Thread by @michaelharriot

There are a few problems with Byron Donald’s idiotic statement, notion of Black “conservatives,” and even how WE THINK of Jim Crow

A thread

https://twitter.com/repjeffries/status/1798376217642742077

Byron Donald’s statement isn’t that uncommon. Every Black person has heard a version of this, whether it is “integration was the worst thing that happened to us,” or what Donalds said.

Those people are dumb

First of all, I will always contend that “integration” never happened. To be fair, my opinion is based on a book many people may disagree with:

It’s called a dictionary.

When did any of this happen?

The fact is, Black people were begrudgingly incorporated into WHITE schools and allowed to live in WHITE facilities, but they were never united or incorporated as equals.

That ain’t integration

But thats not even the biggest flaw in this argument

The problem is, that it presupposes that Black people were ASKING to go to white schools and live in white neighborhoods when, in fact, we wanted EQUAL schools and to live WHEREVER WE WANTED

To this day, that STILL hasn’t happened.

Ask @WendellPierce or @ravenscimaven

There’s even a problem with @RepJeffries description of Jim Crow. When talking about Jim Crow, we always revert to murder, rape and the worst-case scenarios. While bad, that isn’t what Jim Crow was about

It was about white supremacy.

Jim Crow was the result of the Compromise of 1877, when 15 white men decided to allow Rutherford B Hayes to become president in exchange for the federal government agreeing to stay out of white racists’ business.

The “business” became known as Jim Crow.

It was STILL illegal to rape, murder and assault Black people under Jim Crow.

Jim Crow laws did something else:

First, it disenfranchised Black voters.

During the period after the Civil War, the Black voter participation rate was 90% in SC and Miss, the two Blackest states

Jim Crow voting laws were about restoring WHITE POWER.

How can anyone know what Black voters wanted under Jim Crow if they couldn’t vote?

UNLESS…

If Byron Donalds believes that white people know what better for Black people, he’s an ACTUAL white supremacist

Jim Crow laws didn’t just segregate neighborhoods, it made white property more valuable.

In the 20s Sears Founder Julius Rosenwald announced a plan to donate 50% of funds needed to build Black schools if the Black communities raised the rest

It’s estimated that a third of Black Southerners - where MOST Black people lived during Jim Crow - were educated at Rosenwald schools.

Now this might not seem important but it is. It’s not just that Black people EDUCATED THEMSELVES. Or that segregation was unequal…

Jim Crow laws allowed EVERY WHITE PERSON IN AMERICA to STEAL BLACK Taxpayers money and build generational wealth and opportunity.

Black people paid taxes but Black veterans who fought for their country couldn’t get the GI bill.

They paid for colleges they couldn’t attend

They didn’t just paid for libraries they couldn’t enter and parks they couldn’t use, WHITE PEOPLE USED THEM

Forget the heinous crimes, Byron Donalds is saying black people were better when their opportunity and generational wealth was being stolen and given to white people

The worst thing about this idea is the notion that the WHITE PEOPLE were “conservative.”

It was OUR MONEY.

It’s not fiscally conservative to spend money you didn’t have. A TRUE fiscal conservative would repay this debt

A TRUE fiscal conservative would support reparations

It’s not conservative to disenfranchise Black people. A TRUE CONSERVATIVE would want the actual input of their local community members

A CHRISTIAN conservative wouldn’t support inequality. A SOCIAL conservative wouldn’t want govt involved in religious, sexual & gender beliefs

If you believe in “family values,” wouldn’t you let families decide on their children’s education or sexuality or gender?

Small government, right? But these people don’t believe in a conservative agenda, they believe in a WHITE agenda.

They believe that theft, violence, government interference and racial apartheid is GOOD.

They believe that democracy is bad

Because here’s the thing about Black voters and Jim Crow:

Jim Crow ended about 60 years ago

About 17% of Black voters are over 65, meaning they lived part of their lives under Jim Crow.

ALL of their parents did My parents did

Now answer this:

In the entire history of America

Name ONE TIME since Jim Crow ended when a conservative candidate (Democrat or Republican) got at least 17% of the Black vote.

If it was so good, why don’t we want to go back?

Now name one time since the end of Jim Crow when a “conservative” didn’t get a majority of white votes

That’s why this argument is so infuriating.

It’s not about Jim Crow or Conservative values

What they’re saying is that MOST Black people are too dumb to know what’s good for them.

But the white prople do

Because they’re smarter, so they should be in control

And if Byron Donald believes this, he shouldn’t refer to it as “conservative values.”

There’s another term that describes it better