Thursday, August 17, 2017

Top 5 U.S. Presidents Who Literally Legislated White Supremacy

This is clearly Wale's fault by the way. 

The United States has a dreadful history full of examples of enacting white supremacist policies, alienating minorities, women, and K. Michelle fans. Throughout history, U.S. Presidents have repeatedly beckoned and compromised to their political base to maintain the proper oligarchy that is, white supremacy. It may not be overt like a David Duke dinner party, but for years, legislation has been enacted to disenfranchise EVERY single minority for hundreds of years.








For the sake of this blog, I won't simply hold U.S. Presidents owning slaves sorely as an act of white supremacy, because that was clearly of the norm for wealthy white men of that time. Many Presidents freed slaves after their deaths (John and John Quincy Adams are the only Presidents before Civil War who didn't own slaves), willed them money/land, and expressed regret for contributing to the practice. But there was a entire fucking Congressional gag order in 1836 that banned politicians from talking about slavery reforms in Congressional hearings. 

President Donald "I've been sued 134 times in 7 months" Trump has recently endorsed a specific minority immigration ban targeting people of Arab descent, literally justified Neo-Nazi behavior in a protest they started, been reluctant to denounce white supremacist leaders while appointing them to office, and tasked Mexico to build a wall that we are going to pay for. His xenophobia knows no bounds. blah blah blah




dude, where is Jared Kushner right now? 




It's okay. I have Donald Trump fatigue too. I won't burden your time with how his Presidency is going thus far. BUT

I am looking for some kind of historical precedent that links Trump's radical white supremacist exclusionary  behavior to past U.S. Presidents. Surely there's been a precedent set by past U.S. Presidents that would explain why the U.S. is slow to take up on this kind of behavior. Right? I mean, we can't solely blame the lack of progress solely on angry white Southern men with misplaced anger and bad breath. 



Right? 



Well, let's take a look.. 



                                              

Andrew Johnson


Crime: Undoing Lincoln's policies, vetoing an amendment to grant voting rights to free black slave men after the Civil War.  

Justification: Like, only 11 states out of 36 would benefit from it, angering his white Southern voting base. 


Andrew Johnson is considered by most historians as the worst President of all time. After becoming President upon Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Johnson had the difficult task of enacting Reconstruction with the recently defeated Southern states. Though he was Republican (which was the progressive party of its era), his party expected him to provide civil rights to freed slaves as full citizens with voting rights. Trying to appease his Southern voters, he vetoed a bill protecting their full rights because he felt that only 11 states had actual congressional representation at the time. Problem? Congress overrode the veto, which has only been done TWICE in U.S. history. This eventually led to his impeachment, and unpopularity among his peers, except (yup, you guessed it) White Southerns, who elected Johnson back to the Senate in Tennessee after he was almost impeached. This led to the reversal of black men appointed to Congressional positions, the rise of Jim Crow, and conditions for newly freed slaves to remain terrible for years to come. 








Woodrow Wilson



Crime: Enacting segregation policies, supporting black intellectual inferiority

Justification: Segregation is for your own good

Woody Wilson was among the most intellectually sound U.S. Presidents of his time. Guiding the U.S. through World War I granted his Presidency enormous popularity. Hell, he won a Nobel Peace Prize.  Wilson prided himself on being an intellectual, and being the 2nd Democratic President since the Civil War. But as far as racial relations? Bruh


As President of Princeton University, he strongly discouraged blacks from applying there, citing their safety. He attended the film debut of the KKK's "The Birth Of A Nation." He replaced many black congressional leaders with white ones. He banned the Japanese from owning land in the states. His views on segregation? "Segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen"....yup, this has angry White southern men written all over it (He was born in Virginia). He refused to fund federal anti-lynching laws at a time where blacks were being lynched in record numbers, because Congress was so gotdamn racist back then, he knew it wouldn't pass. Side note, he also enacted Prohibition, giving rise to the Mafia for years to come. Fuck him. 




Thomas Jefferson


Crime: Owning more slaves than anyone despite legislating policies banning it
Justification: Brown sugar aka my sons and daughters are bi-racial!! (allegedly) 


Thomas Jefferson is arguably the most influential founding father of U.S. History. Writer of the Declaration of Independence and many other constitutional laws, Jefferson's legacy among historians is polarizing. While banning the Atlantic slave trade by 1818, Jefferson owned more slaves than any other President in history. He went to great lengths to suppress slavery in new territories,  The whole 3/5th of a human thingy came directly from Jefferson's views on black inferiority. Perhaps spooked by the Haitian Revolution of 1794, Jefferson remained publicly silent on slavery throughout his Presidency, and continued to enforce black codes despite having remotely progressive views on slavery. His lengthy affair with his slave Sally Hemmings is well-documented, and literally has black descendants to this day with his DNA. Hell, he ONLY freed her sons/daughters when he passed away. Though he was aware of the North-South rift that would eventually lead to the Civil War, we can't put this entirely on angry White southerners. Entirely.  





Andrew Jackson  



Crime: Literally removing Indians from their homelands by military force

Justification: Andrew Jackson is a fucking psycho

If you're looking for some type of precedent to link Donald Trump to past Presidents, look no further than Andrew Jackson. A tyrant, war hero, and all-around psycho, Jackson's historical reputation is polarizing. Like Trump, he wanted to ban the Electoral College. He shut down the Federal Reserve. He shot people in duels while in office. He owned up to 300 slaves. His only regret in life is that he didn't kill Henry Clay and John Calhoun. He oddly also had adopted Native American children. Weird. 

In 1830, probably as a result of his experiences with the Seminole Wars, he enacted the Indian Removal Act, removing native tribes from their homelands for settlers moving westward. He's responsible for the Cherokee Trail of Tears, and setting a governmental precedent that saw native tribes lose their lands for many years to come. This only benefited white Southerners, looking to settle in fertile plantation grounds, and western settlers looking to establish a new life. These acts literally wiped out numerous native American tribes who didn't comply. So, yeah. Score: Angry White Southerns. 



Grover Cleveland  


Crime: Banning Chinese immigrants from the the U.S. until 1943
Justification: not willing to assimilate to white cultural standards


Grover Cleveland remains as the only President to be elected in two non-consecutive terms. A jolly looking man who married a woman 28 years younger than him, and possibly having a baby mama committed to a mental institution, he's on this list for enacting a strange yet controversial act. 


The Chinese began immigrating to the U.S. in the early 1850s, seeking opportunities for jobs working as day laborers and railroad workers. This outraged white railroad workers, which enabled Congress to enacted a ban on incoming Chinese immigrants (leaving 30,000 stranded). Cleveland believe the Chinese would never integrate into white society, thus enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese were forced to either leave, or fight the courts via appeals, which they did until 1943. White Southerners were literally the cause of this, citing that Reconstruction had failed them (you could argue that this is true), and cited that the Chinese were TAKIN OUR JOBS ERR DUH AND TAKING OUR COUNTREE ERR DUH when they moved westward. 

See the pattern since 17 fucking 94? Angry white southerners in and out of Congress have led to literally holding back racial progress from all minority groups therefore getting in the way of America being great. And I didn't even include Latinos (TWO Mexican wars, stealing Texas), Irish (People paying to send an Irishman to war instead of them in the Civil War), Italians (temporary immigration bans, were counted as black citizens until the 1900s) and Pacific Islanders (You think Hawaii just let us make them a state?)

There you have it. 

Dictated not read

- Lee

SOURCES: hella wikipedia breh





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