Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
To some of us the transition from slave to citizenship by those Africans brought in chains to these shores for economic exploitation and horrific abuse ended with the “Emancipation Proclamation”. To others its’ end might have been marked by “Brown v. Board of Education”, or by the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Those of somewhat more insightful bent may have said that the true emancipation occurred when Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. In my view, as much of an impact as all those milestones (and more such as Jackie Robinson i.e.) made to American consciousness, Black people in the United States clearly still lack the benefits and rewards of citizenship. I would go further and say that in the United States, at this time; most Black people still suffer the degradation and challenges brought about by both institutional and emotional racism. This is not to say that in our country other groups, such as Latino’s and Native Americans are free of oppressive prejudice, but to assert that given their history in this country Black people are slotted into the bottom of the economic and social ladder and are still struggling to obtain even those most minimal of rights that most Americans see as their birthright.
This article is a very personal one for me, even though I am not a Black American. As someone born in 1944 I have lived through a great deal of significant Civil Rights history and even contributed to the struggle albeit in a minor way. As a Jewish kid from New York, born into a progressive family, my experience with Black people was minimal until the age of eighteen. There were no non-Whites in my High School, for instance. Yet as someone from a large family, where both set of grandparents immigrated to this country, we as Jews were quite aware of the Country’s innate prejudice towards ourselves and many of us translated that awareness into understanding the prejudicial plights of other ethnic groups. In America though, even among Jews, as each new wave of immigrants found success and acceptance many among them viewed Blacks with disdain believing something to the effect of “If I and mine “made” it, why can’t they. What’s wrong with them? The following will be my personal explanation for “what’s wrong with them” and to me the inevitable conclusion will be what’s wrong with us, the US being this country.
The first African slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619. As the centuries passed this was seen by those profiting from it as a fortuitous economic innovation. Pre-Revolutionary American also had another longstanding, economically exploitive and fortuitous use of lowering labor costs known as indentured servitude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude European immigrants sign a legal document committing them to a certain term of service as “servants”, during which time they received no pay, only food and lodging. They could be discipline through beatings and their contracts were fully enforceable by law. The practice began to die out with the proliferation of African slaves, since the Blacks had a lifetime obligation of service which ended at death, they were economically more feasible a solution. With history memory fades quickly, especially if a whole cottage industry of media propaganda has been produced to “smooth” its edges. “Birth of a Nation”, one of the most cinematically acclaimed films of all time, present Blacks as rabid sub-humans, who required a heroic Ku Klux Klan to keep them in line after the Emancipation. “Gone with the Wind” an even more financially successful film portrays the Blacks in it as sort of loyal simpletons who wouldn’t know how to exist without white people to give them guidance. Racist, denigrating portrayals of Blacks ran rife through the American Cinema and indeed the arts. Stereotypes become universal mythological archetypes and even many of those who believed in freedom for Blacks were skeptical of their capabilities for acting as average citizens.
Looking back at the history of Black slavery in America, I believe we need to re-emphasize an aspect of it that though well known, is usually given intellectually short shrift as to its long term effects. Genocide comes in many forms. Given Twentieth Century history genocide connotes outright murder such as those committed by the Turks against the Armenians, the NAZI’s against the Jews, homosexuals, Gypsy’s and mentally incapacitated. We can add Stalin’s “agricultural reform” via murder, Pol Pot’s political purification via the “killing fields” and the various tragic genocides taking place in Africa today. Yet in that past Century we have another example of a less murderous, but no less horrific genocide as exhibited by Mao’s “Cultural Revolution”. This was an effort less to murder people and more to provide them with a harshly imposed re-education and as such I see the “Genocide” of American slavery as a pre-cursor of Chairman Mao.
