Reddit reviews White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History

Can we make political history a thing in the US?

We've had 5 to 6 party systems in the US depending on who you talk to. We are not a two party system, yet we naturally only ever have two dominant parties. One of the things that has always separated the parties is the rights and freedoms of black citizens.

• 1st Party System-1792–1824- Federalist dominated the north where slavery was outlawed (the entire north outlaws slavery durning this period, MA being the only state to have zero slaves when the Consitution is ratified), Democratic-Republican party dominated slave states. In 1807, importing slaves from outside the US is outlawed. John Quincy Adams (federalist from MA) becomes more outspoken about Slavery. The era ends with his election as President in 1824. He predicts a war of secession over slavery, and in such a case, felt the president could abolish slavery by using his war powers.
  
  
• 2nd Party System- 1828–1854- Whigs dominated the free states in the north, Democrats dominated the slave states. John Quincy Adams loses the election to Andrew Jackson. Jackson founds the Democratic party. Slavery is expanded in new states, which sparks outrage by abolitionist. In 1831 a gag rule is established in Congress forbidding arguments against slavery. JQA challenges the order immediately. Kansas fights a war over slavery. Texas becomes a new slave state after the war, JQA challenges their statehood. More armed rebellions by slaves, or raids to free slaves take place during this time. In 1854 the Republican Party is founded mainly as an anti-slavery party.
  
  
• 3rd Party System - 1854–1890s- Republicans are mostly strict abolitionist and promote civil rights of blacks. They dominate the north. Democrats, pro slavery, and racial segregation dominates the south. Democratic presidents dominate the pre-war period. Some of the slave states secede (5 slave states do not). The Republicans invade the south and forcible end slavery (1861). Then occupy the south for a period to enforce civil rights (1865-1877). Black politicians are elected in the south to Congress during this period, including the first African American Senator. All of the first black politicians are Republicans. After 1877 radical republicans, who championed equal rights for blacks, start to lose their control over the party. In the 1880s the south starts to enact Jim Crow laws. The era ends as Democrats are able win the Presidential election 1884 and 1892.
  
  
• 4th Party System - 1896–1932- Republicans become more pro-business and less active in civil rights. Republicans dominate the northern States. Democrats are strict segregationist. Plessy v Ferguson (1896) upholds racial segregation as legal. The south is dominated by Democrats who after the Supreme Court case enact more Jim Crow laws. Voting rights are taken away from blacks (starting in the 1880s). The Democrats' three time candidate (1896-1908) for President, criticized Teddy Roosevelt for having dinner with a black man. President Woodrow Wilson, a democrat, and racist, segregates the federal government. A black person would not be elected in the south to Congress from 1898 until the 1970s. This also marks the great migration of blacks from the south to the Republican north (Starting in 1916 90% of blacks lived in the south, by the end of the migration 53% of blacks lived in the south). Some democrats in the north start to slowly embrace civil rights. Al Smith calls for an end to lynching and violence against blacks and runs in the Democratic primary, losing in 1924. He is nominated by democrats in 1928, and loses the general election. 56% of the confederate statues are put up in this period.
  
  
• 5th Party System- 1932-1980 or it ended in 1968 (edited dates). This marks the shift within the democratic party. The two wings become split between northern democrats that now favor civil rights and southern democrats that opposed civil rights. In 1941 FDR enacts Circular 3591 this makes it a crime to practice slavery. Many prisons in the south were leasing blacks to private companies. Nearly 9,000 blacks died at private companies while on loan from prisons between 1900-1941. 1954- Brown v Edu ends legal segregation. Republicans still embrace civil rights at this time. Eisenhower desegregates the Army, Federal Government and Southern Schools. Then in 1964, Democrat LBJ champions the civil rights act which is passed. Many Southern democrats leave the party. 1968 the voter rights act passes. Republican Congressman George Bush passionately defends the voter rights act, only to lose reelection. The first black Congresspersons are elected in the south in 1972. This period marks the decline of the Democrats control of the south. By 1968 the Democratic party is no longer winning a majority of States in the south for presidential elections.
  
