A Racist Agenda

America has just had what is seemingly the most divisive election in history which has sparked a rise in hate crimes and xenophobic behaviour blah blah blah, that's old news. So let's look at some even older news. Believe it or not America has always been divided, I know shock horror. America used to be a crucial part of the Slave Trade Triangle, the White House itself was built by slaves. America has created a myth for itself about its equity and freedom for all men who are created equal, that is unless you're African American, Mexican, female, LGBTQ or non-christian, specifically non-protestant. Also if you're a socialist then god help you. Americans like to hide behind their myth and often don't like to look behind it to discover the truth of the Land of the Free. In reality, America is only free if you're a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), in other words being born with every privilege known to human kind and the biggest problem you've probably ever faced is having to deal with 3G instead of your usual 4. So how did we reach this state of affairs where we have an Annoying Orange as the PEOTUS (who remembers THAT Youtube reference) and there is civil war between young African Americans and the police force.

To see this, we need to go waaaaaay back to the 15th Century when colonisation and being a dick to natives was all the rage. This is when the Slave Trade began. European powers, including the Portuguese, British and Belgians, had begun to spread their wings and explore the open ocean when they came across the small landmass that was Africa. Now, one main purpose of this expansion of empires was for trade, because to spread so far and wide requires a bit of cash to pay the bills. Therefore, countries were trading in grain, spices (when the Sub-continent India was 'discovered' in 1498 by Vasco da Gama) and textiles. But when the explorers reached the African shores, they came across a new commodity: people. This new commodity of the seemingly primitive people were captured and taken back to Europe and were put to work amongst the other Slaves that already existed in Europe. At the same time, America was also being 'discovered'. Not by Columbus, he discovered the Bahamas and probably had a very nice time getting a tan and drinking a cocktail from a coconut. Mainland America was actually discovered by Leif Erickson, a Viking who led a colony to what is now Modern Canada nearly 500 years before Columbus even set sail. The mainland was then discovered (again) by John Cabot in 1497, one year before Columbus landed. Trade grew and grew amongst all the corners of the growing empires, and all the while Slaves were being taken in increasing numbers from their homelands. Fast-forward to 1607 and we see settlers land in Plymouth to create the first settlement of Jamestown and the modern view of America was born. By 1619, the first Slaves had started to arrive in America and thus the Transatlantic Slave Trade was born, with somewhere in the region of 25 million Africans being taken from their homes before slavery was abolished. Slavers sailed from Europe to Africa where they stole Africans. They were then transported either back to Europe or were taken across the Atlantic to become Slaves in America and work on Cotton Plantations (and eventually move on to create Jazz!). But this idea of trading people seems atrocious to us, so how could people way back when have the sound conscious to trade and mistreat fellow peeps? Here's how. Imagine you have a pet rabbit, if you already do good for you I hope you fed it this evening. A rabbit is a wild animal that enjoys to run around, yet you likely keep it in a cage. Why is it you can do this? Well there are two reasons: first is that your rabbit is cute and you want snuggles. But the second is that the rabbit is not human. And if it is not human, then you have no need to feel guilty for caging it. The same applied to the Slave Trade. When the 'savage' Africans were taken from their homes they were seen as just that, animals. They had no thought, they couldn't operate by themselves, so therefore people shouldn't have felt guilty when dealing with lesser beings. Thus Slavery could be done on a clean conscious, and racism became a prominent ideal in the American psyche.

Let's fast-forward again to 1776, when the American Declaration of Independence proposed a constitution for the newly founded United States of America (all 13 of them) where all men are created equal with unalienable rights. But this failed to specify that African Americans were not encompassed in this "all men" clause (and what about the women, huh America?). Put simply, African Americans did not share the same rights that Caucasian men did. BUT we fast-forward again (just skipping the boring parts, like the first 40 minutes of The Hobbit) to 1863. The Civil War had been raging for three years with more casualties for the Yanks than World War One and Two combined. This was a war fought between the Confederacy and the Union over many different variables including Slavery, different taste in flags and fashion differences between Blue Unionists and Grey Confederates. Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President (lol look how far we've come with our current standard of Republican), called for the Emancipation of the Slaves in 1863 with the 13th Amendment to the constitution. Now, Lincoln did this for various reasons it would seem, some argue that he was a liberal President who wanted liberty for the Slaves, but some argue he simply wanted the Slaves on his side to cripple the Southern/Confederate economy (which was reliant on slaves in the cotton industry) and gain men for his army with freed slaves who wanted to fight for him. But whatever stance he took, he freed the slaves and was killed in 1865 for his actions. In addition to this, the Ku Klux Klan was formed in the same year, thus setting a new precedent for the next decades to come.

