via Wikimedia
Slavery
Yes, slavery existed in Africa before Europeans arrived. However, the enslaved were not brutalized or dehumanized. They were respected, able to obtain freedom, and often held public office.
When Africans sold other Africans to white people, they had no idea they were contributing to a far different system filled with brutality that would disrupt Black progress for centuries to come.
Fooled us once, shame on them.
Reconstruction
After the Civil War, the U.S. began extending equal rights to Blacks during the Reconstruction Era (1867-1877). Black folks gained extraordinary political power across the nation.
According to History.com, “16 African Americans served in the U.S. Congress... more than 600 more were elected to the state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices across the South.” Black society was hopeful for the future.
The tide shifted as whites realized that Black people were competent enough to control their own communities and compete economically. Fueled by jealousy, they made laws that encouraged white terrorism (KKK) and segregation (Jim Crow). After Reconstruction, it would take nearly 100 years for Blacks to regain a comparable level of political power.
Fooled us twice, shame on us.
War On Drugs
Former Pres. Richard Nixon labeled drug abuse as “public enemy number one,” leading the American public to accept the War On Drugs. However, in a 1994 interview with Harpers Magazine, Nixon aide John Ehrlichman said, “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
He confessed that the War On Drugs was meant to disrupt the Black liberation movement of the ‘60s and dismantle Black communities. This initiative led to policies by Presidents Reagan and Clinton that flooded Black neighborhoods with drugs then imprisoned millions of Blacks for using them.
How many more times will we be fooled?