This disquisition relates to three articles found in the May 28, 2023 edition of The New York Times. The articles are titled "Free at Last?"; "The Threat to Freedom Is Coming From the States," and "The Content of His Character." All three articles pertain to racism , discrimination , political power- expanding or diminishing rights..
At the start of the republic, there were clear divisions between slave states and the others. It was important for the slave states to continue their enslavement and to have their “property’ represented politically. On one hand, the compromise was that slaves equaled 3/5 of a human for representation within Jefferson's hypocrisy that all men were created equal. There was conflict and racism from the beginning for power and control over humans. Subsequently , there was a civil war over independent economic control of interests with the motto "Don't Tread on Me." The 13th ,14th Amendments and Johnson’s Civil rights legislation documented Federal power. Then, Dixiecrats became Republicans in protest of Johnson's Civil rights legislation.
John Randolph of Virginia was elected to the United States Congress at the age of 26. He neither married nor had children .He routinely caused havoc with his verbal barbs. He was a slaveholder and possessed 383 men women and children as property. He wrote a number of wills, flip-flopped and was ambivalent about his slaves, especially John White. Should they be emancipated ?
Randolph's family included half-brother , his niece and her children. He once wrote regarding children : "I do most hardly test the nasty little wretches never wish to see one in my house." Slaveholder Francis Scott Key, a friend of Randolph ,was the trustee for the enslaved, In any event, on one hand, Randolph was pro slavery and on the other hand, he wished to free his property. It was his wish to free his slaves that caused family rebellion from his scheming family members .Greed is expected to occur at one's passing. The state of Virginia statutes indicated that if a slave was set free, he could no longer live in Virginia. Randolph’s slaves were freed and wound up in Ohio. In fact, John White because of the racism and discrimination in Ohio left that state and returned to Virginia, even at the risk of re-enslavement.
Randolph's will was contested and he was criticized as being insane for freeing his slaves. Moreover, some prejudiced people ,in Ohio , did not want black neighbors. For these Wasps, prejudice, discrimination and exploitation was associated with their identity which is based on the historical archetype of superiority and domination in the collective unconscious . Their underlying insecurity resulted in their neurotic pursuit of power, possession , status and control. The idea, the reality of a black individual being equal, was a threat to their self-esteem and identity. As a result, rationalizations of depressed land prices and wage competition suggests fear of being unable to compete and was a threat to their economic power and status . The rationalization of racial mixing was a fear of the reality of uninhibited sexual impulses and attraction to black skinned people . The idea that you can have sex with 3/5 of a slave speaks volumes about the cognitive dissonance of moral,and ethical hypocrisies . The idea that there's going to be a breakdown in the social order was a rationalization for fear of losing possessions, status , and being elite. In fact, one Ohio newspaper editor complained of Virginians sending the emancipated into his state "what right have they to be pouring in upon us their helpless, new made free?"
Conflict of power between the racist states and the federal government continues and the question, are we really the United States of America ? There has been a never ending battle for power and discrimination between these states and the federal government. Being 3/5 human sets the ground-floor for depicting Blacks as less human, although they could out work the whites. The Civil War and the Amendments to the Constitution did not end racism and discrimination as the states have regained their power and control. under the umbrella of states rights ,gerrymandering and voting barriers.
Before the passage and ratification of the 14th amendment in 1868 , the Bill of Rights was understood to be a limit to national authority, meaning the federal government could not quarter troops in one's home, but the states could, if not limited by their Constitution. However, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote about the 1833 opinion of Baron versus Baltimore that in essence the states were limited in their power granted in the Constitution and that the Constitution could not give the states that power. Slave states, however, made a mockery of the political and civil rights for Blacks . These states continue to pursue repression while the national government remains silent. Back to the 14th amendment, it was stated ….that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property , without due process of law; or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. However, state constitutions are creative and have the will , the ability to discriminate regardless of the 14th amendment to the Constitution. Should Mississippi , with its two senators, have the same autonomy and power to exploit their citizens irrespective of the Amendments to the Constitution? Perhaps, a better argument could be made for the state of California. This state has two senators, irrespective of its large population; has a GSP of 3.598 trillion gross state product and is approaching the fourth largest economy in the world. Minority economic and political control has been around for a long time. The Greeks did not allow noncitizens to vote and Adam Smith warned that the general populace was not qualified and would take over minority wealth.
Currently, states like Texas, Ohio ,Arkansas ,Kansas ,Kentucky, Tennessee ,Georgia and Mississippi are enacting legislation to limit democracy , voting, guns and discrimination to stifle Democratic majorities in various parts of their state , like cities . These Republican-controlled state legislators are undermining fundamental principles of equality as well as access to the ballots and fair representation per June 4, 2023 article titled “States Are Stifling The Voices Of Cities And Their Voters “ The New York Times.
Johnson's legislation did not eliminate racism, hate and discrimination from our country. The treatment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. provides an example of racism, bigotry , discrimination even though he was born into a well to do black family, Dr. King attended college, graduate school and became a prophet for non-violence. He was from Georgia and then married Coretta Scott . They married in Alabama at the Scott's family home near Marion. They spent the first night of their marriage in the guest bedroom of the funeral parlor because no local hotel would accommodate them. There were Hoover FBI documents, letters, oral histories and other material that illustrated the government's surveillance of Dr. King. Also, he was imprisoned on 29 separate occasions; had shotguns fired into his family's house; bombs were found on his porch; crosses were burned on his lawn; he was assaulted in his face more than once. In 1968 in Harlem, he was stabbed in the chest with a 7 inch letter opener. And this preacher advocated nonviolence. This Gandhi -like figure was not treated with dignity nor respect, but instead treated far worse than the whining criminal Trump.
Today the racist Republicans discriminate against minimum wage , poor educational opportunity, inefficient health care, gun legislation, voting rights , LGBTQ, abortion, censorship , shutting down the government on spending for people of color . Once again , the pursuit of power and control of non-whites continues for racist Republicans . The federal government is limited. when the Republicans filibuster in the Senate ,have a majority in the house, along with a biased Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the republic was established to be controlled by a bigoted few.
PS
Anatoly Kuznetsov, a Russian boy of 12, witnessed in 1941 the execution of tens of thousands of Jews in an area just outside of Kyiv called Babyn Yar .As an adult ,he wrote about that event in the form of a novel and it was published in Russia in 1966. As a boy, he remembered his mother telling him, "You have your life ahead of you. Tolya, so just remember that this is the first sign of trouble-if books are banned, that means things are going wrong. It means that you are surrounded by force, fear, and ignorance, that power is in the hands of barbarians."
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