What followed is known as the era of Reconstruction, where the Union was rebuilt over the course of a decade or two. Lincoln's Vice President, Andrew Johnson, seemed to continue this newfound Liberalism in his presidency with the 14th Amendment which allowed Human Rights for all (including the recently freed slaves) and the Freedman's Bureau which helped the new slaves find jobs. So all is hunky-dory for the new citizens of America, yes? No. Were you expecting a happy ending already? Johnson had different ideas on his mind besides the ex-slaves. Amongst other things, he was preoccupied with recreating the Union. Johnson did not intend to punish the South. Whilst he did oversee the 13th and 14th Amendment, Johnson believed that each state should have the right to decide the best course for itself. He appointed governors to get the states to take the necessary steps to rejoin the Union. However, these governors were rubbish. Really really rubbish. Black Codes quickly spread throughout the South which blocked African American freedoms including baring from voting through things such as the 'Grandfather Clause' and even lynching. Johnson did nothing, however, because he wanted to save his newly forming Union. In 1866, Johnson even suggested an idea of establishing a colony for the ex-slaves in another country! The ex-slaves were not being helped. Despite the new legislation including the new 15th Amendment which tried to allow voting for all, African Americans were still being marginalised, many having to turn back to their past masters as they needed the work and money and they fell into the trap of Share-cropping, which was essentially slavery under a different alias. During Reconstruction, the US army was stationed in the South to 'keep the peace' and enforce the new Reconstruction Legislation. However, in the 1876 election, the Republicans made a dodgy deal with the Southern Democrats which allowed Rutherford B Hayes, the Republican Candidate, to win the election in return for withdrawing the troops from the South. The troops left, and with them they took the work of Reconstruction, and the Jim Crow laws took over Black lives.

Unfortunately, Civil Rights took a back seat in American politics due to a tiny little hiccough in history called World War One. Oh and World War Two as well. Also there was that Wall Street Crash thing which caused people to be depressed? Or something? Well anyway, apparently these events were important so the African Americans were forgotten, despite being the worst hit demographic of society.

So let's fast-forward! We arrive in the 1950s, a time of Big Bombs, Baby-boomers and the Birth of Rock and Roll alongside a young Forrest Gump growing up in an age of Elvis Presley, Racism and the Vietnam War (if you haven't watched Forrest Gump, shame on you). But things are starting to change. Here's a story for you, and it's about education. The Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka case in 1955 involved a family who challenged the idea of segregated schools, and they won. Segregated schools were seen to violate the constitution, and segregated schools slowly disolved throughout the 50s-the modern day. This can be seen in the Little Rock School in Arkansas, 1957. Nine Black students were blocked from the school by Governor Orval Faubus, but this gained massive media attention, partially due to the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka case. The government responded by sending federal troops to enforce the Little Rock Nine could enter the school and several of them graduated, despite the violent threats. But this wasn't an isolated case, the country saw a massive upheaval of Civil Rights activists and movements. Individuals such as Rosa Park and her bus situation in Montgomery in 1955 got a lot of media attention and Martin Luther King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, propelling him to become a prominent member of the civil rights movement. This was alongside his slightly more radical counterpart, Malcolm X. Unfortunately, both men were assassinated after their successful array of marches, speeches and demonstrations against racial segregation. This brought in a new age of Civil Rights legislation, with President Lyndon Johnson following the views of JFK and signing the Civil Rights Bills in 1964 and 1968 and a Voting Act in 1965 which made it easier for African Americans to vote. On paper, America had reached some form of equality for all.

But we already know that this was not a reality as Race Riots emerged in Los Angeles in 1992, the KKK are on the rise again and there have been spikes in hate crimes in recent months which is a direct result of the spiel of the President-elect, Donald J Trump. Racism is a deeply ingrained part of the American psyche. Obviously, there has been a rise in the number of people who are against racism as African Americans are becoming more prominent in our society with the first Black President soon leaving office after two full terms and many more Black politicians taking up 48 seats in the 114th Congress. But this doesn't hide the fact that Racism and segregation have been a massive part of American culture for decades, to the point where the Southern economy depended on the Slaves to be their main source of business. It is therefore not surprising that we are now still experiencing this prejudice towards those of different skin colours. Americans love their history, their roots and where they come from. Their traditions are rooted way back not only into their countries history but also the traditions of the countries where many American families immigrated from, as can been seen in the American support of the IRA, given Americas cheeky affairs with the Irish and a certain Potato Famine. Part of American tradition is racism. Understand that I am generalising here, Racists are now a minority of the population, but that doesn't stop it from being real.

Back in 2015, South Carolina lowered the last Confederate Flag. We are making steps here. To a brighter future, you first have to become a part of history. It is beyond any doubt that I have that we will one day achieve equality. One only has to look at modern films (such as the glorious Rogue One and the diverse cast it boasts) and our modern politics or even friendship groups were we are becoming more and more diverse. We are a passing part of history. Our section in the fight for Civil Rights and equality will be put in the history books of our children, but first we have to make that history. Stand up to racism, because the only way to stop it is to fight it and any gesture, no matter how big or small, will add towards the end goal that we are aiming for.

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom." - Malcolm X