Contrary to popular belief, history does not exist in a vacuum and racism and discrimination does not need to be overt with White hoods and water hoses to be real. Systemic and structural racism is still very much a thing … and everything is connected.
The following historical timeline outlines 401 years summed up in 60 historical facts connecting the very first enslaved Africans (1619) to the death of George Floyd (2020).
This is more than just a Black Issue. This is a HUMAN issue. And EVERYONE is needed in this fight. I hope this list helps you as much as it has helped me. Good luck in your own journeys, your own fights, and your own struggles. It will be exhausting. It will be tiresome and overwhelming – emotionally, spiritually, and physically – but our history depends on us getting this thing right. And thank you so much for wanting to be on the right side of history. Because we are literally living in it right now.
1. 1619 – Twenty Africans are brought from Angola to Tsenacommacah which is Native American for “This was our land until the English invaded it, conquered it, and re-renamed it to Jamestown, Virginia.” And now it begins…
2. 1640 – Indentured servant, John Punch, is sentenced to a lifetime of slavery in Virginia for running away from a tobacco field. His children are also punished with the same status. The 2 White companions he ran away with (also indentured servants) are only given extensions to their servitude. This cites the first recorded time “slavery” is codified and legalized.
3. 1662 – Virginia passes the “Hereditary Slave Law.” Children will have the same status as their mother. Now slavery becomes generational and White owners are not legally responsible for children with slaves.
4. 1705 – Virginia “Slave Codes” define slaves as property and real estate. Now they are officially no longer human.
5. 1712 – New York forbids free slaves from owning property. Now you have stopped wealth.
6. 1740 – South Carolina passes the “Negro Act” making it Illegal for slaves to raise food, earn money, and learn English. Now you have created dependency, stopped income, and ensured illiteracy.
7. 1775 – Phillis Wheatley writes her collection of “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” two years earlier and becomes the 1st African American writer to publish a book. How? Her owners encouraged her to read and write after finding her writing on a wall with chalk as a kid. Later, she travelled to London with the Wheatley’s and here is where she received help to publish her poems by the Countess of Huntingdon. 20 slaves grow to 37,000. The Revolutionary War begins. Colonist vs British. Looking for extra help, the British declare any slaves fighting for them will be freed. Relevant when we get to the “National” Anthem (See #13).
8. 1776 – Independence Day. Declaration of Independence signed. Unfortunately, all men are NOT created equal. Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness is NOT for everyone. Really just for White men with land + property. Poor Whites and White women also included in the “not created equal” section which led to A LOT of protests later. Now we have the founding of hegemony, classism, and White male privilege. Let me repeat. 37,000 slaves watched those freedom fireworks – and also a difference of opinion on celebrating the 4th of July
9. 1777 – Vermont is 1st state to abolish slavery. 10 years later, 44-year-old US Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, begins his “relationship” with Sally Hemings – his 14-year-old slave. They have 6 kids together. The children are eventually set free and because of their features they “pass” into society and are documented as “Free White People” but also must deny who their father is. After TJ’s death, Hemings never gets her freedom, but can live in Charlottesville. Black women used and seen as objects (See #3). 3/5 Compromise voted on in the South’s favor. Slaves now counted for population and political representation.
10. 1790 – 1st US Census. Out of 3.9 million, 700,000 are slaves. 300,000 live in the Maryland Virginia. Some of which are brought to D.C. to build the White House – completed in 1800. Benjamin Banneker, a free Black man, helps with architecture plans. The 1st Fugitive Slave Act is passed which allows the capture of runaway slaves AND free black men like Solomon Northup – “12 Years a Slave”.
11. 1794 – Eli Whitney invents the Cotton Gin – a machine which separates cotton from its seed. Cotton production expands as does the slave boom. Before, 1 Slave took 10 hours for 1 lb of cotton. Now, 3 slaves can handle 50 lbs in one day. Now the South has guaranteed wealth. This is important in 70 more years (See #18).
12. 1796 – George and Martha Washington’s favorite slave, Oney Judge, escapes. George uses his powers and posts newspaper ads w/ a $10 reward ($280 today) to find her. He never does. She lives in hiding for the rest of her life.
