The Endless War of Racism In America 155 Years Later!

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By Ron Signore

During Father’s Day weekend, the iTunes Store had highlighted movies either at a very low cost on sale or free. These movies were significant to point out the Black Lives Matter movement. Without hesitation, I added Selma, Glory, Ali and Malcolm X to my watch list. With recent happenings in America, I was inspired to regain some context of events and people throughout American History as it pertained to the African American journey here in America.

I started with Glory on Saturday morning. I was honestly quite shocked I had never seen the film before considering my taste in movies, love for history and the amazing cast. This is not a movie review, so just to briefly summarize the film, it is about a the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment for the Union Army during the Civil War. The unique part of this story is that the soldiers that volunteered to make up this group were African American.

There are infinite stories that can be told about the Civil War and why it even happened, some as simple as it was a war over slavery, or states’ rights with the intention of the Confederacy separating to be its own governing body. No matter what angle we want to investigate, the result, plain and simple was that the Union won the war. In the even more bolded context, slavery in its simplest definition was to be abolished after the war ended in 1865.

The film itself is not what could be referenced as a kid’s movie; however, I used the time to address some of the contents of the movie and the ignorant wrongs of racism and the understanding of equality. Comprehension was there for my oldest, but where I thought I saw a connection was the fact that these men went to war to fight for their cause of freedom. An opportunity to try and be recognized as an equal in the land they live. A revenge, rightful at that, for the hundreds of years of oppression and slavery.

It is crazy how our understanding of history would have the Civil War ending in 1865, slavery ending with it and the African American’s becoming free citizens of the United States of America. It really should be that damn simple. Unfortunately, human nature sets in and we look to this very day where we are clearly fighting the same war fought 155 years. It never ended, it just continued in different ways than on a distinct battlefield. White America should honestly feel a sense of shame with how our land of the free could literally and metaphorically shackle and oppress a race the way it has with the African American.

History has presented several challenges to the freedoms African Americans should have had the rights to. Things we take for granted every day like the ability to vote, even though the 14th and 15th Amendment had been ratified granting citizenship, only African American men could vote. Even then, alleged voting oppression kept their voice from being heard. Consistent violations of due process occurred and the odds of getting a fair trial as an African American were slim. Think about it, a jury of your peers as an African American often meant 12 white people judging your fate.

The battle throughout the following hundred years from the Civil War would see some of the most horrific and disgusting acts that could be held to another human being. African American’s went through time being looked upon as second class citizens. Segregation became the norm where there were separate institutions for whites and blacks. Things like drinking fountains were separate, blacks to sit in the back of the bus and a constant refusal of service at establishments were just some of the ignorantly cruel way we saw treatment of people of color. While these types of things were going on around the nation in spots, arguably, the greatest source of racism was still felt in the south.

There is nothing more horrific about this 100-year time frame than the establishment of the Ku Klux Klan. Though there is evidence the KKK has gone through sense of rebirths over time, the fact remains the pride of the group focuses on targeting acts of hate to those of a nonwhite-Anglo Saxon heritage, most obvious the African Americans. The group has a Hitler-esk mentality to a pure country that revolves around a White America. Ironically, a native’s Vs the world mentality, the irony being the obvious fact that even the white man was not native to this land. The KKK played roles in many elections through intimidation to drive votes toward the Democratic Party to try and keep the implied races native as they saw it. If there was resistance to this form of oppression, the penalties could be brutal, even fatal.

Still the call to arms tended to be symbolized with a burning cross. Random shootings of black homes, intimidation, bombings, and other heinous acts of murder of black leaders and their families happened routinely. Constant fright was put into people through threats and violence as they maneuvered around dressed in robes and hoods concealing their identity. Though the Klan was growing, and is very much alive today, one may not know who a member is in everyday life out on the street. It is not out of the question that even people within governments, or authorities, could be part of the Klan, which could result in a systemic racism and continued oppression.

Two schools of thought became prevalent through the Civil Rights Movement amongst African American leaders to equality. The fight for equality and the fight for supremacy covered the spectrum of acts both peaceful and violent. Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. would be the leader of the peaceful movement for equality. Generating nonviolent protests and using the rights given to American citizens to get their position heard. Using simple concepts of how the good book expects people to be treated attracted many followers to help the fight. As I have mentioned in previous articles, King’s work was so inspirational, efforts would continue in his fashion long after his death.

The other school of thought differentiated from King’s because King was arguably trying to fight for a seat in the White Man’s world. The other school of thought around black supremacy fought for a claim that people of color, specifically blacks, were first inheritors of the earth and superior to the white race. Unlike King’s “turn the other cheek” mentality, Malcolm X fought for black supremacy, and would rise to the white oppression of the black people, forcefully if needed. Though the deaths of King and Malcolm X were devastating, their foundations grew throughout America and we have evidently seen the practices of each leader’s beliefs through the years leading up to present day.

Despite these continuous efforts, as a nation we have continued to see the struggle for equality. African American’s would continue to see prejudicial and racial bias when faced with the legal system capping the highest incarceration rate of any race. Poor management from governing entities had allowed for discrimination in social polices that would keep economic struggle amongst African Americans.

Increments of progress have been made to focus on equality. Efforts to diversify education facilities and business entities have been put in place. As a nation we would start to see African American’s in higher ranking business positions and in government. And in 2008, the United States of America would elect its first African American President in Barack Obama.

With no uncertain doubt, a giant leap had been taken. But we have seen this movie before; the movie depicting the same church, different pew. That giant leap has been met with another fall. In the last 10 years, we have viewed at a national attention the use of excessive and unnecessary force from white police on African Americans, some actions ultimately being fatal. We have seen suspicious hangings of African Americans in the past few weeks. We have seen the brutal murder of an African American man jogging. We have seen the repeat of systemic racism. These acts have triggered a call for attention to the matter, and a further call for police reform.

These protests demonstrated both the works of King and the works of Malcolm X. Not every protest was peaceful, not every protest was violent in nature, but clearly there are people who have met the racism with force. Make no mistake, there are very conflicting reports of recent events of who is generating the non-peaceful actions during these protests, which have continued to lead to mistrust in our government and our media.

It is 2020 and it is clear we are still fighting the same war we thought ended in 1865. We have a President who does not listen to the calls being made, but rather helps enable the hatred and racism. For love of his white nationalist supporters, he does not acknowledge the KKK as a terrorist organization, though he does claim a movement that fights fascism is a terrorist organization. The fear and paranoia is apparent and the message to his constituency clearly does not show support for helping end this war. The consequences of his actions will lead to more tensions, which undoubtedly will result in more deaths of innocent people, blacks, whites, and police included.

As a white male, I leave you with this thought. I cannot even begin to put myself in a state of knowledge to understand truly the fearful thoughts and encountered acts of racism my African American neighbors have gone through. Writing this is a struggle for that very reason. In the movie Malcolm X, a scene where a young white college girl walks up to Malcolm (Denzel Washington) and genuinely asks what she can do to help Malcolm’s cause. He looked at her and replied with, “Nothing,” and proceeded to walk on. While I found that a little cavalier, I understood it in the context. How can you make up for hundreds of years of oppression, though maybe you, your family or ancestors may have had no part in that ugly history of this country? I do not have an answer. However, I know there is always something you can do to help going forward. Being part of the most tolerant generation, its easier for us to raise our children to be accepting and understand that content of character is the only thing that matters. It is time to acknowledge natural human rights and freedoms should not be a political topic, and we should focus as a nation to heal as a whole nation. While it starts by trying to change the mentality up top on November 3rd, Dave Matthews puts it best for me, “the future is no place to place your better days.”

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