By John Johnson II
Yes, white supremacy is like a malignancy woven into the fabric of America by its Founding Fathers. The story goes that they came looking to start a new Country in a new world. They wanted freedom of worship and an end of governance by a Monarch.
But what has become known is the dreadful fact that they came with the fundamental beliefs that white people, without a king and Queen, should reign supreme over all others. Since slave trading had begun as early as 1562 in England, they were aware of the importance of furthering slavery in the New World, Yet to become America. It’s no accident that the Founding Fathers loathed Black people and merely view them as beast of burden and only three-fifths of a person.
This white supremacy malignancy led to the Civil War of 1861. White Southern supremacist succeeded from the Union and created a separate Confederacy. They wanted to maintain slavery and continually spread it throughout the south. It’s known Lincoln was prepared to allow the South to maintain slavery if they wouldn’t succeed from the Union. The South said, “slavery now and forever” and attacked Ft. Sumpter.
The end of the Civil War in 1865 didn’t end the white supremacy malignancy. It merely emerged as the new Jim Crowism which legalized racial segregation. Passage of the Civil Right Act of 1964 declared that all state and local laws requiring segregation were Unconstitutional. Yet, the struggle for Black people against voter suppression became the new challenge.
White supremacists in southern states adopted discriminatory voting practices such as literacy tests as requirements for voting. The 15th Amendment afforded no protects to Black voters. Sadly, it took the horrific beating of Black people by local police officers on foot and horseback armed with clubs and viscous dogs. Our beloved Late Senator John came close to being killed by the mob of officers on this very day.
The broad cast on national television of this horrific beating and trampling of helpless Black people is what prompted former President Johnson and Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act on August 5, 1965.
This Act afforded more protection against voter suppression tactics used by white supremacists to intimidate Black voters. Black people realized that their greatest antidote against white supremacists was and is their votes.
The power of the Black vote facilitated the election of America’s first Black President, Barack Obama in 2008, and again in 2012. This demonstrated that Black voters would exercise their voting power.
Unimaginable, but true, the Supreme Court and its Chief Justice John Roberts came to the rescue of white supremacists. The courts in 2013, voted 5-4 to strip from the Voters Rights Act, Section 5. This section alone prevented states with a history of racial voting discrimination from enacting new regulations without a preclearance.
Chief Justice Roberts wrote that Congress needed to update this section because more Black people were voting and the states with a history of discrimination were behaving better. Is it possible that Chief Justice Roberts believed states could settle their disputes because they’re so congenial? The real question is, ”How did he become the Chief Justice being this naive?”
The 2016 Presidential of Donald J. Trump was a banner year for white supremacy. The Republican Party flipped and became the party of Trump. They did everything he demanded but washed the dishes at the White House. However, it’s alleged that Republican may have broken laws. But it’s a fact that they peddled lies, shielded Trump from conviction by the Senate twice, and may have aided him with igniting the January 6, 2021, Insurrection, a day of Infamy.
Shortly after the insurrectionists defeat and the Capitol Building secured, the Electoral College voted to confirm Joe Biden as President. This proved that the most powerful antidote against white supremacy and an unfit President, is the right to VOTE!
Regrettably, to this very day, too many Black people are tired of hearing the history of the evilness of white supremacy and this can’t be the case. For its Black people’s very knowledge of this history that strikes fear in the hearts of Republicans and their base who embodies this white supremacy malignancy. Republicans haven’t grown tired of using voter suppression tactics.
Yes, they must be forced to fear the power of Black and Brown voters, united with all democratic and independent voters, who use their votes as an antidote against white supremacy malignancy.
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