Thread by @amikegreen2

What is at stake in the 2020 election? Here's some historical context that's much-needed in American schools to help fully understand the challenge each generation has faced. Now, it's our turn. We get to determine the future for the next generation.
1/33 #VoteResponsibly

White supremacist ideology is taught in American schools. 80% of public school teachers are White, while 52% of public school students are not. Teachers cannot teach contextual US history, social studies & economics when they've never been taught the truth about w-supremacy.
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The U.S. was built on a foundation of white supremacy. it was established as a whites-only citizenry. A nation created by White Europeans for their benefit at the expense of the original Brown owners of this entire continent & Black people brought here in chains.
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Children are not born racist. They clearly see the magnificent diversity inherent in all of God's creation, including the family of humans who inhabit one Earth home. Children do not ascribe varying values to humans based on their color, lineage, gender, etc. Adults do. Why?
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U.S. history at a glance. How did we get where we are today. Take a look.
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We've heard so much about Abraham Lincoln from so many people who apparently don't know Lincoln. His views about Black people were not a "radical" departure from the status quo of his era ... and ours. Fortunately, there were actual radicals in Congress who changed America.
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I agree with the mantra "Make America Great Again." During the GREATEST ERA (1865-72) White Radicals changed the US Constitution 3 times, introduced the first Civil Rights Act (1866), funded a Freedmen's Bureau + Bank & impeached a white supremacist POTUS (in just 7 yrs!)
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In 1865, white supremacists hated the idea of a Freedmen's Bureau for Black people who had finally breathed the air of freedom they had been deprived of by white supremacists since 1619. White supremacists claimed govt assistance would make Black people lazy/dependent.
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In the 100 years after becoming citizens (1868-1968), Black Americans would rapidly build wealth at an unprecedented level. in the first 20 years they would build 200 towns. During that century they would build more than 100 Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU).
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What happened to Black wealth? 100 years of extraordinary efforts by Black Americans to build wealth in a hostile White nation was met with extraordinary violence. White terrorism reigned. White riots & urban renewal policies would destroy families & entire communities.
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White supremacy is thought to exist along a marginalized fringe segment of White populations. This belief has never been true. White supremacy has always been mainstream ideology along a spectrum ranging from public policies & private sector practices to violent extremism.
11/33

White America teaches that "Jim Crow" segregationist practices ended with legislative and judicial changes. That's not true. Segregationist policies in both public and private sectors were not significantly affected by Brown v Board nor any of the 8 civil rights acts!
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described the political climate in 1963 in the opening chapter of his book, "Why We Can't Wait." That chapter is titled, "The Negro Revolution: Why 1963?" The first of 3 triggers of the Revolution was due to SCOTUS nullification of Brown v Board.
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Every White child in America should know who A. Philip Randolph was, and his extraordinary efforts to empower Black Americans with equitable opportunities through unionizing and elevating our voices in nonviolent protests of ubiquitous segregationist policies & practices.
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Few White Americans fully understand the role Nixon played in shaping today's Republican Party & voting patterns of Black voters who shun it. MLK called Nixon, Eisenhower's VP for eight years, "A MORAL COWARD." Nixon lost to JFK in 1960 by less than 1% due to Black voters.
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1960 was the primary turning point in Republican Party politics with regard to their tenuous relationship with Black voters that had been diminishing since Roosevelt's New Deal. Both parties paid lip service to Black voters but the GOP became outright hostile after 1960.
16/33

Most Americans of any race have never heard of the Negro American Revolution. But it was this Revolution, which MLK wrote extensively about, that arose in 1963 as a nonviolent direct action protest in nearly 1,000 cities with very specific demands for systemic change.
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Despite winning a narrow victory in 1960 over Nixon due to Black voters, JFK had not delivered on his promises by 1963, which triggered the rise of the "Negro American Revolution" in the spring. By the close of '63 JFK would be assassinated but the Revolution would live on.
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the Negro American Revolution had three very specific demands:
END SEGREGATION IN SCHOOLS
END DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING
END DISCRIMINATION IN BANKING

All three of those issues are in worse condition today than at the height of the Negro American Revolution in the 1960s.

19/33

White America dishonors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr every year when it whitewashes his legacy through superficial ceremonial reflections to his "dream" when his reality was a daily war fighting against a ubiquitous landscape of segregationist policies and practices.
20/33

"I have a dream..." is the ending crescendo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's most iconic speech. But King didn't start with his "dream" which he was compelled to share by the urging of Mahalia Jackson during his oration. MLK started with his reality & a "shameful condition."
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Voting rights shouldn't require sacrificing the blood of Black Americans (and White American allies and radicals who believe in equality of humanity). But this is the past & present state of White America's policies & many leaders, who violently oppose equality of races.
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In 1965, shortly before Malcolm X was assassinated and before the brutally violent response in Selma, AL to peaceful protesters by police who nearly killed John Lewis on the Edmund Pettis Bridge that day, the US Department of Labor published a damning declaration.
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For those who believe the myth of a meritocratic benevolent White America, that sits as City on a Hill and Beacon of Light beckoning all the world to our shores of freedom and equality ... please read what how US government described this "afflicted" nation in 1965.
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Historical context is key to understanding the political rhetoric today that proclaims the circumstances of Black Americans is better than it has ever been. The fact is that in 1965, the federal govt admitted the declining conditions (despite nearly 80% "intact" families).
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The Negro American Revolution is THE MOST IMPORTANT movement in US history. It should be known by every teacher, professor, journalist, elected official, policymaker, clergy and business leader. Let's teach this truth to all of the nation.
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1967 was the most significant uprising of the Negro American Revolution & an outpouring of the frustration of many years of BOTH political parties pretending to care about the worsening conditions in which public policies & private sectors practices relegated Black people.
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The 1968 Kerner Commission report (after the Long Hot Summer of '67) agreed with a 1965 California Governor's report (after Watts Riots). Both blamed WHITE control of systemic ills of poor quality education, housing & lack of access to income opportunities as core causes.
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1968 closed out the tumultuous 60s, which began with Nixon losing to JFK due to Black voters. MLK called Nixon a "moral coward." Black voters abandoned the GOP permanently. By the end of '68, Nixon & Wallace & white supremacy were all victors.
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We lost many battles against segregationist policies and practices during the 1960s. And we lost many icons who voices were silenced by the hate and hostility of white supremacists hellbent on maintaining the status quo of a segregationist society ... which we inherited.
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The war is not over. Battles against segregationist policies and practices continue to this day. The status quo seeks to protect itself from disruption. Nevertheless, there is a pathway to racial equity and the building of an Inclusive America for a multicultural society.
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In the 52 years since MLK was killed while serving as a nonviolent warrior in the Negro American Revolution, fighting against segregationist policies & practices ... how much measurable progress has White America made toward building an equitable Inclusive society?
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In this election of 2020, we have stark choices: We can either sustain the status quo of inherited 20th century segregationist policies & practices or choose the hard work of building a stronger sustainable 21st century equitable multicultural Inclusive America.
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@threadreaderapp please unroll