13. 1814 – Slave owner Francis Scott Key writes the “Star Spangled Banner” / “National” Anthem. We never sing or acknowledge it, but the 3rd stanza is pre-tty racist – “No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave” Translation: The stanza boasts at the slaves who were killed trying to run to the British side for freedom (See #7). Officially relevant in 117 years. Then again in 202 years later (See #59).
14. 1821 – The American Colonization Society of Quakers, slaveholders, and politicians send Free Blacks to Liberia, Africa. The belief was that Blacks and Whites could never live together equally and the few free Black men around would undermine the institution of slavery.
15. 1828 – Thomas D. Rice makes black face and “Jumping Jim Crow” minstrel shows famous. This is the birth of negative Black stereotypes (lazy, chicken & watermelons, big smiles, etc). Relevant in 37 more years (See #22). 9 years later, the 1st Black college – Cheyney University – is founded in Pennsylvania. 10 years later the 1st police department is created in Boston. Followed by New York (1845), Chicago, (1851), New Orleans (1853).
16. 1849 – Henry “Box” Brown, a slave from Louisa County, Virginia pays $86 to mail himself in a box to Philadelphia for freedom. Yes… true story. 2 Years later Dr. Samuel Cartwright proclaims “Drapetomania” was the mental illness which made slaves escape and that free Blacks in the North suffered from more mental illness than their enslaved counterparts in the south (Falls under Scientific Racism). 3 years later, Frederick Douglass ask “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”
17. 1857 – Dred Scott v. Sanford. The slave who sued for his freedom because he lived where slavery was illegal. He lost. And the Supreme Court decided 7-2 that Blacks can never be human or citizens. Relevant in 108 years (See #43). 2nd black college – the Jehudi Ashmun Institute aka Lincoln University – also founded in Pennsylvania.
18. 1860 – Slavery makes the south one of the wealthiest places in the world and valued at over $4 billion dollars. 75% of the world’s cotton comes from here (See #11). In fact, if the south were a state, it would be the 4th wealthiest country in the world. Abe Lincoln wins presidency. 11 states secede from the US and form the “Confederate States of America.” Article 1, Section 9 of the CSA Constitution reads: “No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed” – Translation: Slavery will never be illegal and we are willing to fight and die for it. relevant for confederate flag “heritage.”
19. 1861-1865 – Between 620,000-850,000 fight and die in a Civil War for slavery, NOT states’ rights, asking the same question we are still asking today: “If Black Lives Ever Mattered?” Confederacy lasts 5 years.
20. 1863 – Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery ends (on paper) in the 11 Confederate rebel states – South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina – and frees (on paper) 3.5 million slaves. However, slavery still exist (in real life) in Texas, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri.
21. 1865 – Juneteenth officially frees 250,000 slaves in Texas. 13th Amendment abolishes slavery “officially.” Fine print allows slavery to continue for prisoners: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…” 1 year later, as payback for losing its slaves, the Vagrancy Act of 1866 forced any Black man who looked “unemployed” or “homeless” back into prison and slavery.
22. 1865-1965 – Jim Crow / Black Codes Era Begins. History books call it the “Reconstruction Era.” Schools, public facilities, hospitals, records, transportation, housing, sports, life. All Segregated. Legal barriers enacted to impede upward mobility for Black people. Relevant for the next 155 years.
