropriate behavior toward a minority race. Recently the lives of Black members of our community under conditions they would not have acted toward a White member of the community when policing. Yes, that is racism when these events keep rising in the public eyes in real time with police body cams, and cell phone videos. Still no excuse toward these individuals abusing other rights because of that individual’s personal views of a Black community member or the masses of Black Americans. No one is going to argue when there is a different method when policing a White member of society with less restraint and less fatality. While taking stronger and fatal action policing a Black member of society, committing a similar crime. Worse yet when a Black person is perceived committing a crime that is not really a crime. Making the color of the person’s skin a crime. These views can be traced back to the decades and centuries of abuse of the Black American by a system that continues to hide itself under a clever cloak of Southern pride for its History of slavery.
So where does that leave “Black Lives Matter” and police brutality. Reform does not come from punishing the whole department of police because of a few bad apples. Reform comes by removing the bad apples and leaving what is good to continue what is good. Reform comes by strengthening a justice system that has yet to become truly blind to the concept that Justice is blind when it come to policing, laws, prosecution, and punishment. Lady Justice might set upon her pedestal with her scales balanced. But in reality, that pedestal, the foundation of her stance is built up on uneven ground with a lot of bad apples in the barrow of justice. The bad apple may well be a department head with some unfortunate views of policing, how to police, and that policing is a power trip and have an unhealthy ego. Thus, that ego transfers unto other individuals in the department. A barrel of bad apples can be very obvious to us. While a few bad apples hidden in the barrow can be hard to sort out until one of those individuals starts to really stink like a rotten apple when crosses the line. So why defund the whole police department when the best approach and rational approach is to weed out the bad apples through initiatives and programs that identify the bad apples based on faulty ego’s, racist views, and notions. The process may not be as fast and expedient of firing everyone from the top to the bottom both police and civilian department members. To do so is to leave a community in a void of no policing of the safety of the community which includes the Black as well as the White. Crime is not entirely just a Black problem, nor is it entirely a White problem either. Justice is an issue of anyone who violates the laws of the land are treated equally in how that crime is policed, prosecuted, and punished fairly across all races. Will it be an easy path to walk when assuring fair equality of policing crime and protecting the community and its citizens regardless of race distinction? No! Let us be realistic here.
When there is disease of the body and mind, there is a root cause. The operative word here is “Root”. The mighty Oak stands only as long as the roots, the tap root and the tertiary roots are healthy and feeding the tree its nutrients from the ground. The tap root is the deepest root, while the tertiary roots are those that spread around the ground supporting the mighty Oak from toppling. The tap root goes deep to its water source and if that water source is contaminated, then the tap root dies. The same can be said of the branches of a tree. When one branch is diseased, it affects the healthy branches of the tree. The branches of the tree collect vital nutrients from the sun, which in turn feeds the growth of the tap root and tertiary roots as well. This is the symbiotic process of life for all life on earth. The same applies to our racism issues and problems in society. Since, the 1800’s slavery was a disease that needed to be cured in this country and the operation to do so, was radical when it came to the American Civil War. Was the operation successful. No! Honestly not. The disease retreated to the lowest end of the tap root, while the tertiary roots where healed and allowed to spread further as Freemen and freewomen. Meanwhile the Tap root that fed the tertiary roots, and the tree itself was insidiously continuing to spread its disease until we once again find the tree itself in peril. Our Racial unrest of 2020. Defunding the police is much like cutting off the tap root, where the tertiary roots will be negatively infected, and eventually the Tree above the ground finds itself dying for lack of proper nutrition from the tap root. So, let us not take a rash move and cut the tap root off when in fact the tree needs pruning of dead branches to assure a better life for the tree.
Getting back to that tap root, we also need to reveal that tap root to the corruption that has been eating at it since the last 157+ years. This disease of a past era, theory, and notions that the Black native of Africa was an inferior race fit only to be owned and subjugated to benefit the economic wealth of a lazy group of White men. This disease has gone underground to continue its ideology and pogrom that wealth and power equates to subjugation of minorities, and this disease has affected our policing, our government, elected officials, and society. We can protest all we want and belief that defunding police is the only way to end the brutality of Black lives. Unless we take a stronger action to kill the disease with the right reforms, that disease will continue to live in our society in as many ways as it can to continue its White supremacy in this nation. We must recognize that White supremacy is not just about a Nazi movement, KKK, or Skin head groups. It is a disease of hatred and refusal by individuals though in large number to not allow other races to share this world with them. That the white race is superior and will always be superior where wealth and power is a means to continue that subjugation. When it comes to wealth and power, equality is all about who has the most wealth and power. While inequality is depriving anyone regardless of race, denying them the right to equally share that wealth and power.
Two hundred years ago, a Thousand years ago, Three Thousand plus years ago, wealth and power may well have been a fact of life and how our civilizations survived. This is 2020 in the Christian calendar and in the Jewish Calendar 5,000+ years and the China calendar again thousands of years. It is time wealth and power becomes an equality for all races. Not by riots and violence but by a conscious decision to have change and reform of our society through rational actions, common sense, and taking responsibility to see the image and heritage of the confederacy and slavery, isn’t just an act of toppling a statue and banning a flag. But removing the outdated GOP platform that supports the old south rising again. That is where the tap root and disease of racism as laid deep in its corrupted halls since 1863. Again, do not have a defund attitude that we must remove the whole tap root, throw out the whole barrow of bad apples. Just prune the disease parts and remove the bad apples, justly and equally by standing as better people regardless of race. Educate the good parts, and keep what is right and humane, what is equality for the masses, and not just the privileged individual. It is time we put aside a diseased heritage that the south represented and created. It was a political notion and view that arrived from such men as Count De Gobineau, who in 1855 espoused the notion and theory, though not entirely an original thought for him. But perpetuated the notion that the Black negro of African, the Yellow strains of races where inferior races, worthy of subjugation and slavery. That the White races needs to keep these strains of inferiority shackled like chattel chained to the field to produce the wealth for the White race. To keep this strain from polluting the Aryan race. That this strain is and will never be productive citizens of this nation or the world. We might believe that current events are the cause of current problems. We must realize that the cause is deeper then just current issues, and because it is deeper, reform will be harder to achieve until we remove the notion that as a mass the Black American is an inferior race and will never be a superior race. As individuals with personal worth you can make Black Lives Matter, and the lives of all races, even the White race. Which together we do outnumber those who seek to continue this subjugation from the dawn of time. For we are all sinking in the same boat here if we do not plug up the leaks.
Robert D. Vergeson
Ashamed to Be White
