I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about this and I believe I understand the beast we live with. From the inception what was to become the United States was built on a capitalistic model. That model favored trade and production being concentrated into private ownership for profit. From the earliest days this concentration required vast amounts of labor to make it work. Since profit was the objective labor had to be as cheap as possible. Out of this need for cheap labor came the human bondage that we know as slavery.
While the initial motivation for slavery may have been profit not racial animus it evolved. Over time the requirement for more labor to produce greater profit led to the dehumanization of the enslaved. The owner class could only justify the treatment and methods for dealing with human chattel if they had convince themselves and the world that they were less than human. Slavery was a direct result of Capitalism. During the Republics agrarian driven economy the wealth and prosperity created were a direct result of slavery.
During the 19th century industrial development began to compete with the agrarian based economy. The industrial model was built on wage based labor. The agrarian model was dominated by slave labor. The advantage in terms of the profit motive was clearly with the portion of the nation that depended on slave labor.
The Civil War was fought for economic reasons not because of slavery. The emancipation of slaves was really ancillary to the primary objective. The freeing of the slaves was about disrupting the means of production in the south and preserving the union.
Capitalism always contained a great flaw. The flaw being that opportunity was limited and thus not open to every segment of the populace. It was necessary to sell this myth to the populace to allow the owner class to control and concentrate great wealth in the hands of the few. Over time this concentration of wealth as put more stress on the general populace.
The Russian revolution came along and shook the capitalistic model to its core. It introduced the world to the communist theory that private ownership was bad and that ownership was a state function rather than individual. It led to a ideological threat to capitalism.
Capitalism as it evolved necessitated that there be a limited number of people at the top with the masses at the bottom bearing the biggest portion of societal burden. It coopted those at the bottom of the pyramid by convincing them that they two could rise to the top through hard work and innovation. It was a beautiful lie that today is at the root of our societal and racial stability. In order for Capitalism to succeed it had to convince people that some had to be content with less than others. Capitalism grew by convincing ordinary people that communism and socialism were bad and limited individual achievement.
The other aspect of Capitalism rarely acknowledge or articulated was that it reserved the preponderance of places at the top of the pyramid for a very special group of people. The unwritten rule was that to sit at the top of the pyramid you had to be a white male. Blacks and the others were never suppose to find their path to the top. That helped in selling this virtual pyramid scheme to the populace.
That privilege was reinforced after the end of World War I. Returning black troops were expected to return to their subservient roles without question. Many didn’t resulting into what’s known as Red Sumner of 1919. Blacks who pursued higher education were discouraged. Black doctor, lawyers, and teacher were limited in terms of comparable economic prosperity. Those that pursued other occupations were often times unable to secure employment because the door 🚪was closed to Blacks and other non white people.
The end of World War II came with great promise of a surging economy that would create the greatest period of economic growth in US history. Blacks and the others found themselves once again left behind. The promise that kept American capitalism working was that white people would always be taken care of first. That opportunity was a prerogative of race. LBJ would say that If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you. Capitalism flourished because it convinced white people that they would always have someone to feel superior to.
Under capitalism wealth concentration began to grow exponentially after the 70’s. Reagan opened the spigot for government sponsored socialism for the wealthy while condemning the communist threat and attacking made up welfare queens.
Then something happened. Someone somewhere saw that there was a shift occurring in birthrates. They started to crunch the numbers and the results were alarming. The numbers indicated that at some point in the 21st century the white population would be a minority not just in the United States but the entire world. This sent shovk waves throughout the world and the nation. What would this mean for the special place that had been reserved for white people in the pyramid? More importantly how would white people respond to this devastating news.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out. The unrest is growing like a tsunami. When white men gathered in Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally with their Tiki torches and chanted they would not be replaced they were throwing down the gauntlet.
When at Trump rallies the crowd chanted Make America Great Again what they were doing is code speak. They were saying keep America white.
When state Legislative bodies embarked on the largest voter suppression effort in modern history it was designed to maintain the primacy of the white vote.
How does all of this play into capitalism? Capitalism is dependent on a structure of winners and losers. It requires a couple of things to work. First people have to buy into the notion that opportunity is limited. This is critical for those at the top of the pyramid because it helps to curtail competition and it makes the concentration of wealth easier. Secondly if you can convince someone else that they have the inside track to the top they were protect your fort far better than you ever could. Third by capitalizing on the long history of the social construct of race the super wealthy are able to get people to be distracted from their real oppressor.
The truth is that if we ever got beyond the legacy of the nation’s past we have enough opportunity for all of us. We don’t need to build one groups advantage on the backs of another groups disadvantage. From the very beginning it was a scam. When you know better you should do better. If we fail to recognize that our future is based upon a playing field that allows everyone to run the same race we are doomed.
Think!!
Eyes Wide 👀👁 Open!!!
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Exactly !!!!