23. 1866 – The Ku Klux Klan is created in Pulaski, Tennessee (Not Indiana as popularly assumed) by former Confederate generals (Nathan Bedford Forrest) and soldiers with the idea of seeking political justice from crimes against White people and threatening Republican leaders, politicians. Now shifting into Georgia, the 2nd Order/”The Rebirth” (the more violent evil sheet guys) was recognized by the assassination of Columbus, GA Republican representative George Ashburn in 1868 and the founding of the Stone Mountain chapter by William J. Simmons officially around 1915-1916 with the lynching of Jewish store owner Leo Frank and based on the film Birth of a Nation (See #32). Simmons is known for creating the KKK uniform and writing the Klan charter. Lynching, fear, voter suppression and murder becomes encouraged throughout the entire south. Sharecropping is a thing. Most slaves literally stay in the same area and work on the same lands they were just freed from. Now for pay (reduced pay). “Black Codes” legalized by southern states to keep Blacks working for low wages or in debt. Restricted Blacks from owning property, conducting business, buying, or leasing land. Stopped wealth again (See #4-6). Loophole in 13th Amendment creates Convict Leasing System. This allowed “criminals” to go back into slavery which created a system of arresting Black men for anything (See #21). Over 90% of the southern prison population is Black. This also becomes relevant in 105 years (See #48).
24. 1868 – 14th Amendment “guaranteed” all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” This “overturned” the Dred Scott decision on paper, not in practice (See #14). 3 years after freedom, John Willis Menard becomes 1st Black elected to Congress (Louisiana). Noticing black political potential, voter suppression increases.
25. 1869 – Howard University School of Law becomes 1st black law school. 1st black labor convention meets in D.C. Menard becomes 1st Black person to give a speech to Congress.
26. 1870 – 15th Amendment: “The right of citizens of the US to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race … On paper, not in practice. See the 1st sentence on #23 and last sentence on #24.
27. 1875 – Civil Rights Act which affirmed the “equality of all men before the law” and prohibited racial discrimination in public places is OVERTURNED by 8-1 Supreme Court vote as “unconstitutional.” This is important in 90 years (See #42).
28. 1881 – Spelman becomes 1st college for black women. The African Dodger aka “Hit the Nigger Baby” aka “Hit the Coon” is introduced at carnivals and fairs – White customers throw baseballs at live Black people. The African Dodger also inspired another game we still play today – the Dunk Tank – but back in the 1940s and 50’s it was referred to as “The African Dip.” Black men would sit on a bar and every time a baseball hit the target he would fall in a pool of water. Things you do to objects that are not human (See #17).
29. 1890 – States legalize voter rights discrimination. Now you must own property and be able to read to vote. But owning land and reading is illegal (see #5-6). relevant in 75 years (See #42) and still today. 6 years later, Supreme Court affirms Blacks are “separate, but equal” in Plessy v. Ferguson. “Great Migration” of Blacks from South to North begins. “Sundown Towns” also starts – “Don’t Let the Sun go down on you N—-R” – legally “ends” around 1970s, but towns still exist today.
30. 1905 – James Weldon Johnson writes “Lift Every Voice and Song” which becomes the official “Negro National Hymn” … because the 1st national hymn was written for someone else (See # 13). O.W. Gurley buys a large area of land – the future home Black Wall Street (but See #33).
31. 1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded by W.E.B Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Mary White Ovington, and Moorfield Storey… Because of 30 things listed before this. Organized to directly challenge racial inequalities, the organization was founded after Blacks were violently attacked in Springfield, Illinois. Initially, the NAACP’s national leaders were White progressives like Ovington, but after World War I, black male leadership increased with James Weldon Johnson (See # 30) and Walter White and bolstered by the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) led by Ida B. Wells, Juanita Jackson Mitchell and Ella Baker. The group was successful in winning legal battles as well as being an important voice against lynching throughout the South.
32. 1917-1919 – 2 Years earlier, D.W. Griffith’s film “Birth of a Nation” incites racism by the KKK and is the first film ever to be shown at the White House. US enters WW1. 370,000 Blacks enlisted fighting for …. Freedom? after the war, hundreds of Black men in the South killed by White supremacist – “Red Summer of 1919.” “Racially Restrictive Covenants” created – Property owners ban house sales to Blacks.
33. 1920s – Harlem Renaissance pushes Black stories and culture. In 1921, Black Wall Street in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma is bombed and burned by local White citizens and the Oklahoma National Guard. 35 city blocks up in flames. 300 people died. 800 injured. Eugenics Law enacted and sterilization of women of color begins in North Carolina for 40 years from 1929-1974 (See #45). Great Depression strikes from 1929 to 1939. Which is super relevant regarding who gets help and who does not – especially in housing.
