For generations—for most of its existence, in fact—the United States promoted itself as a beacon of light and hope, a place where all would be welcomed and all could achieve success if they worked hard. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The United States lifted itself up as a place of transformation with high and mighty ideals and democratic principles. All the while, it never truly acknowledged its dirty underbelly, never truly working to right the wrongs that were foundational in creating this mythically welcoming and wonderful place that was drenched in the blood of Indigenous and Black people. A country whose darkness was never far from the surface, but which people treated as a blip instead of as a key design feature in its so-called greatness.
Instead, it often deluded newcomers into trading what made them unique to become assimilated into this American culture which was really the creation of a white supremacist state and the culture of whiteness.
Many, though—eager to partake in the fruits of the American experience—never realized that they were selling their souls to fulfill America’s need to deny the original inhabitants of the land as well as those in Black bodies who were brought here against their will to labor to create the American delusion. A delusion that was then sold as a dream. Newcomers never really stopped to consider that if a country could take a Black body and make it legal to kill that Black body, to exploit that Black body, to force that Black body to labor without compensation or recognition, that maybe one day that country could change its rules and deny the humanity of a larger swath of people.
As a direct descendant of what we now call enslaved Africans, this moment of America isn’t very jarring to me. How can it be when I know the evil this country has always been capable of? Millions are incensed, incredulous and in deep disbelief that the government is now saying that Americans must be prepared “to show their papers,” but why? This country has always been a multi-tiered society where determination of humanity and legal standing has rested in the hands of the state.
Many on social media are rightfully pointing out that the comparison of what is happening in the United States today to Nazi Germany isn’t quite accurate, not when Nazi Germany studied how this country treated Black and Indigenous people to come up with its reign of terror. American hatred was so exceptional that is has been used globally and we are so dishonest that our hand in global hate isn’t commonly known.
Slave patrols were created in the 1700s, a state-sponsored system of terror designed to squash slave uprisings by pursuing, apprehending, and returning runway slaves. These patrols were empowered to use maximum brutality and force. The slave patrols continued until the end of the Civil War. They were replaced by militia-style groups, who were empowered to control and deny equal access to freed slaves. They enforced Black Codes, strict local and state laws that regulated and restricted access to labor, wages, voting rights, and general freedoms for newly freed slaves.
We moved from slave patrols to eventually the creation of Jim Crow laws, which used the state to enforce and exert brutality on Black Americans for “stepping out of line” or “thinking too highly of themselves.” Jim Crow wasn’t legally ended until well into the 1960s. As I have shared countless times over the years, Jim Crow is what my father was raised under. A system that didn’t end until less than 10 years before my birth in 1973. Jim Crow laws aren’t some faraway times in history. The people who lived under Jim Crow are still very alive, which means that those who benefited from Jim Crow are still very alive.
My son recently went to visit with my aunt in Missouri; my aunt Suzie was my dad’s big sister, and they were only 18 months apart. During my son’s visit, my aunt and other relatives talked with my son about my dad as a child and young person and what it was like growing up in Arkansas under Jim Crow. They shared a story with him that I had never heard, about how in the late 1960s when Jim Crow was technically supposed to be over, a racial skirmish happened in their town which led to a white man being harmed and resulted in the Arkansas National Guard being called to quell things down and how my father, who was apparently in a Black power phase, had to be restrained from running out the house to face down the white guardsmen.
My father, who would eventually go into law enforcement, then later entered seminary and eventually became a minister, never talked much about growing up under the oppressive system of Jim Crow because he hoped for a better country. But what he would share was often heartbreaking and went a long way in explaining why most of my paternal relatives never cared much for white people.
When you have seen the true soul of a people, and you know the hatred and violence that resides therein, trust isn’t something you seek.
Yet, our country has treated the histories of Black folks and our Indigenous siblings as an aside instead of as the revelation of what this nation is beyond the lies it has told itself and sold to the world.
