AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

Afghanistan is not America’s longest-running war; it is the Civil War. The armed conflict ended in 1865. A century and a half later, unresolved racial issues remain, and America is still grappling with the lack of social and economic equity.

The unresolved social and political issues in Afghanistan are thousands of miles away. The unresolved social, political, economic, and educational matters post-Civil War persist in the homeland.

Enslavement lasted from 1619-1865. The Emancipation Proclamation instantly freed 3.1 million from bondage. Ownership of human beings, limited to persons from the African continent and their descendants, was declared illegal.

It has been more than 240 years since owning other human beings became unlawful, yet, criminal justice disparities and discriminatory practices against descendants of the formerly enslaved continue.

Three periods of race relations in the United States followed Emancipation. Reconstruction, Segregation, and the current period of Complicit Tolerance. Reconstruction was a period of hope, but following Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the former Confederacy continued negotiations on the states’ rights and won. Their victory led to the imposition of Jim Crow and the Black Codes.

Segregation became law in 1896, and hope for inclusion and integration faded. Segregation was ruled illegal in 1954. Instead of fostering social and economic equity, the current Complicit Tolerance of African American second-class citizenship began.

Segregated communities were formed under the law, reinforced by Jim Crowism, and perpetuated by complicit tolerance of bias.

The Reconstruction Era - 1865 to 1877 has two meanings. The first applies to the complete history of the entire country following the Civil War. The second meaning is the attempted transformation of the 11 former Confederate states as directed by Congress.

During this brief 14-year period of Reconstruction, the newly freed were less restricted socially and politically. During Reconstruction, the Union required the former confederate states to craft new constitutions, which needed approval by the U.S. Congress.

After completing the requirements, the former confederate states were granted readmission to the Union. Additional laws passed defining how the constitutions of states of the former Confederacy would be created and enacted.

Society’s response to Reconstruction was to exhaust every avenue – legal and illegal - to maintain the Dixie way of life. There was minimal change in the racial, political, or social landscape.

The wartime proclamation by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was to allot land to the formerly enslaved, allowing them to build financial self-reliance. The phrase “40 acres and a mule” has come to symbolize the broken promise of economic justice for African Americans.

From 1865 to 1870, The United States passed Constitutional Amendments ‘guaranteeing’ freedom for all and discriminating against the formerly enslaved and their descendants is unlawful.

1865: The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except for those duly convicted of a crime; 1868: The Fourteenth Amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws for all persons.; and 1870: The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination in voting rights and prohibits the federal government and each state from denying citizens the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

In 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew the Union troops from the south as part of a compromise to get reelected, removing freedom protections and nullifying the constitutional amendments.

Local governments instituted the Black Codes immediately following the ratification of the 13th Amendment. The Codes became the foundation of Jim Crow laws.

The 1896 doctrine of “separate but equal” became the national standard that allowed for and required racial segregation in public

and private institutions such as schools, public transportation, restrooms, and restaurants.

Jim Crow was not limited to the former Confederacy. Segregated schools and neighborhoods were prominent in northern states, and some businesses displayed “Whites Only” signs. Allen Thurman, a segregationist, ran for Governor of Ohio in 1867. His political platform included barring Black people from voting. He barely lost.

Before the 15th Amendment, only white men and freed African American slaves could vote in four states. All women, non-African American minorities, and many non-Christian religious groups were not eligible to vote. States slowly began to drop the property requirement, opening it up to all white males and some African American males by 1950.

The Supreme Court declaring segregation illegal in 1954 came after more than three centuries of embedding white privilege, discrimination, and bias into the psychic of the nation.

The Brown decision only confirmed what Black Americans already knew – separate was unequal. Brown v Board of Education did not usher in integration or inclusion. It ushered in the era of tolerance of housing, employment, education, and income discrimination.

The Kerner Commission confirmed the wins of the conservatives/segregationists. It concluded, “our nation is moving towards two societies – one black, one white, separate and unequal.”

The report went on to state, “What white Americans have never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”

Eliminating segregation ‘with all deliberate speed’ was not a prescription for integrating African Americans into society, nor was it a pathway to equal opportunity. No single legal statute

would remedy over 300 hundred years of social and economic degradation.

During his 1963 inaugural address, George Wallace, the then Governor of Alabama, declared that he stood for “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” His words became the rallying cry for those opposed to the Supreme Court ruling segregation illegal.

Adverse reactions to desegregation became increasingly violent and led to assassinations and the bombing of Black churches. Civil rights leaders -Malcolm x, Martin Luther King, Jr., Fred Hampton, Medgar Evans. etc., were assassinated.

White supremacists bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham during Sunday services, killing four African American girls. The 1963 incident gained national attention, but church burnings and bombings continued. They became an integral part of the white supremacist intimidation tactical manual.

More than 30 Black churches burned during 18 months in 1995 and

1996, leading Congress to pass the Church Arson Prevention Act. v

Between March 26 and April 4, 2019, three Louisiana Black Churches were set on fire by suspected arsonists. On March 26th, a fire erupted at St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre.

Ten days later, two historic Black Churches – Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas

– were destroyed by fire.

The police arrested the son of a St. Landry Parish sheriff’s deputy

and charged him with the destruction of all three churches. vi

Pro-segregationists firebombed homes of Blacks that moved into previously all-white neighborhoods.

Congress passed the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Act of 1972, and in 1974, the Fair Housing Act. Equal housing and employment remain elusive. After several voting rights acts, there is still voter suppression. Social and economic inequity continues.

The events of 2020 sparked a renewed call for social justice in another attempt to overcome the Jim Crow Hangover.

The ‘woke’ claim that killing innocent black people startled them and created a new consciousness about African Americans’ treatment in the U.S. The woke expressed a willingness to support initiatives for equity and inclusion.

Penalties for discriminatory practices have not deterred bias behaviors. Public policies continue the toleration of abuses of law enforcement. Bad actors go unpunished.

High-profile Supreme Court rulings like Dred Scott and Plessy v Ferguson supported the continuance of white privilege. The banning of discrimination and segregation has not produced inclusion or equality.

The over-arching negative attitudes towards African Americans continue. George Wallace and Bull Connor are no longer around. ix Still, we have governmental leaders who have made it their mission to roll back civil rights. Lax or no enforcement of civil rights laws sanctions continues injustice.

Decisions to enforce or not enforce laws occur at first contact. Property managers process rental applications. Civil servants review qualifications for construction projects.

Hiring managers process employment applications, and social service workers do the needs assessments. Street-level (first contact)...