34. 1932-1935 – Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments. 399 Blacks observed for 40 years and never told they had Syphilis or given a cure. Things they do to you when you are not considered human. Federal Housing Administration created. Redlining and housing discrimination in mortgage lending legally begins in 200+ cities. First public housing projects – Techwood Homes – opened in Atlanta, Georgia in 1935. Relevant in 88 years. 2 years later, Victor Green creates “The Negro Motorized Green Book” for Blacks to avoid racist areas – the same one which inspired the 2018 movie.
35. 1939-1945 – US enters WW2. Over 1 million Blacks drafted and still fighting for …? Black Vets came home to no GI Bills, no bank loans, no VA Housing privileges. 99% went to White soldiers starting “White Flight”. Still no wealth or housing.
36. 1950s – The Cold War against Russia. “Why does America tolerate the lynching of Negroes?” – 1st question asked by India to Justice William Douglas. US realizing it looks bad on international stage. Govt encourages White purchase outside the city – Suburbs created – “White Flight” continues. Poor Blacks with no homes working “good” factory jobs. Watch what happens 20 years later (See #47).
37. 1954 – Seventeen states required racial segregation. 4 states remained optional. Until Brown v. Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas. 89 years later segregation (in public schools) is FINALLY unconstitutional (kinda) because Black schools were inferior across the board – Poor redlined neighborhoods = Poor redlined schools. This law changes in 36 years (See #52, #58).
38. 1955 – 14-year-old Emmett Till is brutally murdered and found in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a White woman – 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant (See #59). Bullet in the head, eye gouged out, barb wire wrapped around his neck and weighted down with a cotton gin. The 2 White men who boasted about the murder acquitted by all-White jury. Civil Rights protests officially begins. Relevant to why every single protest happens. Vietnam War begins. Over 225,000 Black Men fight for …?
39. 1956 – Your favorite February icon Rosa Parks is arrested (Montgomery Bus Boycott). J. Edgar Hoover creates the secret FBI Counterintelligence Program – “COINTELPRO” – to maintain the White U.S. status quo and kill/silence/destroy all protests movements and “Black Messiahs” (See #43, #45 #50).
40. 1960 – Greensboro 4 sit down in peaceful protest at a Woolworth. Protest works. Months later they can eat at the counter. Police militarization increases due to racial protest. Riot and SWAT teams created as a result. Relevant again in 40 years.
41. 1963 – President JFK and Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers assassinated. Dr. Martin Luther King has a “Dream” just one month before 4 young black girls are bombed and killed while getting dressed at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. 2 of the 5 White men involved were convicted 38 years later in 2001. Yes, 38 years later.
42. 1964 – Fannie Lou Hamer gives one of the greatest speeches ever. New President, LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which reverses the 1875 Supreme Court decision and prohibits discrimination of all kind (See #27). At the same time, civil rights activists James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman are killed by police and KKK (Mississippi Burning deaths). Police + KKK actively involved in the suppression of civil rights and Black people. Relevant to Black-Cop relations.
43. 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated inside the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, New York. Nation of Islam blamed but… (See #39). MLK marches 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery. LBJ signs 2nd act so Blacks can vote. Finally, Blacks are human and citizens (See #17).
44. 1966 – Black Panther Party for Self Defense is founded in Oakland to protect against police brutality and violence. The next year, the Mulford Act (aka “The Panther Bill”)- outlawing public carrying of firearms – is passed by Gov. Ronald Reagan after Panthers show up armed to the Capitol – the exact same as the 2020 Coronavirus “Let Me Out” protesters. Supreme Court introduces “Qualified Immunity” to protect officers from “frivolous lawsuits”. Relevant for the next 53 years. Needing more soldiers, govt “Project 100,000” ask Black men: Jail or Vietnam.
45. 1968 – Elaine Reddick is raped by her neighbor, taken to the hospital, blamed for being “promiscuous” and “feeble minded” and sterilized after a C Section. She is 13 years old. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray named but… (See #39 again). 200 cities riot and protest for 53 days. FBI documents are classified until 2027. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise a black fist at the Mexico Summer Olympics. LBJ signs Fair Housing Act prohibiting housing discrimination (See #34). After 349 years, Blacks can finally vote, buy a house and be a citizen with protection. I need you to realize that was only 52 years ago.