  
• 6th party system. 1980-current or it started in 1968 (edited dates). This where we lay now. The South is solidly Republican and Democrats dominate the North. Both parties condemn White Supremacy. However, politicians in the south "wink" at some of the ideas of racist and religious bigots. This largely referred to the "southern strategy" which allows the GOP to condemn racism, but use loaded terms like "urban youth" to mean blacks. This period marks a huge shift in policing. The largest amount of people are put into the prison system during this time period. Voting rights are denied to criminals, this becomes the new disenfranchisement effort. In the national elections in 2012, the various state felony disenfranchisement laws together blocked an estimated 5.85 million felons from voting, up from 1.2 million in 1976. "Law & Order" is preached for the reason of this change; Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush Jr. all call for harsher sentencing, as more states change voter rights for convicted criminals. While the new policing is supposed to be neutral in regards to race, blacks are disportionately affected. This era also sees Republicans become more aligned with fundamentalist protestants. Anti-Homosexuality is embraced by the Republicans as the Democrats slowly change their views on homosexuals.
  
  
• 7th party system?? I say we are in the middle of a new political system. One party that is focused on white nationalism. One that is more Trump like, which is white identity. This is the progression of white supremacy, it no longer can openly have slaves, it can no longer openly support segregation, it can no longer be openly racist. White identity, I think, is the next phase. It also wants to dismantle the affirmative action programs, and voter protections based on race. It is marked with an alliance with anti-LGBTQ churches and groups. It is also is anti-immigration, focused mainly on non-white immigration. Or maybe the new era is marked by Obama who is a symbol of multiculturalism, who called for an end to mass incarceration, prison reform, and reform regarding drug prosecution. Democrats have become increasing concerned with gerrymandering, which is another form of disenfranchisement. Obama also marks the first openly pro-homosexual marriage president. Obama also extends civil liberty protection to the transgender community. With his ACA legislation he profoundly changes the nature of healthcare. 2017 has already seen many Democrats calling for a single payer system.
  
  I think Trump election fit in the timeline of when the US goes through political shifts. Of course we don't know what the long term effects of Trump will be, but I would guess white identity and white nationalism will be a new banner for politicians going forward. Certainly as we see a decline in the white population, there will more efforts to "protect" that majority. We will see more calls to establish English as the national language. The idea that [white is a race](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_classification) is wrong, and more people are recognizing there aren't different races of humans. This movement highlights the decline of whites in America. However, the decline in whites will be the result of cross race breeding and people no longer recognizing white as a race. The figures often cited of white decline typically never mention that by 2060 it is predicted whites will be 74% of the population and still the largest group.
  
  I debate whether Trump is a natural progression of White Supremacy or more of a reaction against Obama. I think the point is somewhat moot, because if Trump is only a reaction to a black president or if he a progression of white supremacy, he is still promoting racist ideology.
  
  ^(edited for spelling when noticed)
  
  Edited for links to maps of each era. Edited for more info. Book about this topic: White Supremacy by George Fredrickson.

It is not beyond me. In fact, I would agree that if you only voted for Hillary to avoid appearing as sexist than you've behaved in a sexist way that is degrading to women. My point is that you don't have to have done something consciously to have made your decisions in a sexist way.

I don't think that most people who voted for Trump thought to themselves "I don't think a woman should be president because women are less competent than men." Some did, I saw them on TV. But prejudice is more subtle and pernicious than blatant thoughts like that. That is why I provided an example to try to illustrate my point. You could have, while weighing the facts in front of you, weighed them differently for the man than the woman because of your internal biases.

My point is, most people don't think in blatant sexist, racist, bigoted terms. That type of thinking doesn't jive with the values that most people in this country hold. But it's not that easy to identify prejudices! That is a super oversimplified way to view bias and prejudice. I would suggest further reading on the subject because it is very complex and I clearly didn't explain it in a way that you understand. A book I read in my South African history class was pretty helpful in this regard - White Supremacy. It was really awkward to walk around campus with that book. But it really gets into the elaborate mental frameworks people will build to double-think their way around blatant racism.

> NO ONE used the term supremacist term 2 years ago

Here's a book called "White Supremacy" from 30 years ago, which talks about a racial superiority concept that has been around since the 1700s (the concept has been around for longer).

>We used to live in relative harmony.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1954%E2%80%931968)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

You seem to be ill-informed of American history.