They were chained in shackles; branded like beast; traded like goods; and never treated like humans. The first African-American slaves were wrenched from their land as property, and were forced to cultivate an unfamiliar land for 246 years—by whom was this justified? The White man? Since the United States become sovereign on July 4, 1776—241 years ago—its government has been preaching equality, however, this country’s history has been riddled with an extremely dark past, falsely depicted in modern day textbooks. Many individuals of our society today, also hold a belief that there are no longer racial barriers that stand in the way of minority groups—de facto and de jure oppression are terms that broadly explain the continued oppression seen today. The fact that Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ is still in fact a dream, is the exact reason we see a strong movement in Black communities today. If one truly deciphers our countries history, it will provide a dark insight into the culture of African-American communities today; and this powerful history can also be used in re-defining the tactics of a modern-day Civil Rights movement—Black Lives Matter (BLM).

Racism in the United States can be defined using two terms, de jure and de facto racism. De jure racism is the concept that there has been a staggering number of federal, state, and local legislation passed to permanently sentence African-American communities to second-class citizenship. For example, many individuals believe that slavery was abolished with the emancipation of the 13th amendment—in a way that statement holds some truth. However, there is a clause or loop hole per-say, that creates a new form of slavery—mass incarceration (13th). The 13th amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Immediately following the statement that abolished slavery in this amendment, is the clause that states slavery is illegal, “…except as a punishment for crime…” At this point in history, one witnessed the laying of the first construction blocks which are now the foundation of the United States Criminal Justice System. A system that “was organized so as to presume, protect, and defend the ideal of superiority of whites and the inferiority of Blacks,” (Bobo, 4). African-American men, women, and children were rounded up in masses, and ‘dully convicted’ of crimes and forced to harsh labor—almost like slavery (13th). This was an attempt to fill the labor gap created by the freeing of 4 million slaves—which were the arms and legs of a corrupt southern economy. The fact that this movement of mass incarceration began so many years ago, and is now the forefront of public conversation due to its effects on minority communities in our country still today, it is a perfect example of de jure racism. It is sickening that a piece of legislation held to many as one of the greatest ever passed in the United States, has such a dark side to it which has opened the door to many problems seen today. 

No matter what the circumstance may be, any legislation passed in the United States has stemmed from the beliefs of the American society at that time—majority or not. Unfortunately for hundreds of years there has been an idea that one race is superior than another—this is known as de facto racism. Social actions that have created a lasting impact on minority groups and have even led to the passing of certain legislation. After the abolishment of slavery, African-American communities lived in fear of terror from the social antics of Whites targeting them.  Black children were kidnapped, women were rapped, houses were burnt, bombs were placed, fathers and sons were lynched and hung, all while crowds of malicious White men watched in satisfaction. Yet somehow, the Black man was still depicted as the greatest threat to society at the time. Most Whites would slur the Black man with words such as, “The negro is out of control, that there is a threat to the White woman,” (13th). During this time, we saw, “The first, unequal protection by the law, points to times and conditions when blacks could not rely on the police or the courts to protect them from predation by whites,” (4, Bobo). This ultimately led to a mass migration of African-Americans to cities such as Oakland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, and NY. All in which now hold high concentrations of African-Americans, crime, and poverty rates; which will be discussed ensuing the conclusion of history that has caused these problems. In conclusion, one will find that the situations found in African-American communities today have not occurred by mistake. 

It would be a false statement, for one to say that the American government has represented all races equally after the abolishment of slavery. In fact, it is hard to denounce the major roll and influence the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) has held in the political environment, especially during the 1924 NY Democratic National Convention. After all the KKK was founded by the Democratic party after the civil war, during the 1920s the second Klan is estimated to have consisted of three to six million members (Mueller). One must remember the impact and connection between the social de facto racism and legislative de jure racism. There was an estimated three to six million members of the KKK during the 1920s, and in 1924 there was an estimated 350 delegates at the NY Democratic National Convention who were also members of the KKK (13th). The significant growth of the Klan at that time, and the governments increased involvement in active racism was stemmed directly from “…the 1915 release of D.W. Griffith’s very popular racist & Pro-Klan motion picture The Birth of a Nation,” (Mueller). Not only was this film historic for being the first blockbuster ever streamed at the White House, but it is historic for possibly being “…the most racist film ever made,” (Brook). This film depicted lynching, bigotry, and the refrainment from providing African-Americans with rights as positive actions. “It [also inaugurated] the use of certain kinds of racial stereotypes which then became repeated again and again, right up until the 1960s and even beyond,” (Brook). For a film of this nature to be streamed at a private viewing in the White House, and to be deemed a masterpiece by President Wilson, is solely an example of the infiltration of racism from a social aspect into a political one.  