Except for instances of sadism, or extreme disciplinary example, it was not the intent of the American slaveholder to murder his/her slaves. They represented property and wealth. They could be put up as chattel for loans and they could be sold for profit. The “smart” slave investor wanted to keep his “property” healthful and in good shape for possible profit via sale. What that investor, entrepreneur may we say, didn’t want was any particular slave believing that they had the right to do anything but serve the will of their Master. Cultural genocide was what was imposed upon the captive Africans, to destroy any memories of their past history and to dent them the normal human comforts of wives and family. The truth, conveniently ignored by common history books to sugar coat the horror of imperialist exploitation of Africa, was that existing there was rather strong and sophisticated cultural heritages. These were not “savages” falling upon each other in constant strife and living unsophisticated lives as “jungle denizens”, but rather richly developed cultures that had a sophisticated cross-cultural interdependence. That some of the more powerful tribes sold their fellows into slavery was not a good thing, but actually slavery in the Western world’s history goes back to our “cultural forebears” the Athenians, the Trojans, the Carthaginians and of course the “glory” that was Rome. Human’s tendency to exploit other humans for personal gain seems endemic to our history as we see today in our “great banks”, or phony entrepreneurs like Mitt Romney.
Slaveholders in America needed to ensure docility by expunging the African memories and identities of “their” slaves by renaming them, destroying personal bonds such as marriage and parenthood, and most importantly teaching their unwilling slaves that all the stereotypes of their inferiority were true. They succeeded fairly well in many cases. I could put in here the actual truth that the slaves were highly resistant and developed their own intellectual and cultural movements, including many rebellions, but if you don’t know of the lives of Frederick Douglas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass and Nat Turner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner it might profit you to do a little research. Nevertheless, the slave holder propagandists did have widespread success in their genocide of cultural destruction, abetted by the mass media and certain historians forgetfulness of the true history of American slavery.
The “Abolitionist Movement” in America gained strength to the point of electing an American President who shared somewhat similar sentiments. One of the bloodiest wars in history was fought on American soil and in the end the forces of Abolition seemed victorious. Lincoln was of course murdered only days after the Gettysburg surrender and replaced by a somewhat less committed and capable President Andrew Johnson. While the plans for “Reconstruction” had been drawn prior to the Civil Wars end, Johnson’s ability to fully implement it and truly give freed Blacks the chance at full citizenship and freedom was limited by the deal he had to make to keep from being impeached. Slavery was over but “Jim Crow” replaced it with a system no less harsh and certainly no less murderous. Historically and in the doctrines of our courts “Jim Crow” was the law of the land and Black people were for the most part not allowed the normal rights of American citizens, most importantly the right to vote.
What is forgotten in all of this is the psychological effect this condition of “Jim Crow” had upon Black Americans, particularly males. Imagine living a life where you are not only constantly under suspicion for mischief, but extremely likely to be incarcerated or lynched for innocent actions? Imagine having to step into the gutter when encountering a white person on the sidewalk? Imagine being afraid to look a white person in the eye for fear of being charged with the “crime” of being “uppity”. Imagine being educated in severely under funded school districts, with poverty the impetus to drop out early to work and with lack of books to help one in their study? Imagine having to take a “literacy” test to vote, or having to pay a “poll tax” in order to vote? Imagine seeing angry policeman staring at you as you approached a polling place and knowing that they could beat you senseless just for the fun of it? Imagine being called “Boy” by someone years younger and your life in danger if you don’t acquiesce?
Imagine as a father being unable to find, or hold a job as easy as your wife and the shameful baggage that goes with the knowledge you are unable to support your family? Imagine needing welfare assistance for your family to survive, yet having to either move out of your home, or pretend not to live there lest the Welfare authorities cut off your family’s entire assistance? Imagine living a life of having to suffer constant humiliation and degradation of your self-esteem? What I’ve just written only briefly touches upon the psychological genocide that was inflicted and still is being afflicted upon the Black portion of our people.
That so many Black people have thrived, despite all of these difficulties, is a tribute to the intelligence and talents of this portion of our population. That such a rich cultural heritage has been produced by Black Americans is a similar paean to the strength of their culture and to the many examples of true genius that exists amongst them. So yes in America we have a Black President, many distinguished Black legislators, educators, entertainers and sports stars. I would assert to you that while on an individual basis that is a cause for celebration, on an institutional basis things have not really progressed much beyond “Jim Crow” and we may actually be entering a time of retrenchment if we don’t see the ominous signs.
