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The greatest weapon the colonial powers have used in the past against our people has always been his ability to divide and conquer. If I take my hand and slap you, it might sting you because these digits are separated. But all I have to do to put you back in your place is bring those digits together. –Malcom X
In mid 17th century Virginia, long before civil rights or even abolition, poor whites and black slaves came together to demand justice from the ruling class. The rebellion failed but not without a valuable lesson for the elites: a unified citizenry is dangerous.
The ruling class managed to divide and conquer the poor whites and the slaves by changing the social hierarchy. The indentured whites were given more rights and privileges, ensuring that no matter how marginalized they were, they’d still believe themselves above the slaves.
Future alliances were a long time coming as attitudes would have to change amongst more of the white population, but they did come. Each time, different groups, divided by race and/or social class, converge to achieve a greater human goal. Usually restoring some sort of balance before the hegemony divides and conquers again.
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As the Civil Rights movement wound down in the late 1960’s, the people were less divided by overt “Jim Crow” racism, but still divided by race. America declared a victory for equality even as whites ran from cities to the protection of middle-class suburbs, where poorer minorities couldn’t follow.
The once secular communist boogeyman has become a symbol of the conservative movement and made nationalism popular again.
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During this time, racist ideologies evolved and the language became more subtle. The new post-racial narrative was devoid of racial overtures yet still played off white fears. Politicians effectively used this white fear to make policy, strengthen their base, and stay in power.
At the start of Nixon’s drug war in 1971 (the drug war has been around in one form or another since before prohibition), the post-racial zeitgeist introduced “law and order”, a phrase that treads carefully around race. It became a rallying cry all across America, starting in white suburbs where fear of spreading inner city crime was strongest. Though, by the mid-1990’s law and order policies had garnered some wary support in the black community.
[White] America quickly focused on its new enemies: drugs and crime.
Politicians of the day did their part, painting bleak pictures of inner cities without having to resort to racially charged rhetoric, while white TV screens were inundated with images of the dangerous black criminals.
To absolve itself, white America pointed to its black friends and colleagues as evidence of being post-racial, and brushed off the hypocrisy. They also kept their hypocritical and irrational fear of the black man passing them in the street quietly to themselves.
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Today, the post-racial narrative sports Internet memes of white cops playing with black kids, black and brown faces on mainstream television, and prominent black conservatives claiming that racism is a thing of the past. The period at the end of this post-racial story is a popular two-term black president. Problem solved.
Yet, the whitewashed narrative on race is somewhere between blatantly hypocritical and dangerously unjust. Depending on your race, your education standards are likely to be subpar, and teachers won’t expect much of you. You’ll likely be charged more severely and face longer incarceration. You’re also more likely to be shot by police.
White America doesn’t like to hear this, but generations of people from communities across the country know that post-racial is a lie. They’ve lived it.
We never truly were a united country, but stories of rampant inequality don’t fit well with the new America.
Our new administration wants to redefine what it is to be American. Disagreeing with them makes you naïve and ignorant, but opposing them makes you dangerous. Black or white, male or female, submit yourself to this whitewashed version of America and be an ally.
We never truly were a united country, but stories of rampant inequality don’t fit well with the new America.
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Old bigotries are only being extricated from their platform, while still being used to manipulate our worst instincts. The hegemon has repurposed our hate and anger, directing towards those who refuse to fall into line. Dissenting citizens are no exception.
You see America must be made great again, even if we have to unbalance the scales of justice to do it, it’s just temporary…
Like a woman’s right to choose, which is slowly being stripped away state-by-state.
You can still marry whomever you love, but children will be kept in the hands of more traditional families.
Climate change is just a theory, but if you believe in it, you’re against jobs.
Opposing harsh immigration policies because of the human suffering it causes is un-American.
Opposing mass deportation because of the harm it causes is un-American. Opposing an over-priced wall as an unnecessary tax burden is un-American.
Cringing at the America first policy, and our apparent exceptional nature, makes you both un-American and a snowflake.
To call the new administration out for lies and alternative facts is un-American. And, disagreeing with our dear leader is anti-American.
Make no mistake people, there’s an enemy out there and they don’t think like us.
Is this hyperbole? Maybe. But take a closer look at the administration’s newest ally and role model, Russia. The once secular communist boogeyman has become a symbol of the conservative movement and made nationalism popular again.
Putin redefined Russia’s relationship to liberal progressivism, married the church to the state, and used xenophobia to usher in a new era of nationalism. In doing so, he’s turned popular opinion against Islam, gays, liberal democratic values, and social progress. At the same time, he’s consolidated power and given a model to any leader that would use this grassroots rage against their own country’s dissenters and perceived outsiders.
You should be worried that our new administration agrees with this approach and has fallen into lockstep with it. You should be worried- the powers that be have divided and conquered us again.
The spread fingers have become a fist…
Are you with us or against us?
This article was originally published on Huffington Post.
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“Make no mistake, there’s an enemy out there and they don’t think like us.” Summary: Complaints about division by dividing America into white America and minorities goes on to write about his opinion of the events, adds some claims that are not backed by anything but his own rhetoric. Describes Putin as an ally of Trump which cant be farther from the truth. And sums it up by “Are you with us or against us?” again dividing America into two warring camps. Right, now who is dividing who? P.S. How about writing Articles and not writing Fiction or just go… Read more »
“The ruling class managed to divide and conquer the poor whites and the slaves by changing the social hierarchy. The indentured whites were given more rights and privileges, ensuring that no matter how marginalized they were, they’d still believe themselves above the slaves.” A modicum of truth there, but still not a lesson learned when we speak of the fallacy of innate “white privilege”, or more-so, “male privilege” while failing to see the reality written in that which I’ve quoted, the cost levied for such assumed “privilege”, or the extreme, institutionalized sexism that remains in tact and still held over… Read more »
Ah, you saw my liberally biased rhetoric and took it several steps further to deep, deep conservative ideology. I don’t know what promise you speak of when the new administration is the most rigid and most extreme version of itself. Trump has surrounded himself with people who don’t accept science, facts, dissenting opinions, are openly hostile to the media, and who have no problem espousing narrative over reality. As to the continued abuse levied at minority communities via an inequitable system, I suspect they see Trump’s cabinet picks as especially troubling. In the past when powerful political leaders enforced “law… Read more »
“As to the continued abuse levied at minority communities via an inequitable system, …”
I’m glad to see that you said “continued” but I’m curious as to where you’ve been throughout the past administration.
“In the United States there are some 2,300 affiliates of the three largest pregnancy resource center umbrella groups, Heartbeat International, CareNet, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA). Over 1.9 million American women take advantage of these services each year. Many stay at one of the 350 residential facilities for women and children operated by pro-life groups. In New York City alone, there are twenty-two centers serving 12,000 women a year. These centers provide services including pre-natal care, STI testing, STI treatment, ultrasound, childbirth classes, labor coaching, midwife services, lactation consultation, nutrition consulting, social work, abstinence education,… Read more »
While I appreciate the block quotes from thepublicdiscourse.com, I find it a bit odd that you choose to focus on one sentence and take it out of context. This piece wasn’t about women’s health care and choice. It was about how racial and social divisions are not only still used to divide us up and create “others” and enemies, they’re being repurposed into a seemingly cross racial ideology that claims we’re all one people but ignores extant systemic issues. As to your second comment, while I like Obama and think he did a pretty good job (far better in his… Read more »