46. 1969 – Richie Havens opens Woodstock with “Freedom.” Jimi Hendrix Closes it. 2 Black artists begin and end the 1st year of Woodstock in New York. In Chicago, Black Panther Illinois chapter Deputy Fred Hampton is assassinated by Chicago police and FBI (COINTELPRO) while he slept at 4:45 am (See #39).
47. 1970s – Technology, globalization, and outsourcing increases black unemployment 20% (20 years from #32). Low education, no job opportunities, and poor public housing environment leaves the door open for crime and drugs. Shirley Chisholm becomes the 1st woman and 1st Black woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination taking 7th out of 14th place. The “Black Power” Movement begins (Stokely Carmichael).
48. 1971 – Congressional Black Caucus established in D.C. to advocate on behalf of Black people. Richard Nixon’s “War on Drugs” begins for the next 40 years. Police presence in inner cities increased significantly. Arrest rates soared and targeted black men. Mass incarceration begins again (See #20 – Convict Leasing System). Hoover’s COINTELPRO ends (See #39). 2 years later, Martin Cooper invents the mobile cell phone. So relevant later. 3 years later North Carolina ends sterilization of minority women. 7,600 women are sterilized in total. Out of those sterilized, 85% were women and girls, while 40% were minorities (most of whom were black). The eugenics program was eliminated in 1977, but legislation permitting involuntary sterilization of residents remained on the books until 2003 (See #33 and #45).
49. 1978 – The Supreme Court rules in UC Regents v. Bakke that affirmative action can be used as a legal strategy to deal with past discrimination. Because of 48 other things listed before this.
50. 1980s – Ronald Reagan continues the “War on Drugs.” Drug arrests up 126%. Harsh Mandatory minimum sentencing. Still heavy police presence. Corrections Corporation of America is founded, and prisoners become Wall Street stock. Black Panther Party ends due to COINTELPRO involvement (See #39). People blame Black problems on broken homes and missing fathers. Texas 1st state to declare Juneteenth a state holiday.
51. 1985 – Contra Cocaine – FBI, CIA and US State Dept with Nicaraguan rebels allowed drug trafficking into the US. Crack cocaine (See #52) begins really destroying inner cities. (Yes, the FX show “Snowfall” is based on actual events). People blame Black problems on broken homes and missing fathers. Jesse Jackson runs for Democratic presidential nominee and places 3rd
52. 1986-1989 – Jesse Jackson runs for a 2nd time and places 2nd. George H.W. Bush runs the “Willie Horton” Ad – instilling more fear and stereotypes about black men (See #15) – and wins Prezzy against Michael Dukakis. He also continues the “War on Drugs.” Calls for $1.5 Billion on “Drug War. “Congress passes 100 to 1 sentencing disparity for crack rock and powder cocaine – Relevant for at least 21 years (See #57). Whites used more expensive cocaine powder; Blacks used crack rock. Relevant 24 years and millions of prisoners later. 1 year later, court rulings release desegregation order, ending Brown v. Board and increasing school segregation (see #37, #58).
53. 1992 – 1990 General Social Survey indicates 29% of Whites believed Blacks were unintelligence, 44% believed they were lazy, 56% believed they preferred to live on welfare, and 51% believed they were prone to violence (Willie Horton) – all due to negative stereotypes – thanks Thomas D. Rice (See . Bill Clinton continues the “War on Drugs,” militarization, and mass incarceration. 3 million Blacks in prison. Rodney King assaulted on tape. All 4 cops acquitted. Relevant to protests and riots. 1033 Program transfers $5.1 billion dollars in excess military weapons to law enforcement. This includes: Tactical weapons, grenade launchers, and mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles aka the trucks used in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect US Soldiers from terrorist stuff. 3 Strikes Rule and the 1994 Crime Bill are also introduced.