To further explain the legislative impact and expansion of racism in the national government towards minority groups, the secret recording of a Republican campaign consultant provides perfect insight on this history. Lee Atwater was a campaign consultant to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, the following script was extracted from a secret interview with Atwater. For educational purposes the script will not be censored, some words are extremely offensive, but the facts cannot be denied:

﻿You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger,” (Perlstein).

This recording occurred in 1981, that is only 36 years ago—if words and actions against minority groups were this strong 36 years ago, then there is an undoubtedly strong presence of racism in our government today. This occurrence will further bring the discussion of racism through legislation, government practices, and social beliefs into a more modern sense; with the passing of bills in the past 45 years, policing practices, and social actions which have ultimately targeted minority groups.

“In 1980…there were fewer than 300,000 people in prison. By, 2000, however, that number had risen to over 1 million,” (Bobo, 5). “The prison population grew by 700 percent from 1970 to 2005, a rate that is outpacing crime and population rates,” (Kerby). Recent statistics from 2013, show that nearly 2,220,300 adults were in the United States prison system (Incarceration).  There are many speculations on why the prison population in the United States is higher per capita than any other nation, however, the War on Drugs is one of the largest contributors. Richard Nixon was the first president to present this idea—yet all he did was pave the way for Ronald Reagan to truly put this concept into action. After the enactment of the War on Drugs by Reagan, came the quotas requiring law enforcement to show progress, and then the minimum mandatory sentence—both proposed by Bill Clinton. This legislation implemented by Ronald Reagan may have been created to truly stop ‘drug use’, however the consequences of the War on Drugs, police quotas, and the minimum mandatory sentence has been substantial in minority communities. 

Of critical importance is that while federal, state, and local mandates pursued a “War on Drugs,” local police departments were under pressure to show progress. The quickest way to show results (for example, arrests) is to enhance policing and arrest in already disadvantaged neighborhoods, which are disproportionately poor and black. The predictable outcome, according to Tonry, is a rise in black arrest and incarceration (Tonry, 1995), (Bobo, 6).  

Imagine law enforcement as Sisyphus, the Ephyrarian king who was punished with the tasks of carrying and pushing an enormous stone to the top of a hill. Now imagine crime in the United States as the stone Sisyphus is battling with. The myth states that when Sisyphus reaches the peak the stone comes crashing down on him each time, and the process is repeated for eternity (Goldstein). There is a correlation between crime rates and the socio-economic problems which African-American communities face. These economic problems were not created by them, they were created for them. So, challenging law enforcement with the task of ‘preventing’ high crime rates is ironic, because it is a fact that public services such as education, health care, and other community programs reduce crime rates—yet the United States political system has done everything it can to prevent the accumulation of these programs in minority communities (Goldstein). 

We put pressure on law enforcement agencies to produce lower crime rates, something we take as an indicator of a healthy community. Yet we ignore the fact that law enforcement budgets compete with funding for other badly needed programs, such as education, mental health services, community after-school programs, and the creation of jobs and infrastructure. Together, these programs have been shown to prevent crime and to make a community safer far more effectively than an emphasis on law enforcement alone, (Goldstein).