Last week my fellow guest blogger Lawrence Rafferty made this excellent contribution: “Probable Cause..Black, Latino and Young”. http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/24/probable-cause-black-latino-and-young/#more-62063 In it he discussed the ongoing New York City “Stop and Frisk” policy instituted by Mayor Bloomberg and his Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. While the trial isn’t over the evidence is pretty conclusive that for the past decade people of color have been targeted by the NYPD simply based on their appearance:
“According to department data, the NYPD has made roughly 5 million street stops in the past decade, the vast majority of those stopped being young African American or Latino men. Nearly nine out of 10 of those stopped by police have walked away without a summons or arrest.”
Explain to me please the difference between these actions and those Blacks lived through during “Jim Crow”? Now due to his media savvy I have no doubt that Mr. Bloomberg, that champion of the elite, has publicized this to the point where we think it is simply a New York City phenomenon. In truth this is common practice all over this country and especially in places like Los Angeles, San Diego and Joe Arpaio’s famed Maricopa Country. Indeed in all of Arizona one can be stopped for driving as a suspected Mexican. Seriously, can you deny that in the “formerly Jim Crow” South this is still not a common practice?
A companion piece to this is something that I have previously written about: “The Incarceration of Black Men in America” http://jonathanturley.org/?s=The+incarceration+of+black+men+in+america
To quote from that piece:
“Black males continue to be incarcerated at an extraordinary rate. Black males make up 35.4 percent of the jail and prison population — even though they make up less than 10 percent of the overall U.S population. Four percent of U.S. black males were in jail or prison last year, compared to 1.7 percent of Hispanic males and .7 percent of white males. In other words, black males were locked up at almost six times the rate of their white counterparts.”
http://www.laprogressive.com/law-and-the-justice-system/boiling-hot-mad/.html
How can we honestly say given the above, if you accept it, that Black people share equality of citizenship with their fellow Americans? The “stop and frisk” actions lead to predominantly minor charges, that despite guilt are plea bargained away due to lack of viable legal representation. Arrests and jail records make finding gainful employment harder, which leads to a kind of “what the hell” despair that imbues the psyches of may Blacks, despite their intelligence, strength of character and the stability of their communal connections. We still live in a land of “Jim Crow” and those who pretend we do not are either politically and/or racially motivated, or suffering from denial in my opinion. To any who might dispute my conclusions, or think they are based upon lack of evidence beware, because the evidence of this fact is so overwhelming that this guest blog would run into the tens of thousands of words were I to produce them. Until all of our citizens, despite their backgrounds are treated on an equal basis than the idea of our Constitutional Republic is a mere sham. It must seem so for so many people of color.
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger.
Mike Spindell:
how has Freeasabird been broken?
Mike,
I do not blame anyone for what happened over a century ago. I am tired of people like you who always want to play a race card. Racism has always been in existence on earth and will continue. I have to be responsible for myself and make good choices. I wish more fathers would stay with their families which is a big problem in my community. That is not government’s fault.
Freasabird,
See RWL’s comment. You’ve been broken.
People tend to forget that the Civil Rights movement, and the baseline rights it afforded Black Americans, only took place a little over fifty years ago. That’s not even an eye-blink in historical terms. The idea that a community so deeply disenfranchised ought to be expected to compete and thrive is pretty ludicrous, especially given the institutional racism that still exists, at least partially, in the U.S.
For my part, I am most hopeful when I interact with and young people. They are overwhelmingly “over” racism and willing to move on to better and brighter days. They don’t seem to have as much of the prejudicial baggage that even my generation had (I’m 35).
Radical Republicons in Congress pushed through three Constitutional Amendments in the years right after the Civil War: 13th Amd which freed slaves; 14th Amd which confirmed citizenship rights and liberty rights for all persons and also limiting States from imposing limitations; 15th Amd granting all males voting rights.
The 14th Amendment gets overlooked both by people and historians but also by Justices on the Supreme Court. The Amendment has a specific section which empowers Congress to pass laws to enforce the Amendment. The Congress in its various sessions took a while. In 1957 it passed a limited Civil Rights Act. Lyndon Johnson is the large person in history who passed and pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That is the big breakthrough since the 14th Amd. Lyndon also pushed through the Voting Rights Act of 1965. What people fail to see is that the 14th Amendment also ended certain oligarchy and nobility traditions in America. Poor white trash could vote and be citizens. All people are entitled to a fair trial and to be accorded due process of law and equal protection of the law.
