Thread by @drantbradley

A theory: BLM, CRT, Summer 2020 are consequences of the 1877 Compromise. (1) After the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the South. Blacks & poor whites were integrated: drank together, slept together, traded goods & services, black Republicans ascended to national office, etc.

(2) "Immediately after the presidential election of 1876, it became clear that the outcome of the race hinged largely on disputed returns from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina–the only three states in the South with Reconstruction-era Republican governments still in power.

(2.1)As a bipartisan congressional commission debated over the outcome early in 1877, allies of the Republican Party candidate Rutherford Hayes met in secret with moderate southern Democrats in order to negotiate acceptance of Hayes’ election.

The Democrats agreed not to block Hayes’ victory on the condition that Republicans withdraw all federal troops from the South, thus consolidating Democratic control over the region." As a result of the Compromise of 1877, Reconstruction ended. Disaster. history.com/topics/us-pres…

(3) Now that Union soldiers were out of the South, it was time to turn back the clock. Problem: white elites were outnumbered by the racial, social, economic, and political integrated solidarity of 5M poor whites & 3M free blacks. Their solution: Jim Crow. bittersoutherner.com/from-the-south…

(4) Jim Crow laws weren't enough, so white elites escalated the black/white separation & denial of black political & economic flourishing via domestic terrorism. Means: the KKK, white vigilantism, etc. Blame white suffering on blacks. It was a lie. amazon.com/Reconsidering-…

(5) "Birth of Nation" released in 1915. Takes advantage of white political, social, and economic insecurity by invoking fear of black America and called for white nationalism. The KKK's membership exploded nationally. It was used to recruit new members. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth…

(6) Lynchings spike. Jim Crow era domestic terrorism took on new forms. America at its new worst as if Reconstruction racial solidarity and marketplace mutuality never happened. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

(7) 1900s Race riots all over America. For example, whites burned down an affluent black community in Tulsa. Between May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK. tulsahistory.org/exhibit/1921-t…

(8) 1954 offered hope. Brown v. Board desegregated schools. This was an attempt to get back to Reconstruction era racial integration and solidarity. Southern Democrats resisted (yet) again. White Citizens' Councils formed to fight for white supremacy. kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/w…

(9) Civil-Right Movement(1954-1968) fought for change. It was costly: John F Kennedy was shot to death on November 22, 1963, Malcolm X was shot to death February 21, 1965, Martin L. King, Jr was shot to death on April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot to death on June 6, 1968.

(10) Southern Democrats use race as mean of maintaining power/control. After the assassinations, riots were all over major cities(as jobs also disappeared). Programs of Panic were created to address black angst over failed Reconstruction 2.0. LBJ rolled at The Great Society.

(11) The Great Society and Urban Renewal Programs were largely a disaster. Middle-class blacks did fine but disadvantaged blacks were much worse off, trapped in housing projects. Not a single urban city in America was improved by these programs. Zero. nytimes.com/1994/01/09/mag…

(12) Blacks were then *recruited* to get on welfare. Insanity. Welfare was never a black cultural norm. From 1965 to 1970 the welfare rolls grew 125%. Think about this! The gov't put black communities on welfare programs. It destroyed low-income families. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_to_Fa….

(13) AFDC encouraged low-income women to have children outside of marriage (more $$), which was contrary to the black culture norms; it encouraged men & women to not make *too* much money; it discouraged the opening of savings' accounts, it discouraged marriage, etc. Disaster.

(14) Hopelessness, the absence of good jobs, trauma, broken families, disenfranchisement, utter despair, & so on, set the stage for violence, drugs, and the 1970s/80s/90s stigmatizing of black pain and suffering, usually taken out on each other. Disaster. amazon.com/When-Work-Disa…

(15) Low-income blacks are declared "rabble" and the criminal justice system is activated to control them and working class black neighborhoods. The goal: containment. Keep them out of the suburbs (black or white). amazon.com/Ending-Overcri…

(16) Law enforcement activated to control the black "rabble" creates a culture of escalating police militarization--to control the "thugs." Low-income residents lose their humanity and are treated as a separate class of human beings. #PoliceBrutality amazon.com/Punishing-Poor…

(17) While the black middle class thrived, disadvantage blacks pay the price of a 140 year-old backroom deal that undermined Reconstruction progress. Today's race-associated frustrations are flashbacks of post-1877. No, 1877, no Jim Crow. No Jim Crow, no terrorism, no MLK, etc.

(18) To make it worse, we never properly transitioned out of Jim Crow. We never applied transitional justice. Low-come blacks were herded into welfare programs to be put under the control of white progressive elites instead of set up for economic liberty. fathommag.com/stories/finall…

(19) George Floyd's murder was a reminder of the consequences of 1877. Why does black America think the country is against us? Look back at 1877. Racism is not everywhere but black empowerment as the antidote no longer exists. Where is it? Dignity, agency, empowerment, virtue!

(20) Dignity, agency, empowerment, virtue(DAEV). Government programs have proven to sabotage all of those among the truly disadvantaged via social control. BLM is an honest attempt but has wrong tools. 1877 was devastating. Real solutions are found in unpacking #DAEV.

(21) More $ liberty and rejecting the white paternalism of progressivism is the only way out. More black dignity, black agency, black empowerment, black moral virtue. Marriage, fatherhood, gainful employment, entrepreneurship, etc. and not waiting on politicians to fix it. #DAEV

(22) Politics gave us 1877. LBJ gave us race as means of social control (law enforcement, social workers, etc.). Maybe we need government out of the way so black America can thrive on its own terms instead of the visions of progressive or conservative elites. More liberty! #DAEV