54. 2005 – Hurricane Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters in history killing 1,800 people. 80% of New Orleans lay under water after the collapse of the city’s flood-protection system—more than 110,000 homes and another 20,000 plus businesses, along with most of the city’s schools, police and fire stations, electrical plans, and its public transportation system. Black and poor communities hit the hardest. A black homeowner in New Orleans was more than three times as likely to have been flooded as a White homeowner. That was not due to bad luck; because of racially discriminatory housing practices, the high ground was taken by the time banks started loaning money to African Americans who wanted to buy a home. White areas rebuilt first and faster, Black areas still in repair or completely gone. Kanye says on live tv “George Bush don’t care about Black people” … static. At least 96,000 Blacks never return to the city.
55. 2008 – Obama got in the house built by slaves. But he too continued the “War on Drugs” and the militarization of the police in his 1st term. Qualified Immunity also increasingly applied in cases involving excessive or deadly force. Wall Street crashes and destroys average American (“The Big Short”). Wall Street is bailed out with billions. No one ever calls this “reverse welfare” or a handout. Black folks hit hardest again. Unemployment at 16%. Black median wealth income projected to ZERO by 2053. Lack of home ownership and owning less valuable homes partly to blame (See # 35, #36, #37, and #47). People still blame all Black problems on broken homes, bad decisions, and missing fathers.
56. 2009 – Unemployment still on the rise. Schools underfunded. Foreclosures, housing discrimination, predatory lending against Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics continues during a global recession. Drug use and dealing is rampant. (I really hope you see history’s hand in all this) Police presence in inner cities maintains. Oscar Grant killed in Oakland on New Year’s. Cop served less than 1 year. (See “Fruitvale Station” and try not to cry). People still blame all Black problems on broken homes, bad decisions, and missing fathers.
57. 2010 – Twenty four years and 3 million+ prisoners later, Obama signs “Fair Sentencing Act” to reduce crack-cocaine disparity tied to Nixon-Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama’s “War on Drugs” (See #48-55). Prisons still overwhelmed, more being built, cops still patrol the inner city. Yes, obviously where there is crime there are police, but the key is to understand how the inner city got this way. “Kids for Cash” scandal – judges receive $$$ kickbacks for imposing harsh sentences and increasing private prison rates. Wells Fargo exposed for restricting “ghetto loans” to black “mud people.” Blacks facing highest loan denials of all races, 25% – Whites denied at 10%. 4 years later, Housing and Urban Development orders a Wisconsin bank to pay $200 million for denying loans to Blacks and Hispanics. People still blame all Black problems on broken homes, bad decisions, and missing fathers.
58. 2012-2016 – Black Lives Matter movement created after Trayvon Martin is killed. And then needed again and again for: Eric Garner. John Crawford. Ezell Ford. Michael Brown. Tanisha Anderson. Laquan McDonald. Tamir Rice. Sandra Bland. Renisha McBride. Freddie Gray. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. Samuel Dubose. Meagan Hockaday. Aiyana Jones. Rekia Boyd. Jeremy McDole. Walter Scott. Terence Crutcher. Korryn Gaines.. Etc . Etc . Etc. Cell phones capturing death, but cops still being acquitted and, in some cases, receiving pay raises (Daniel Pantaleo). This is nothing new, we are all just now seeing it thanks to Mr. Martin Cooper (See #48). “Blue Lives Matter” created at the same time in response. Black household average net worth is $138,000 to $933,000 for White families – White family net wealth 7x greater. Brown v. Board ends. Schools are resegregated and “Apartheid Schools” – schools that are 99% Black – increase. Flint, Michigan finds lead in their water. 100,000 exposed to increased lead levels including 6-1200 children. Hundreds of pregnancy stillbirths. 57% black population – 42% overall poverty. 8 are charged. 3 years later all charges are dropped. People still blame all Black problems on broken homes, bad decisions, and missing fathers.
