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1/ I love when right wing know-nothings like @KatiePavlich want folks to pat the U.S. on the back for "ending slavery," as some kind of anti-racist street cred, while ignoring a few important things...let us begin...
2/ So, a) if a nation oppresses people for hundreds of years in one particular form and then stops, only after being forced to do so as the result of a war, and then shifts to ANOTHER form of oppression (segregation), it doesn't get gold stars for their decency...and of course...
3/ b) it's worth noting that most whites never supported the abolition struggle and that struggle was led by black folks. Meaning the end of slavery was the result of black agency more than white magnanimity. Black folks and a handful of white allies forced the issue frankly...
4/ and c) If you read an actual history book Katie, like Slavery by Another Name, by Doug Blackmon you would know that the aftermath wasn't much better for most black folks, who were essentially re-enslaved by whites whose racism hadn't diminished at all...
5/ and d) the oppression of the segregation era continued 2 marginalize blacks & elevate whites providing us w/100s of billions in asset advantages due not 2 superior effort but 2 market discrimination & GOVT programs (FHA, etc) w/o which the white middle class does not exist...
6/ FHA programs alone from 1934-62 provided whites w/ $120 billion in housing assets that were basically off limits 2 POC. That's government, not the free market. The state. Read When Affirmative Action Was White by Ira Katznelson to see the full scope of white advantage here...
7/ It would just be nice if conservatives would familiarize themselves with actual historians. Not Dinesh D'Souza (English Major, minor in pedantry and grifting), but real historians who know more than their 8th grade rah-rah cheerleader version...
8/ Please note: I’m not trying to diminish the role of whites in the abolition struggle. When I said “handful” before I meant statistically a very small share. And an even smaller # whose opposition was rooted in opposition to racism itself...
9/ ...my point is that BLACK people are why slavery was abolished. Their rebellions, their resistance, their sabotaging of plantation owners property, their violent uprisings (entirely justified) are what forced the issue. NOT a moral shift among white people...
10/ By the same token, most whites never opposed segregation or saw it as a problem. Most white according to polls in 1962 and 63 thought black folks already had equal opportunity. In other words, most white folks have never seen reality clearly when it comes to racism...
