Share this page!

Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
Twitter logo
11 Aug, 4 tweets, 2 min read
“By 1860, there were more millionaires (slaveholders all) living in the lower Mississippi Valley than anywhere else in the United States. In the same year, the nearly 4 million American slaves were worth $3.5 billion, making them the largest financial asset in the US economy”
google.com/amp/s/amp.thea…
In the modern post slavery America, Mississippi is among the very poorest states in the country. It is also the Blackest state by %, at nearly 38% Black.
I’m guessing they don’t want the kids to learn why any of this is the way it is.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Marcus H. Johnson

Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @marcushjohnson

Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
16 Jul
The fight about critical race theory isn’t about education at all. Its about the fundamental question throughout American history—how much power should nonwhites have? Are they legitimate citizens?
The fight about CRT is the same fight as “voter fraud” claims, where the subtext is that poc voters are fundamentally illegitimate (which is why poc heavy counties are where they claim the “fraud” is). Its the same movement as the Tea Party’s reaction against Obama.
Its the same movement as the fight against integration, its the same movement against ending Jim Crow. The anti-CRT folks say that it is anti-American. And if you conflate America with white supremacy, you’re right.
Read 11 tweets
Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
9 Jul
The funny thing about reading conservative media now is they truly feel like their way of life is under siege. They feel like its never been harder to be a white guy. But they don’t use empathy to understand that minorities have felt this and worse for America’s entire history.
I mean for virtually all of American history until very recently minorities were largely shut out of the mainstream economy. Native Americans were removed from their land. Black people were enslaved. Japanese Americans put in camps. All in the past 200 years.
There was the Chinese Exclusion Act. The failure of Reconstruction and the institution of Jim Crow. Mass deportations of Mexican Americans-US citizens-in the 1920s. Refusal to pass a federal anti lynching act. Keeping Black Americans from receiving New Deal benefits.
Read 16 tweets
Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
6 Jun
I want to write a response to this narrative at some pt—the argument that Dems need to focus on economic issues and put social issues on the back burner is a bad one. It presumes marginalized groups like poc will still turnout for Dems if they reduce talk about race.
It also presumes that the Dem position on social issues is untenable while the GOP position is closer to the American mainstream. There’s a wide range of pub opinion polls which show Americans on avg are closer to the Dem position on cultural issues than GOP.
It also doesn’t reckon with the GOP’s disconnect on economic issues. We constantly hear calls for Dems to drop cultural concerns but few calls for GOP to move their economic positions closer to the median voter.
Read 16 tweets
Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
15 May
The reason I like watching sports drafts so much is they are essentially selling you hope. In the cynical and outrage fueled world of internet and social media I think hope is under supplied.
A cynic might say you’re delusional, how can anyone have hope in a cruel and self interested world where only the powerful make the rules and have agency? And I would reply that over the past 100 years, the world has made unbelievable strides in reducing poverty & mortality.
Generally when you look at social media it makes you think everything is going to collapse and fall apart. And sometimes things do. Entire governments fail, businesses die, people get hurt. But in the aggregate, are we better off than we were a century ago? Undeniably yes.
Read 12 tweets
Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
22 Apr
I’ve seen a lot of people say “Today’s conservatism doesn’t offer a compelling version of the future for young people.” I think this is a misunderstanding of conservatism as an ideology. Its primarily about status quo maintenance for people already in power.
Most tend to view power strictly in the economic sense. Ruling class as the wealthy. But there’s been more consideration of race/ethnicity, culture, politics as of late. There is an argument to be made that the ruling class in America has historically been white people writ large
When you think of white people, broadly construed, as the ruling class, with an “upstart” non ruling class making political and economic challenges to their power, the Trump movement makes a lot more sense and is much easier to understand.
Read 19 tweets
Marcus H. Johnson Profile picture
8 Apr
Here is my latest piece: “Why Conservatives Keep Losing The Culture Wars” newsweek.com/why-conservati…
Even though conservatives have amassed considerable political and economic power, they continue to lose cultural battles. My argument for answering why conservatives keep losing the culture war is rooted in the fundamental commitments the US made post Civil War and World War 2.
Both of those conflicts inexorably altered American society. Both the Confederacy and Nazi Germany were closed, authoritarian, racially hierarchical societies. After winning both wars the US resolved to become more inclusive and provide marginalized w more political rights.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @marcushjohnson has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @marcushjohnson!

Read all threads by @marcushjohnson

:(