59. 2016 – Of 323 million, Black population is 40 million (13%). SF 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick sits down on the bench during the “national” anthem. After speaking with Army Green Beret Nate Boyer and learning from him what kneeling represents at military funerals, Kaep takes a knee. Not in disrespect to the military or veterans or all police – just against the terrible murderous ones. And during the “national” song, which was written during slavery, by a slave owner, laughing at slaves (See #13). And because silently protesting 346 years of social injustice in America and police being acquitted when brutality, violence and murder happens is a right we should all understand. People still blame all Black problems on broken homes, bad decisions, and missing fathers. Now 72 year old Carolyn Bryant, the woman who Emmett Till allegedly whistled at, admits to an author she fabricated the entire story (#See 38) .
- 59.5 2016 – FBI data revealed 90% of Black homicides were committed by Black people AND 84% of White homicides were committed by White people (Intra-Racial violence = you kill who you live around). Translation: “Black on Black Crime” is a distraction. FBI data also showed Blacks are 3x MORE likely to be killed by police than White people even though they are 1.3x MORE likely to be unarmed. Translation: “Cop on Black Crime” … stay focused. People blame Black problems on broken homes and missing fathers.
60. 2017-2020. “Make America Great Again.” Donald Trump brings about the not-so-coincidental rise of racial division, White extremists, and White supremacists’ rhetoric in the country, symbolized by “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, “Law and Order” speeches, and “Lootin and Shootin” tweets.
- Sidenote: “When the lootin starts, the shootin starts” – that line is from 1967. Miami Police Chief Walter Headley used that phrase during a hearing about crime in city. It was just a symbolic statement to represent his 20-year tenure and “Get Tough” policies. One time, that same year he also said his policies were in fact a “war on young hoodlums, from 15 to 21, who have taken advantage of the civil rights campaign… [and] We don’t mind being accused of police brutality.” Clearly all of this invoked a lot of anger then, just as it did on May 28, 2020 when President Trump repeated it. Historically, Chief Headley had a very long and very racist history towards the Black community, so much so that the NAACP (See # 31) complained about his treatment for years.
The First Step Act is passed and signed into law in December 2018. Its purpose is to attempt to reduce mass incarceration and includes meaningful sentencing reform provisions. Prison industry has risen 700% since 1980 and the U.S. has LESS THAN 5% of the global population, but we own 25% of the prison populations, of which Black and Brown communities are most affected. The Act shortens Mandatory Minimum Sentencing (See #50), reduces the 3 Strikes Rule (See # 53) which currently imposes a life sentence down to 25 years, and enhances the Fair Sentencing Act (See #52 and #57). Redlining policies from 88 years ago, still affecting 3 out of 4 Black neighborhoods (See #34). 2020 study confirms for every $1 dollar of accumulated wealth a White family has, Blacks accumulate .01 cent (Yes, a penny). Coronavirus disproportionately affecting Black people due to redlined living conditions and minimal access to health care.
People still blame all Black problems on broken homes, bad decisions, and missing fathers.
Ahmaud Arbery (jogging), Breonna Taylor (sleeping), and George Floyd ($20 dispute) all killed within a 5-month time frame.
5 Black men were lynched – literally – 2x in California, 1 in New York, and 2 in Texas.
Violinist Elijah McClain was choked and overdosed with Ketamine by police.
Over 20 days of protests and riots took place in every single state in America for the 1st time ever.
The riots and protests led to:
1. Police reform, qualified immunity, and funding discussions at the city and state level NOT federal (shoutout to Colorado)
2. Removal of Confederate Statutes (Jesus and Columbus)
3. Black mental health zoom calls
4. Juneteenth being recognized
5. National Black Outs
6. Kaepernick finally being understood
7. Joe Biden telling Black people “they ain’t Black”
8. An increase in “Karen” and “Amy” sightings
9. But White people also realizing being “not racist” is not enough
10. And being Anti-Racist is everything
11. Bold and Black yellow street art
12. Black-owned business booms
13. NASCAR Confederate Flag withdrawals and Noose garage openers
14. Beethoven somehow being Black (he is pure Bonn, Germany not Black)
15. Aunt Jemima’s and Uncle Bens getting changed out (finally)
And Black Lives Finally Mattering (still pending…)
