This shorthand history doesn't even mention the shameful treatment and decimation of Native American culture and tribes all across the country.
So we shouldn't be surprised that the hate-virus has been unleashed yet again in a presidential election year when one of the two major parties is being led by a sociopathic, narcissistic demagogue, playing to those like himself infatuated with white supremacy and authoritarian thoughts and actions. (Watching Trump at the debate Monday night flailing about as he responded to questions about his racist-supporting "birtherism" campaign, was unusually instructive.)
UPRISINGS & AGITATIONS
Many white people in post-World War II America (especially in the South) believed they were solicitous of "our nigras," and couldn't understand why there were occasional uprisings and agitation for civil rights. It had to be those "godless communists" stirring up African-American communities. Too ignorant (or guilty) to look in the mirror, they instead blamed "reds" and "outside agitators" for the activism, fueled by systemic mistreatment, that was building up a head of steam in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s.
With the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the mid-1960s, the situation for minorities seemed to be improving -- at least on the surface. But beneath, there was always the roiling sense of victimhood in a good share of the white population, that they were forced to live in a new period of Reconstruction, where federal agencies had their collective foot on the neck of hassled whites.
When in 2008 an African-American was elected President, for many that was the final straw. The political party where most racists and bigots hung out, the Republicans, did their best to insure that Barack Obama's legitimacy to assume the presidency was attacked (led by one Donald J. Trump) and that the new occupant of the White House would be unable to get any major legislation through Congress. Republican gridlock was the name of the game, along with making it more and more difficult for African-Americans and other minorities to vote.
ANGER & FRUSTRATIONS
Many black Americans, especially the young cohort, grew increasingly angry and frustrated. Things were supposed to be improving in the Obama era-- and, in many ways, they were -- but the hidden reality was that in so many ways, African-Americans were locked into a kind of second-class citizenship and economically and educationally short-changed.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
