WE ARE TIRED: a thread

In 1619, the “first” enslaved Africans were brought to Virginia aboard The White Lion. “20 and odd” Africans were stolen and forced into slave labor at the Jamestown settlement. This is documented by John Rolfe in his journal.

It is believed that Africans (both enslaved and not) were brought to “the new world” many years before this. Christopher Columbus likely brought Africans to the Americas in the 1490s. Whether or not these Africans were enslaved is debated by historians.

When Africans were enslaved in America, they were property. Therefore, they had no rights. This was not limited to the right to continue their cultural practices. They were forced to assimilate. They were given “proper” names and were forced to learn English; hence the creation

of AAVE. Well come back to AAVE later. Right now, I’ll focus on the enslavement. The enslavement of Africans and African Americans would continue to be legal in throughout colonial times.

In 1860, President Abraham Lincoln was elected as the nation’s 16th president. Lincoln was not anti-slavery. Lincoln was against the expansion of slavery into the new territories acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. His election ultimately led to the demise of the union

And the Confederate States of America’s was founded in 1861 “upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition" - Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens

Let’s be clear. The Civil War was not at all about the legality or morality of enslavement. The Civil War was fougt because of the separation of the confederate states from the union. The Civil War took place from 1861-1865 when the confederates surrendered.

Now there’s a lot of misconception about how the enslaved became free. The Emancipation Proclamation (effective 1863) did not free the slaves in the Union. It freed the slaves in the confederacy. This was a tactic for war. Many of the enslaved were forced to fight for the

Confederacy during the war. Freedom for the enslaved =less people to fight for the confederacy. Slavery was not abolished in the United States until 1865 when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified. This means that all the people enslaved in the states that had not joined

The revolt were not free for another year. Slavery would not end in the US until June 19, 1865 when the enslaved were made aware they had been freed.

Sounds good right? Well welcome to the Reconstruction Era. The Reconstruction Era was the period after the civil war from 1865-1877 that was meant to reintegrate the seceded states and determine the legal status of African Americans.

The Reconstruction Era is when we see the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. I have no more to say about that. It should be self-explanatory. By the way we haven’t even made it the year 1900 yet. This country has my ancestor’s blood on its hands. End of that.

Moving on, we would think that the 20th century would see some change...WRONG. Now that African Americans were no longer considered property and legally recognized as HUMAN BEINGS, they were still terrorized.

Sundown towns, lynching mobs, white supremacists hate groups, minstrel shows, sharecropping, Jim Crow, segregation and dehumanization all continued until and through the Civil Rights Movement.

*quick note* I find it really difficult to expand upon each of these subjects while trying to make the overall point of this thread so ask questions and do research if you want more information

The Civil Rights Movement took place from 1954-1968. 13 years. THIRTEEN years of people fighting to be treated like human beings and to not be killed for their very existence. Several many of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement have including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), Medgar Evers and Fred Hampton to name a few. Now I ask you, is it any coincidence that civil rights activists are still dying under “mysterious circumstances” today or does history always repeat itself? Ok.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The legislation was proposed by his predecessor President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. (Shocking we’ve never heard the phrase “white on white crime” used)

The legislation ultimately outlawed discrimination of any kind against protected classes. A mild victory as desegregation would cause many violent attacks by white Americans on Blacks Americans. Including children attending integrated schools and living in integrated neighborhood

Now let me just say that in between the Civil Right Act and the next point I will make, there were no rainbows and sunshine for African Americans. They were still victims of institutional racism and police brutality. The Black Panther Party was founded in response in 1966.

I find it very unnecessary to expand on the dismantling of the revolutionary socialist self-defense movement. The leaders were killed. The members jailed or exiled. There are many people who are still alive who were members of the Black Panther Party. The party was dissolved 1982

Ok so this is a lot right? All of this is probably very upsetting for some and for others it may even be new information. But guess what? This is not where it ends. I give you the Presidency of Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Reagan was elected president in 1980. He served as president from 1981-1989 Ronald Reagan is reaponsible for the War on Drugs which has unfairly demonized African Americans for drug consumption. It has lead to the disproportionate conviction of African Americans for drug offenses

Not to mention all of the anti-Black propaganda formed under his leadership including the “super criminal” the Welfare Queen and the phrase “black on black crime”

Now what’s crazy about this is that nobody seems to understand that these terms are propaganda to demonize African Americans. Crime does not have a color.