I had nothing but time on my hands today. So I had a lot of time to think. I had an epiphany, the crazy fever gripping our country didn’t just start. It didn’t start with Richard Milhouse Nixon, Ronald Reagan, or Donald John Trump. It’s been building for a very long time. A close inspection will validate that the beginning of this madness started with the end of the Civil War.
The murder of Abraham Lincoln could be viewed as the long descent into our current hell. None of the criminals of the Civil War were made to pay a price for their insurrection. Jefferson Davis spent just two years behind bars. He was never tried or convicted. Robert E. Lee was never imprison or called upon to pay a price for his role in the Civil War. Nathan Bedford Forrest a confederate General was the first Grand Wizard of the post Civil War Ku Klux Klan. No punishment, no contrition.
Followed by the end of Reconstruction came the black codes, Jim Crow, the Chinese Imigration Act, and the myriad of broken treaties with the indigenous people.
Later Woodrow Wilson the 28th President of the United States 🇺🇸 was responsible for overseeing segregation in the Federal Government and showing the film Birth of A Nation in the Whitehouse.
In 1919 the nation experienced Red Summer. More than 36 cities witnessed White on black mob attacks that the federal Government did little to nothing to curtail or protect the innocent. Two years later the Greenwood section (better known as black wall street) was burned to the ground and hundreds of black residents killed. No one was ever brought to trial.
In 1925 Dr. Ossian Sweet purchased a home for his small family consisting of himself and his wife and child. Dr. Sweet was black and as such he could not obtain a traditional mortgage. He purchased the home on a land contract. The home was located in a working class white neighborhood. During an attack by a white mob on his home one of the attackers was killed. Dr. Sweet was put on trial, one of his defense team was the late Clarence Darrow. Dr. Sweet was exonerated but the story did not have a happy ending. Dr. Sweet lost both his young daughter and his wife shortly after. He died in obscurity in 1960 a broken man.
During the 30’s and 40’s a great migration north occurred. Many blacks from the rural south moved north for better employment opportunities. They were not met with open arms. In 1942 a race riot broke out in Detroit with mobs of whites roaming the streets attacking black people. The 40’s saw riots in other cities as well. One of those cities was Los Angeles with Latins being the target.
During the Civil Rights movement the violence was rampant. Blacks and those supporting black causes were the targets of that violence. James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were victims. Viola Liuozzo was a victim. The four little girls from Mississippi were victims. Medger Evers was a victim. The list is long.
The south responded to the passage of the Civil Rights act by building statues for traitors and by flying flags that should insult every American. At least the Germans had the sense to out law the display of the nazi flag and remove all statues and symbols of the Nazi Government.
Then came Nixon. He got caught before he could complete his mission. Then came Reagan who pissed on everyones head and called it trickle down.
Then came Trump. The antichrist who was prepared to destroy it all. So when we ask how did this happen the answer is simple. It’s been a 156 years in the making. The only miracle is that we lasted this long. Whether you want to believe it or not Democracy is dead. The question is what comes next.
Think!!
Eyes Wide 👀 👁 Open!!!.