Thread by @michaelharriot

This is Whitekanda, an area was created by a race war, white fear, the prospect of an all-Black state, stealing land from indigenous people & one of the greatest real estate scams of all time.

It is also the least racist place in America

A thread

First, American exceptionalism makes us believe that the British colonized the place we call America but that’s not really true. Before America was born, France technically had more property in North America than the British.

But everyone was down with slavery

In 1791, enslaved Black people in French-controlled Haiti jumped off the large successful slave revolt in the history of the planet.

Long story short: they won

Not only did France leave, they said “Fuck this New World shit,” had a fire sale & left the ENTIRE HEMISPHERE

But here’s the thing: the French didn’t really “own” the all that land. They only controlled a small part of the Louisiana Territory

They would sell the land to speculators but natives would whip anyone’s ass who showed up. The speculation actually bankrupted the bank of France

This was good and bad for this new place called America, On 1 hand, they could get the French colonies’ land for cheap. But they were also scared shitless of a slave revolt. So America’s Sec of State & rapist-in-chief Thomas Jefferson came up with a plan

history.com/news/louisiana…

Jefferson made a deal to buy the Louisiana Territory from France and, in exchange, the US agreed to support France’s demand for reparations from Haiti for the slaves who freed themselves

The debt & the US policy enforcing it doomed Haiti’s economy

theroot.com/as-haiti-burns…

France backed up the US claims to the Louisiana territory. And, like Haiti’s debt, because there was paperwork, Europe essentially runnerstamped the US ownership of the territory

The Louisiana Purchase was basically a scam between 2 broke countries

But acknowledging the legitimacy of the Haitian debt allowed the French economy to rebound, and the brand new US grew because it doubled in size by taking land from Natives without actually having to fight for it

In 1820, part of the Louisiana Territory that had been renamed Missouri was admitted as a slave state. To keep a good balance of racism, Maine was admitted as a free state. The “Missouri Compromise” also restricted slavery in the Louisiana Territory to the 36’30” latitude line

The Republic of Texas actually claimed it owned some of the land in the Louisiana territory.

The dispute didn’t really matter, because, remember the natives in the area would whip anyone’s ass who fucked with them anyway.

Plus, in 1845, the US annexed Texas as a slave state

What did they do with that disputed Louisiana Territory land?

Well, the white folks’ paperwork said part of it was part of the Louisiana Purchase. And since Texas extended beyond 36’30’’, it was subject to the terms of the Missouri Compromise.

So Texas was like:

“Maaaannnn… Y’all can keep that lil bit of land if it means we can’t have slaves”

The Compromise of 1850 lopped off the top of Texas, put most of the leftovers in the New Mexico Territory and passed the fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made every American a slave catcher.

Then in 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas territory, the first step toward making Kansas a state.

Kansas was once part of Missouri territory, so Congress just used the old Missouri Territory/Texas Republic border

But to avoid the slavery debate…

Congress just abolished the Missouri Compromise’s “no slave” line and said: “We’ll let the voters decide when Kansas actually becomes a state.”

This “to-enslave-or-not-to-enslave” question started an actual race war known as Bleeding Kansas

history.com/topics/19th-ce…

Now here’s why this part is so interesting to me:

When Ron Desantis & others talk about us wanting to end slavery, there’s no definitive proof or poll that the average American was ever against slavery. Free states abolished slavery by legislation or in their constitution

If Kansas would’ve had a REAL vote on slavery, it would have been the first time we gauged public sentiment. But, by the time Kansas voted, a little thing called the civil war had started, & pro-slavery race warriors could fight in a REAL war for slavery

Anyway, back to whitekanda. Remember, Texas gave up everything above 36’30” to keep slavery

Kansas’ Southern border started at 37’ latitude. So what about the land in between?

It was not part of Texas anymore but it was NEVER part of the Louisiana territories.

It belonged to the US but there technically was no state or territorial law governing it.

It was officially called the “Public Land Strip”

everyone really called it “No Man’s Land.”

It was wild AF. There were shootouts, lynching, prostitutes, thieves and a LOT of liquor.

Why didn’t the natives kill them?

Well, the towns were settled by prostitutes, moonshiners, land thieves, gangs & outlaws. There were no rules. The residents were called “floaters” because they floated around from crime to crime.

It was Wakanda for the whitest of the whites

Then, during the Civil War, the federal government repealed its treaties with the natives in “Indian Territory” (Oklahoma), removed them & gave the land away for free in the Homestead Act.

So after the Civil War, formerly enslaved people heard about this & had an idea.

“What if we just got TF from around white people?”

But where would they go?

Oklahoma!

The plan was for Black “exodusters” to settle in Oklahoma and, when it was time to become a state, it would be majority Black”

It didn’t work but…

oklahoman.com/story/news/200…

This is why there are so many all-Black towns in Oklahoma.

When Oklahoma gained statehood, literally the FIRST LAW was to institute Jim Crow

nondoc.com/2019/07/25/okl…

When it became a territory, Congress included the Public Land Strip. But even free Black people were like “Nahhhh. Wypipohoma is ghetto AF”

To this day, it’s is one of the whitest places on earth. Seriously, Sweden is Blacker. The Census doesn’t even count Blacks there

BUT what’s going on there is NOT racism.

Everyone knows to stay away from Whitekanda