Recently, a young Black Somali-American in Maine messaged me to say that the Maine Somali American community is scared, as it was announced in Maine that we appear to be next for seeing a surge of ICE agents in our state. The young person said “They are after Black communities. They are making us fearful. We expected this country to welcome us.”
I had to reread the message a few times, because while I understand the fear, the historical truth has always been that this country comes after Black people. During Reconstruction, Black communities nationwide attempted to build community and prosperity for Black Americans and that often ended in white people literally burning down what Black people had built for themselves. They were jealous of the success of a people they wanted to be downtrodden.
Black America and thus Black Americans exist despite this country’s repeated attempts to destroy and deny our humanity. This is a country that still argues over whether Black Americans are owed reparations, where far too many white people tell themselves that because their family didn’t participate in the slave trade or the direct dehumanization of Black folks, that they have nothing to do with what has been done to Black folks. When really the anti-Blackness that is woven into the fabric of this nation has allowed immigrant groups, particularly ethnic white folks, to come to this country, become white and partake of the American dream if it learned and accepted the rules of who is considered fully human and who is not.
Even with Black immigrants, whiteness has attempted to separate diasporic Black folks from Black Americans. Thus, at times creating a situation where some immigrant Black folks don’t see themselves in a similar situation as Black Americans.
Until this moment, the machine of whiteness thrived on our diasporic tensions for those who didn’t understand the game. Whiteness has always needed more bodies to maintain control, why else would it allow the Irish and Italians to become white? To let just enough generations of Italians and Irish to become white, so that they would lose their history? To no longer recognize that once, there was a time in this country when their ancestors and mine understood they both wore targets on their backs and that by coming together, we might do better.
As we are preparing to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., how many will talk about the last days of his life? When he realized that what started as the fight for Black freedom and liberation needed to look at the economics and by looking at the economics, well, start broad-based organizing, as poor whites start to realize they too were sold a lie.
The tricks of whiteness really haven’t changed. Even now, MAGA has attracted folks because by looking at difference instead of shared concerns and commonality, you divide people and grow your hateful coalition. But really it’s about economics and under this administration, they want a country where only a few will thrive. It has been widely reported that Stephen Miller says he only wants 100 million Americans. White men alone are almost like 90 million people. Based on what we are seeing in this country, that means they want to get rid of a lot more than folks of color and immigrants. Nah, they will be rolling back up the carpet of whiteness and only allowing a select few in the club.
The machine of whiteness, high on its own supply, no longer wants those bodies it allowed to become white, because it has decided that it no longer serves the empire’s purpose. The empire wants all the wealth and all the white people who fit its criteria, and anyone with a modicum of historical knowledge could see this coming.
While my heart hurts for those who are waking up to the ruthless nature of whiteness, and how this country seduced them with false promises of inclusion at the table of white humanity, this is a moment where—as more see what this country is truly about—it will allow for greater growth in creating a new story, if we can allow ourselves to come together. Not just to deal with the current administration but to break down and reject all that this country created that was based in fiction and fear rather than fact and compassion.
Many see the problem being Trump and believe that if he were no longer in office, things would get better. Nah, he is a symptom, but he is not the cancer that destroys the body of America. It is the twin cancers of late-stage capitalism and racism that we must battle.
As we seek safety in the coming days, we would be wise to look to Black and Indigenous elders and communities. The two groups that have always understood the ruthless nature of whiteness and how it is foundational to this country. Our communities still exist despite this nation’s attempts to destroy us. We are the literal seeds that built this American experiment. Our people know how bad things can be. We also know that life still happens and we build our resistance into our daily lives so that it becomes as natural as morning coffee and tea.
Dark days are ahead, the work is long and there is no promise that any of us living right now will get to the mountain top, but we toil, understanding that we build on the shoulders of those before us for the benefit of those after us. Knowing that true freedom cannot exist until we are all liberated.
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