This all started since before the inception of the US. Slavery was an easy source of labor for the colonies and was used as a major economic engine in plantations everywhere. Since pretty much all slaves were black and owned by white wealthy men, the theory of white supremacy began to be forged. White supremacy was used to justify owning other non-white human beings and treating all non-whites like shit was seen as a moral and just thing to do. White supremacy had the side effect of convincing the poorest of white men that even if they were in the bottom rung of society, at least they were better off than being black.
The idea festered throughout the time of the colonies and well after the US gained independence. Since the North was beginning to industrialize, there was a greater need for free people who were capable of working factory floors while the South remained staunchly agricultural with its slave field hands. While the country was still awfully racist, one could see things were gradually shifting for more racial equality in the North, where slavery was being abolished. This all came to a head with the Civil War where the South fought tooth and nail to keep its racist system going.
Soon after the war though, the Union didn’t bother to go far enough with reconstruction of the South and left a lot of the social norms and attitudes of white supremacy alone. Think tanks realizing the dividing power of white supremacy then slowly began to legitimize it in the eyes of conservatives everywhere in the country. With the South a firm stronghold of such beliefs, the Republican party had a way to slowly grow racial resentment into policy. Means checking welfare recipients, banning guns when minorities tried to protect themselves in California like with the Black Panthers, granting qualified immunity to cops, invading non-white countries for their natural resources, and more conditioned conservatives into thinking racism in all but name was acceptable.
Enter Donald Trump. The man starts spewing hate from day one. Mexicans are rapists and criminals, Puerto Ricans are trash people, African immigrants come from “shithole countries”, questioned the citizenship of Obama, and even refuses to condemn out and open acts of white supremacy. All this obviously evil shit no longer even registers with conservatives. The most appalling thing of all this is that even non-white and LGBTQ conservatives embraced his messages or disregarded any attacks on who they are as not applicable to them, because surely they’re one of “the good ones”.
Now finally here we are, being attacked by an enemy within. ICE is rounding up non-white people regardless of citizenship and even executing citizens in the streets. Cubans, Venezuelans, and Vietnamese immigrants, supporters of Republicans for their anti communist propaganda are being ruthlessly targeted by the very people who promised to hurt them but voted for them regardless. An alarming amount of Trump’s supporters are still happy with what’s going on and want more of it. I don’t see how we’ll get out of this situation, especially if elections somehow get canceled by our burgeoning dictator.
This all started since before the inception of the US. Slavery was an easy source of labor for the colonies and was used as a major economic engine in plantations everywhere. Since pretty much all slaves were black and owned by white wealthy men, the theory of white supremacy began to be forged. White supremacy was used to justify owning other non-white human beings and treating all non-whites like shit was seen as a moral and just thing to do. White supremacy had the side effect of convincing the poorest of white men that even if they were in the bottom rung of society, at least they were better off than being black.
The idea festered throughout the time of the colonies and well after the US gained independence. Since the North was beginning to industrialize, there was a greater need for free people who were capable of working factory floors while the South remained staunchly agricultural with its slave field hands. While the country was still awfully racist, one could see things were gradually shifting for more racial equality in the North, where slavery was being abolished. This all came to a head with the Civil War where the South fought tooth and nail to keep its racist system going.
Soon after the war though, the Union didn’t bother to go far enough with reconstruction of the South and left a lot of the social norms and attitudes of white supremacy alone. Think tanks realizing the dividing power of white supremacy then slowly began to legitimize it in the eyes of conservatives everywhere in the country. With the South a firm stronghold of such beliefs, the Republican party had a way to slowly grow racial resentment into policy. Means checking welfare recipients, banning guns when minorities tried to protect themselves in California like with the Black Panthers, granting qualified immunity to cops, invading non-white countries for their natural resources, and more conditioned conservatives into thinking racism in all but name was acceptable.
Enter Donald Trump. The man starts spewing hate from day one. Mexicans are rapists and criminals, Puerto Ricans are trash people, African immigrants come from “shithole countries”, questioned the citizenship of Obama, and even refuses to condemn out and open acts of white supremacy. All this obviously evil shit no longer even registers with conservatives. The most appalling thing of all this is that even non-white and LGBTQ conservatives embraced his messages or disregarded any attacks on who they are as not applicable to them, because surely they’re one of “the good ones”.
Now finally here we are, being attacked by an enemy within. ICE is rounding up non-white people regardless of citizenship and even executing citizens in the streets. Cubans, Venezuelans, and Vietnamese immigrants, supporters of Republicans for their anti communist propaganda are being ruthlessly targeted by the very people who promised to hurt them but voted for them regardless. An alarming amount of Trump’s supporters are still happy with what’s going on and want more of it. I don’t see how we’ll get out of this situation, especially if elections somehow get canceled by our burgeoning dictator.