My problem with the "we shouldn't normalize white supremacy!" argument...

[YoungDemCA]

...is that white supremacy is already normalized here in the United States of America, the so-called Land of the Free. And this has been the case ever since many human beings - men, women, and children - from various, diverse peoples who live in Africa were brought here against their will to be cruelly, viciously, violently, and sadistically exploited - economically, sexually, culturally. This has also been the case ever since the indigenous peoples who were here long before European colonists arrived and then savagely and brutally took over much of this continent by stealing the land, (human) labor, and other resources and claiming them as their own - and that which was not claimed for a particular Crown or Empire was claimed by (male) colonists as their "private" property - and all of this was done in the name of "Civilization." And the American racial hierarchy that has enslaved - and continues to enslave - all persons of color is the consequence of the slavery, colonialism, and imperialism that people of color were subjugated to by those who benefited from slavery, colonialism, and imperialism.

This racial hierarchy, in other words, was constructed by white people for their own benefit, to legitimize their subjugation, exploitation, oppression, enslavement, even murder of everyone else. It didn't matter to the white colonists that the "everyone else" category was, in fact, an extremely heterogeneous mix of rich, complex peoples, cultures, and societies, with their own particular histories, economies, and religious, spiritual, and folk traditions. Everyone else was seen - seemingly paradoxically - as both inferior to White Civilization, and threatening to White Civilization. This contradiction is soon resolved, however, by recognizing that the Other ("everyone else" who were excluded from the conception and ideology of White Civilization, in one way or another) had to be inferior for white supremacy to exist. In other words, white supremacy - by definition - is threatened by any acknowledgment of the fundamental equality of all people, and all peoples. The only solution, then, is to treat "the Other" (which also includes women and LGBTQ persons in addition to persons of color) as inferior to, as less than, as fundamentally sub-human.

All of this is how rich white men who owned slaves and were fundamentally afraid of democracy itself - true, authentic democracy, for all people (and peoples) from all walks of life - could write such beautiful phrases like, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them include Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Only by excluding all women outright and denying the humanity and human agency of men who were not white, were not rich, did not own property, and/or were property themselves (black slaves) could the United States of America - and the corresponding ideology of "Americanism" - ever exist in the first place.

I posted a thread a little while back that pertains to this very topic:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/118758367

27 of the 55 delegates to the 1787 US Constitutional Convention were slaveowners - in other words, just about half. These are their names:

Richard Bassett (DE)
Jacob Broom (DE)
John Dickinson (DE)
George Read (DE)
William Houstoun (GA)
William Few (GA)
William Samuel Johnson (CT)
Daniel Carroll (MD)
Luther Martin (MD)
John Francis Mercer (MD)
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer (MD)
William Livingston (NJ)
William Blount (NC)
William Richardson Davie (NC)
Alexander Martin (NC)
Richard Dobbs Spaight (NC)
Pierce Butler (SC)
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (SC)
Charles Pinckney (SC)
John Rutledge (SC)
John Blair (VA)
James Madison (VA)
George Mason (VA)
Edmund Randolph (VA)
George Washington (VA)
George Wythe (VA)
Robert Morris (PA) (though he didn't actually own any slaves, he owned a slave ship and was heavily invested in the slave trade, so for all intents and purposes...

In addition, 12 of the 43 men who have served as President of the United States owned slaves, eight of whom owned slaves while serving as POTUS:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Martin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
James K. Polk
Zachary Taylor
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant (mostly through his wife)

Additionally, James Buchanan was somewhat of a borderline case since his brother-in-law owned two slaves whom Buchanan bought and then hired as indentured servants.

Of those 12, only two (Washington and Jefferson) were delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. So that's 10 other Presidents who owned slaves.

Just remember: the current President of the United States could very well have been owned by any one of the men listed above, had he lived within one and half to two or so centuries ago. And his successor as the Democratic presidential nominee, and likely (fingers crossed) successor as President of the United States, would also have been considered the property of her husband on the account of the fact that she is a she.

I don't think a lot of people - even a lot of Democrats/liberals/progressives/left-wingers - realize the significance of all of this. Really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

The reality is that white supremacy is normalized in the USA, and extremely so. And the reasons for it are very, very deeply embedded into the entire history and conception of "America" and what that even means - all of which is history that continues to be made in this very moment, this present time: Right. Fucking. Now.

We'd be much better off, IMHO, by, rather than advocating against the normalization of white supremacy, instead advocating for the de-normalization - and eventual destruction - of white supremacy.

[brush]

1. A seriously righteous rant that offers an illuminating and real perspective to US history

[Kittycow]

2. I'm embarrassed that I never realized this .

Thank you for the thoughtful post!

[Hoyt]

3. Exactly. And our Prez-Elect was sued by the Federal Government for Housing Discrimination in 1970s.

And he clearly hasn't changed 45 years later.

Christ, that is hard to imagine.

[MrScorpio]

4. Damn Skippy! nt

[heaven05]

5. thank you

truth is always illuminating to the critical thinker. AmeriKKKa has always been "white people only" with a one generation respite of massively hypocritical proportion touting all the 'freedoms' for all the people. AmeriKKKa has finally arrived at its white only destiny and the people who claim and voted for the racist forgot one thing, ameriKKKa is not only white. Big trouble ahead bannon, trumpfuhrer, ryan, and your run of the mill racist walmart fat ass. BIG TROUBLE.

[RickHworth]

6. Something that caught my attention

A statement that was in another blog.

"White people have the power to define others."

It struck me as a powerful statement since the belief of racial supremacy is exclusive to the white race.