It is true that “Data shows that 93 percent of black homicide victims are killed by other blacks,” (Bandler). It is also true that “"Blacks commit violent crimes at 7 to 10 times the rate that whites do,"” (Bandler). Certainly, this is the outcome one would expect from a group of individuals who were in-slaved for hundreds of years, who were refused education, refused the liberty to read or write, refused the same transportation as Whites, refused the same housing conditions as Whites, refused the same jobs as Whites, etc. The fact that an ‘etc.’ was needed because one could not list all the ways African-Americans have been disadvantaged in society should speak volumes. One must also keep in mind that the Civil Rights movement ended in 1968, so for only 49 years have African-American’s enjoyed the same liberties as other groups of individuals. The amount of crime witnessed in minority communities does not occur by mistake, it was created directly through the power of social, legislative, and systematic oppression—the suspected outcome of crime in minority communities is the reason why political leaders have been able to justify their war on crime and drugs, with social approval. It is proven that “A legacy of justice is rooted in people’s memories, visions, and emotional economies, pulsing through U.S. histories of the present and regularly unmasking the legacies of white supremacy,” (Ioanide, 25). When the public overwhelmingly sees crime in minority communities they support the strong policing practices which only harm the community more—most are un-educated on why the circumstances are currently the way they are. 

One could write entire books, and have written entire books on the systematic oppressions such as redlining in communities for investment opportunities in housing and business. The opportunity many minority communities have missed to be successful, are due to racially motivated decisions not to invest in that area. This is a great contributor to the rate of black-on-black crime and crime in general. 

…employers not hiring or promoting someone on the basis of race; landlords only renting to people from certain racial groups; banks making it more difficult for racial minorities to get loans; salespeople in a store treating African-American customers differently from white customers; and so on, (Wright, 12).

This racial difficulty is not new, it occurs every day and has become one of the biggest contributors to the stagnant success seen in minority communities today. Not only does this lead to lower rates of social and economic success, but it leads to higher tensions due to competition,

“It is not surprising, therefore, that the competition for jobs, education, health, and other services, as well as for status and power—all in limited supply in postindustrial America—produced conflicts between communities. With real wages declining and poverty increasing, conflict was often most intense among groups at or near the bottom of the social ladder. Conflict was also intense between working-class minorities and “middle-men” minorities…” (Fischer, 159). 

The lack of economic opportunity available for most African-American communities has led to a domino effect of poverty and crime from one generation to another. The problem—the domino of poverty and crime seems to become larger and larger with each generation. 

However, the lack of economic opportunity is not the only contributor to crime. One of the largest social issues connected to crime is the absence of a family structure in African-American communities. Since the first African-American slaves were brought to this land their family structure was demolished immediately upon arrival when families were split and sold between different slave owners. This removal of the African-American family structure began in times of slavery, then with the clause included in the 13th amendment, and now with the enactment of the War on Drugs and minimum mandatory sentences. We have now moved throughout history to where we see statistics such as “…one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime,” (Kerby). Truly that quote should say one in three black man can expect to go to prison for their lifetime—as we see in many cases. Reports show that “…the “pathological” nature of black communities could be traces to the deterioration of black family life,” (Ruggles, 1). With many Black men and women spending much of their life in prison, African-American children find an absence of parental supervision and mentorship. With this and the lack of programs provided for young Black children they have become prone subjects to be influenced by the ‘streets’. But, one must further focus on the problem with the United States Criminal Justice System, and why African-Americans are spending most of their lives in prison in the first place. 

“Elliott Currie, wrote in his book Crime and Punishment in America (2013) that our over-emphasis on punishment, above all else, is just “an attempt to sweep the problem of America’s poorest communities under the rug,”” (Goldstein). In many circumstances, when an individual is arrested for drug possession, they become very familiar with the term, ‘minimum mandatory sentence’. This has devastated communities and is solely responsible for stripping judges of their ability to decide what justice truly is. To provide context to this situation, one should become familiar with John Horner. Horner, a father of three, worked at a fast food restaurant, barely able to provide for his family. To make ends meet, he sold painkillers on the side—$1,800 worth, to be exact (Fuchs). Was this illegal? Of course, that is not what is being called into question. The question is, why was Horner sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for a simple offense? The major problem is that this occurs every day, in fact, right at this moment there are countless individuals who are in a similar situation as Horner, and are being sentenced to prison for half of their life—for simple offenses.

