Charlottesville In Historical Perspective (2589 hits)

From the Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Charlottesville In Historical Perspective

The media attention to what happened in Charlottesville Virginia has been interesting. Much has been made of both sides, the Alt Right and their bigoted philosophy while others point to the Far Left's hypocrisy and narrow mindedness. In the US race is a hot button issue and the history of "race relations" rarely if ever gets an honest airing or discussion. Xenophobia, racial animus, race and color based oppression and manipulation are deeply engrained and woven into the fabric of this nation.
When Cristobol Colon (Christopher Columbus' real name) encountered the native Arawaks of what was to become Haiti they helped rescue his grounded ship the Santa Maria and saved the few supplies he had left. Colon returned their kindheartedness by slaughtering them when he returned from Europe on his second voyage.
The Europeans attempted to enslave the natives everywhere they went and hostilities became the norm. In the Americas, European diseases wiped out millions of natives. European elites imported lower class Europeans to do the back breaking labor of extracting minerals, planting and harvesting crops; but this proved unproductive so Africans were imported because we were not subject to the diseases, the heat and could be worked longer and harder.
Genocide, slavery and war are America's great sins and ongoing legacy. Yet the ruling classes feel immune and impervious to the laws of KARMA. They foolishly believe they can do their evil with impunity. The ruling class and their minions project their own love of violence, terror and rapine onto others, casually defining us as "the other"; meaning less than, less civilized, less worthy of compassion, respect and even life. This warped projection makes it easy for them to do the horrendous atrocities they have collectively committed around the world for the past five plus centuries: stealing "the others'" lands, wealth, dignity and lives.
A whole system of commerce called capitalism developed based upon greed, violence, the desire for cheap labor and control of the earth's resources and they claim this is the greatest system ever created!
Europeans love war, while they usually give rationales for their wars, they don't really need a reason, their history shows they just love conflict. The Europeans' long history of internecine ethnic and national warfare was subsequently transported to America (and around the world) which eventually led to a war between the states to determine which regional faction would control the economics and politics of the nation.
The US War Between the States was not fought over whether or not Africans and African-Americans would be free or even citizens of this nation. Few if any influential whites believed or desired that. In fact a famous US Supreme Court Case called Dred Scott v Sanford in a 7-2 decision said and I'm paraphrasing ,"blacks were never intended to be citizens of this nation and blacks were so far inferior to whites, they had no rights a white man was bound to respect." This was the attitude of most whites then and now.
There were whites who opposed slavery on moral grounds or felt it was inhumane but few of them envisioned a land where black and white dwelled together in harmony and equality! Abraham Lincoln was never a proponent of race mixing! He said so on numerous occasions. He was a supporter of Black Colonization and was planning to send blacks back to Africa or someplace in South America once the war ended. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0...
Blacks who fought for the Union during the War Between The States did so to secure their people's freedom! Abraham Lincoln never freed one enslaved person in the North the border state nor the South! His Emancipation Proclamation was a cunning PR ploy designed to keep England from siding with and openly supporting the Confederacy. Lincoln's plan was to deport our ancestors out of the country. His murder in 1865 put an end to that notion. In the aftermath of the war Republicans had mixed emotions about what to do with us. But for all intents and purposes Colonization was dead.
This is the smoldering cauldron out of which Charlottesville Virginia erupted. Historically, Southern "Reconstruction" was a noble experiment that allowed limited Black political participation in the South but the ruling elites, North and South alike, put an end to that. Their cooperation allowed the South to usher in a campaign of terror to recapture control of the politics and economy of the South. They subsequently reinstated quasi-slavery and peonage throughout the South for Blacks and whites.
Today many white nationalists, white supremacists and Neo-Nazis want to return to the days by shipping us somewhere or killing us. They want a whites only nation. Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric enflames and emboldens the Ultra Right while simultaneously infuriating the Left who are already apoplectic because he is president.
This is nothing new for us. Our people have lived in this milieu since we were brought here. Our ancestors always agitated for their freedom and human rights despite being outnumbers and out gunned. Great strides were won in the 1950-60's during the so called Civil Rights Movement.
There is still much resistance from whites because of those gains. I wish I had a dollar for every white mane who swears he was passed over or lost his job because of a less qualified Black person. There aren't that many Black folks in this country!
As their system implodes they are looking for a scapegoat. Right now its Muslims and immigrants; but sooner or later we will be back in their crosshairs. Some are predicting an all out war between all factions. As much as Europeans love war they don't need an excuse or an issue. Where does that leave us? Food for thought.

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Posted By: Junious Stanton
Tuesday, August 22nd 2017 at 10:32AM
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