Black History Revisited

August 23 2004
Counterbias.com
Douglass J. Griffin

This cartoon by Thomas Nast was published in Harper's Weekly in 1874. It depicts how white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan worked to keep freed slaves in politically and economically deprived conditions. Upon closer inspection, the inscription says "The Union As It Was" and "This Is A White Man's Government." The KKK wanted to keep Blacks out of government and prevent them from voting.  Today, all you have to do is substitute the Klansman garb with Florida State Policeman Uniforms.

Every February I invariably hear the same thing: “Why is Black History taught in school?”  My response is usually, “Isn’t it obvious?  The rest of history is about white people – specifically white men.”  The real reason to teach ‘Black History’ is the same for teaching any type of history: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Florida, New Mexico, et al, are dangerously close to repeating history.  And it is not recent history (the 2000 Presidential Election) to which I am necessarily referring.

No, the history that I refer to is that which America all too often wishes it could forget but all too willingly reminds itself of on a regular basis.  America has a racist history, ladies and gentlemen.  That is an irrefutable fact.

Whether it was usurping of lands promised to the all-but-massacred Native Americans (remember them?), or the assigning of the high-risk work of laying explosives to Chinese immigrants for the construction of the railroads, or the continued practice of slavery long after the rest of the industrialized world had abandoned it and the Civil Rights struggle after emancipation, America has been extremely racist.

Nowadays, when people think of Native Americans, they think of casinos outside of the state of Nevada and Atlantic City.  The old racist adage “not a Chinaman’s chance” covers all Asian-Americans today, according to some.  And even though the Civil Rights Bill and the 15^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteed African-Americans the right to vote, that right is still being challenged to this day.

Thumbnail Sketch

January 1, 1863, is a rather significant day in the history of the United States of America.  That is the day that President Abraham Lincoln officially freed all slaves in the United States.  Obviously what followed was the Civil War.

Another significant day in American history, at least for African-Americans, was June 19, 1865.  This was the day that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Grainger, arrived at Galveston and delivered the following message:

“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”

The 13^th Amendment was ratified that December, officially making slavery illegal.  The Civil Rights Bill passed the following summer.  The 15^th Amendment was not ratified until 1870.

That’s my brief thumbnail sketch of how African-Americans gained freedom and the right to vote.  Please forgive the extreme brevity.

The Original War on Terror

President Bush is not the first president to wage war on terror.  President Ulysses S. Grant (as did other presidents) had to combat homegrown terrorism in the form of the Ku Klux Klan.  The Klan did its level best to suppress the black vote by intimidation and outright violence, including murder.

Imagine, if you will, in the weeks before the election, there is an ominous knock at your door in the middle of the night.  You look out the window to see three or four (maybe more) men in robes and hoods with torches ablaze standing in your front yard.  As the man of the house, you tell your wife and children to get away from the window as you nervously go outside to confront your visitors.  You ask the hooded men what they want. “Stay away from the polls, nigger!” the leader of the robed men shouts.  One of the men on the front yard lights the cross that has been planted.  The men leave.  You were lucky.

Would you still vote?  Remember, you have literally no recourse.  The men in the hoods and robes may in fact be the local law enforcement authority.

That’s terrorism!  That was the American South.

The Message Remains the Same

Today, in Florida, that message appears to be being sent again.  Instead of coming in the middle of the night, they come in broad daylight.  Instead of hoods and robes, the intimidators wear the official uniforms of the Florida State Police.  You may or may not be aware of this, but to many law abiding African-Americans, a policeman’s uniform is the equivalent of a Klansman’s robe and hood – especially if the officer wearing it is white.  The biggest difference between the KKK and the police is that the police can officially intimidate… or rather interrogate.

Whether it is the deliberate purging of African-American voters from the rosters or intimidating knocks on the door, and regardless of the attire of the intimidators, the message remains the same:

“Stay away from the polls, nigger!”

Ah, who am I kidding?  It’s just Black History.  None of this really matters to America.

Does it?