Over time the Democrats in the South pushed back against Reconstruction and imposed a vapid tyranny of segregation. Also, over time, the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of George Wallace. Lee Atwater from SC published his Southern Strategy, which Nixon, then Reagun and all Republicon Presidents and candidates from that Party have endorsed since 1968. The Red States are all South and the former Republican states, particularly in the Northeast, are all Blue or Democrat.
RepubliCons have to shed their bigotry or they will continue to fade. If you are not tired of hearing about “forced busing” and “welfare cheats” then keep on voting for RepubliCons who yak in those terms. You can be an Originalist like Justice Scalia and revere the grand old days of Slavery which was embraced by the Framers of our original Constitution. Those original Framers would be skeptical of an Italian on the bench or Jews or women.
If you want to be a true American then embrace Reconstructionism and embrace equality for all.
RWL 1, March 30, 2013 at 3:09 pm
I forgot to add: In American History … I read in one book how the slave maker used to take a pregnant woman, a Black woman, and make her watch as her man would be tortured and put to death. One of those slave makers had trees that he planted in positions where he would bend them and tie them, and then tie the hand of a Black man to one, a hand to the other, and his legs to two more, and he’d cut the rope. And when he’d cut the rope, that tree would snap up and pull the arm of the Black man right out of his socket, pull him up into four different parts. I’ll show you books where you can read it, they write about it. And they made the pregnant Black women stand there and watch as they did it, so that all this grief and fear that they felt would go right into that baby,
====================================================
That notion comes under “epigenetics” and has been confirmed recently as a viable hypotheses:
(Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala). As I mentioned in a comment up-thread, the public does not like to think about the things our epigovernment and government does in our names.
The powerful myth “kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder is not something an American would do”, therefore Americans did not do that or sanction that.
This still goes on today before our eyes (if we are watching that is).
“phony entrepreneurs like Mitt Romney.” What a crock! Romney has done more for people than Mike ever has. This article is a joke. Black people today have every right as everyone else. It is their own fault they have a high divorce rate. It is their own doing with gang violence in places like Chicago. I don’t blame my Great grandfather’s past for my current situation and BTW I am Black. I am tired of people trying to make excuses for our past as it relates to our present.
There are many Blacks who do not share this view and I am one of them!
Reblogged this on euzicasa and commented:
It’s more like the myth of equality between rich and poor…really, that is today’s reality:
No money no equal!
Mike S.,
Regardless it’s great to have you back… One of he most profound threads while in your absence was Mike A’s. not that they aren’t all good…. But this one stick outs because….of the intertwining….corporation…
…http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/25/the-corporate-veil-meets-the-first-communion-veil/
I forgot to add: In American History, There was also a process of ‘making or breaking in’ an African a slave, once he/she arrived in America. Here is that process:
“There were three people involved in the crime that was committed against us–the slave trader, the slave master, and a third one that they don’t tell you and me about, the slave maker. You’ve read about the slave trader and you’ve read about the slave master; in fact, you know the slave master–you’re still in his hands. But you never read in history the part played by the slave maker.
You can’t make a wise man a slave, you can’t make a warrior a slave. When you and I came here, or rather when we were brought here, we were brought here from a society that was highly civilized, our culture was at the highest level, and we were warriors–we knew no fear. How could they make us slaves? They had to do the same thing to us that we do to a horse. When you take a horse out of the wilds, you don’t just jump on him and ride him, or put a bit in his mouth and use him to plow with. No, you’ve got to break him in first. Once you break him in, then you can ride him. Now the man who rides him is not the man who breaks him in. It takes a different type of man to break him in than it takes to ride him. The average man that’s been riding him can’t break him in. It takes a cruel man to break him in, a mean man, a heartless man, a man with no feelings.
