Thread by @CityWeekly

10 minute read on historical recap of slavery, suppression and oppression and why saying "All Lives Matter" is just plain ignorant.

A history of slavery.

On Aug. 20, 1619, after a century of the trans-atlantic slave trade, the first enslaved Africans arrived at Jamestown. About 150 of the original 350 captives died at sea. Of those captives, roughly 20 were from modern day Angola.

From the 1500s to the 1800s it’s estimated that upwards of 12 million Africans were uprooted and shipped to the Americas. Like on that first boat, millions died at sea.

By the early 1600s the early model of indentured servitude was abandoned and full-blown slavery was reserved for Africans only.

In 1662, lifelong and generational slavery was codified in Virginia. Generational slavery was born and only blacks were slaves.

Definition
Codify (verb): Arrange (rules or laws) into a systematic code

During the 1787 Constitutional Congress, the Three-Fifths Compromise was reached.

More slaves meant more votes. From its inception, slavery served a dual purpose-- cheap labor and congressional pull.

In 1794, Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin. This greatly reduced the amount of time it took to pick the seeds from a cotton plant. In lieu of less intensive labor, many plantation owners grew larger crops and acquired more slaves. Cheap labor + more product = greater profits.

In 1861, the Civil War began as a response to the growing abolitionist movement. The Southern states seceded to keep their slave culture intact, formed the Confederacy and started the bloodiest war in U.S. history.

In 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863 and cemented the Union’s and Lincoln’s resolve that the Civil War had a higher purpose than simply keeping the United States intact.

In 1863, slaves accounted for nearly 1/6 of the country’s total population. At the end of the war the, roughly, 4 million slaves were free (sort of). Aside from many slaves remaining on the same farms with poor wages, there begat a major problem we are still dealing with today.

The 13th Amendment didn’t fully abolish slavery.

Here’s the full text of section 1:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

See that line between the commas? That’s the prison industrial complex waiting to happen. Slavery was intentionally institutionalized in our prison system because it was never fully abolished.

STEPS TO ENDING SYSTEMIC RACISM

1. Amend the Constitution to correct the 13th Amendment to this “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States.”
Abolish for profit prisons

2. Any felon that was stripped of their voting rights shall have them immediately reinstated

That one line encouraged the immediate imprisonment of black people post-Civil War to once again use as slave labor. A practice still in effect today as the prison population disproportionately skews towards persons of color, per capita.

It’s time to finally end slavery in the United States… 401 years after the first slaves landed in Jamestown.

Then there's Suppression of opportunity

“Black codes” were written into law
What are “Black Codes” ??? See link
history.com/topics/black-h…

Jim Crow era begins and with it a century of segregation
"What's Jim Crow"??? See link.
history.com/topics/early-2…

Then there's Suppression in education

Read the book “Shame of a Nation” by Jonathan Kozol. Kozol describes the disparity between inner city and suburban schools and gross inequality of per pupil spending-- even for neighboring schools. Kozol’s book was published in 2005.

MORE STEPS TO ENDING SYSTEMIC RACISM:
- Vote By Mail must be given as an option to all citizens.
- Equitable distribution of per pupil spending

Oh, and, don’t buy that book from Amazon. Bezos doesn’t need a dollar from you. Go to your local bookstore and pick up a copy.

On top of it all... a history of oppression.

Lynch mobs stoked fear by physically attacking black people, actively suppressing their votes and, ultimately, lynching thousands of innocent lives over the course of the next 100 years. Children were not spared. Remember Emmett Till.

Read this article by @VoteDarlene
sltrib.com/opinion/commen…

Segregated schools, restrooms, hospitals, prohibition of interracial marriage and more actively contributed to systemic oppression and racial injustice.

In 1963, desegregation of schools was initiated. Two students, Vivian Malone and James A. Hood, successfully enrolled at the University of Alabama when JFK called in the National Guard to force desegregation. George Wallace was pissed.

There was a time when the National Guard was called upon to DE-ESCALATE!!!

The March on Selma occurred in 1965. Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated in 1968. Since Selma, there have been thousands of peaceful protests nationwide. That they went unnoticed is not a valid indictment of today’s protesters.

The peaceful protest King led that people keep tweeting about was 55 years ago.

In 1967, Muhammad Ali refused to go to Vietnam famously saying “The real enemies of my people are right here -- not in Vietnam.” He sacrificed the peak of his career as he was banned from boxing. Sound familiar? Colin Kaepernick did the same thing in 2016.

In 2013, Treyvon Martin was murdered because he looked suspicious. Many people put up this square on their social media platforms. On Tuesday, millions of people posted a black square for #blackouttuesday

There are a lot of parellels between history and these past 10 days-- peaceful, violent, militant, and solidarity alike. So when you say “All Lives Matter” you’re right. But, you’re also wrong. Today, Black Lives Matter.

Together, these 8 use of force policies decrease police violence by up to 70%.

No act of Congress or executive order needed. Mayors just need to do the right thing. Our lives are at stake.

Visit 8cantwait.org to demand action NOW Red heart✊🏾

@MsPackyetti