There is a social outcome today that shows African-Americans have been led down the wrong path—a path of injustice. The Civil Rights movement was a beacon in African-American history—sadly enough, it only allowed African-Americans to hold the same rights as non-minority groups. It did not guarantee the removal of racially motivated legislation, a decrease in police brutality, the removal of life sentences for minor offenses, or a change in the U.S. justice system. There is a movement in the Black community today known as Black Lives Matter (BLM). The culmination of the history described, beginning with the arrival of slaves in the new world has culminated to a point in our modern time where the African-American community rightfully feels there is need for further change. 

#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes, (“About the Black Lives Matter Network.”).

BLM is the most controversial yet powerful movement seen in Black culture today. Powerful for its reach and ability to move young minorities and to create conversation, yet controversial in the signals it may or may not send to the public, and for their tactics used while protesting. 

“As the rapper Tef Poe sharply pointed out at a St. Louis rally in October protesting the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.: “This ain’t your grandparents’ civil rights movement.”,” (Reynolds). His statement could not be more correct, what is missing from this movement is the faith and religion; respectability; humanity; love; and unity that was seen during the Civil Rights movement. Often these activists would wear church clothes, bowing before the opposition in prayer, they were not walking the streets with sagging pants, cursing, looting, and burning buildings. They took the beatings by officers and others, they did not give them. The use of the television in the Civil Rights movement is ultimately what made the movements accomplishments possible. The nation watched as African-Americans were beaten while they prayed peacefully, as their leaders were arrested and depicted as terrorist by the states, for no other reason than the threat they posed to the social order in America. This made change inevitable. What BLM must do is repeat this same concept; no longer can they allow themselves to be depicted looting, burning, and being disrespectful to lives in their own communities. It is true that many African-Americans have become scared of other brothers and sisters, for their disrespect of life and property has slowly diminished through time. There must be a sense of caution in how the African-American community is depicted on television and online—after all it is the depiction of crime and instability that fuels public opinion for the support of harsher policing and penalties. With the ability, social media has to create world-wide conversation, the opportunity BLM has to create change is greater now than ever before.

The baby boomers who drove the success of the civil rights movement want to get behind Black Lives Matter, but the group’s confrontational and divisive tactics make it difficult. In the 1960s, activists confronted white mobs and police with dignity and decorum, sometimes dressing in church clothes and kneeling in prayer during protests to make a clear distinction between who was evil and who was good. But at protests today, it is difficult to distinguish legitimate activists from the mob actors who burn and loot. The demonstrations are peppered with hate speech, profanity, and guys with sagging pants that show their underwear. Even if the BLM activists aren’t the ones participating in the boorish language and dress, neither are they condemning it, (Reynolds).

To condemn the hate speech, crime, and instability within the BLM movement there should be an enormous focus on whom is leading the movement and what the movement is truly focusing on.  

“The most powerful forces of the Civil Rights Movement emerged from the bottom up, not from the top down. But that’s not how it’s happening today. The loudest voices on black issues now have famous names and their own TV shows. They pop in for protests but are strangers to the local people, except for their celebrity,” (Cobb). 

Even Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was challenged to become the leader we know him as today. 

“…Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as a leader in 1955 only after he was challenged in his own church in Montgomery, Ala…E.D. Nixon, a leader in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, accused the ministers of cowardice. It was then that the 26-year-old King stood up and proclaimed, “I am not a coward.” The now-embarrassed group agreed to extend the boycott, established the Montgomery Improvement Association, and made King its leader,” (Cobb). 

History is proven to repeat itself, and if the BLM movement embraces the history and tactics of the Civil Rights movement, while using the resources which were not available during that time—change would be inevitable. 

It has been proven that the situations in African-American communities is a product of past and present social, systematic, and legislative racism. It is now up to the BLM movement, to use this history for modern day change. No, it is not fair, but American society has proven time and time again that it is built off the ‘fact’ that African-Americans are inferior to other races. The way history is depicted in text books only provides a one-sided view, the wrong-doing of our government will not be admitted unless it is forced. The history of the United States is rattled with dark past, and this past can be used by the BLM movement to ultimately create a better future.