And this is why they took the role of the slave maker out of history. It was so criminal that they don’t even dare to write about it, to tell what was done to you and me to break us in and break us down to the level that we’re on today. Because if you find the role that that slave maker played, I’m telling you, you’ll find it hard to forget and forgive, you’ll find it hard. I can’t forgive the slave trader or the slave master; you know I can’t forgive the slave maker. [Applause]
Attempts to break Africans
Our people weren’t brought right here to this country. They were first dropped off in the West Indian islands, in the Caribbean. Most of the slaves that were brought from Africa were dropped off first in the Caribbean, West Indian islands. Why? This was the breaking-in grounds. They would break them in down there. When they broke them in, then they would bring the ones whose spirit had been broken on to America. They had all kinds of tactics for breaking them in. They bred fear into them, for one thing.
I read in one book how the slave maker used to take a pregnant woman, a Black woman, and make her watch as her man would be tortured and put to death. One of those slave makers had trees that he planted in positions where he would bend them and tie them, and then tie the hand of a Black man to one, a hand to the other, and his legs to two more, and he’d cut the rope. And when he’d cut the rope, that tree would snap up and pull the arm of the Black man right out of his socket, pull him up into four different parts. I’ll show you books where you can read it, they write about it. And they made the pregnant Black women stand there and watch as they did it, so that all this grief and fear that they felt would go right into that baby, that Black baby that was yet to be born. It would be born afraid, born with fear in it. And you’ve got it in you right now–right now, you’ve still got it. When you get in front of that blue-eyed thing, you start to itching, don’t you? And you don’t know why. It was bred into you. But when you find out how they did it, you can get it out of you and put it right back in them.”
From the book: Malcolm X on Afo-American History.
RWL,
Thank you, thst quote needed to be added.
Read 1493 by Charles Mann for insight into the driving factors for American Slavery. 8 out of 10 indentured englishmen died below the Mason-Dixon line, African Blacks had resistance to Malaria & Yellow Fever.
” “Jim Crow” had upon Black Americans, particularly males. Imagine living a life where you are not only constantly under suspicion for mischief, but extremely likely to be incarcerated”
Thank you for a thoughtful article.
As you mention, we don’t actually have to imagine this. The Bloomberg administration presents this for our view every day.
If we are to believe reports, there are two parts to this abuse. The first has to do with stopping an individual for being a member of a group, class or ‘race’.
The second has to do with the treatment meted out to the detained individual by the individual police officer. There have been so many reports of physical and verbal abuse that citizens have to take this as an important issue for investigation.
The issue of abuse of detained individuals by police officers requires investigation, regardless of whether the policy of stops is found to be discriminatory or justified by some statistical anomaly.
Thanks for the kind comments everyone. I’m still ailing, though mending,. I mused upon this during my time in the hospital as I read Larry’s blog and the engaging thread that followed. There is so much more I could have said, but lacked the physical strength to continue. Thank you for filling in the interstices.
In addition to agreeing with the comments up-thread, let me say: welcome back Mike S, and thanks for the needed trip down memory lane, and these excerpts from your post:
Well said.
There are some serious studies, along the line of the Gene H series about propaganda involved with some of this, in the context of communal or collective behavior induced in part by propaganda, as you also mentioned.
An example:
(Remodelling Memory For Life’s Sake, emphasis added). Like you said, there is enough evidence to write a book about it.
You are right Gene. That is why I consider the alleged problem to be non-existent. I wonder what the percentage of fraud by banksters is in comparison to voter fraud?
That’s what always strikes me when you look a story on the numbers behind voter fraud, raff. The net effect ends up being something like 0.04% or something along those lines. The whole voter fraud issue is clearly not about correcting of significant error . . . unless of course you think the significant error you’re addressing is making sure people who wouldn’t vote for you can’t vote for your opponent. It’s all thinly veiled racism and elitism at best.
Gene,
statistically insignificant is correct.
What raff said except I wouldn’t describe voter fraud as non-existent but rather as statistically insignificant.
Thanks for a great article Mike. I agree whole heartedly with your thesis. The modicum of freedom that they enjoy now is in jeopardy with the voting restrictions being put in place by states under the guise of preventing the non-existent voter fraud.
Great article…. Glad you’re feeling better mike….
Do you think it really could be any other way…. Someone always is disenfranchised….