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.
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.
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.
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.
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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