STEVE JONAS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
(Photo: shoehorn99)
The doctrine of white supremacy was used in 17th century North America to justify the use and practice of slavery in the British colonies. Just before the Civil War, the odious doctrine was summarized by Alexander Stephens, who later became Vice-President of the Confederate States of America serving under Jefferson Davis:
Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the same race. Such were, and are in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature's law. With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the Negro. Subordination is his place. He, by nature, or by the curse against Cain, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. Our new government is founded on the opposite idea of the equality of the races. Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the Negro is not equal to the White man; that slavery --- subordination to the superior race --- is his natural condition.
As I wrote in a previous column on BuzzFlash at Truthout, the South had six principal war aimsas it started the Civil War in support of secession:
1. The preservation of the institution of African and African-American (the latter the courtesy of the slave owners and slave masters) slavery and its uninhibited expansion into the territories of the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain region, and the Southwest.
2. The acceptance by the whole United States of the doctrine of white supremacy on which the institution of slavery was established.
3. The establishment and subsequent strong prosecution of US imperialism outside of North America (a position much more strongly held in the South than in the North).
4. The full, irrevocable, placement in constitutional law of the Southern version of the doctrine of "States Rights," which before the First Civil War primarily was in place to serve the maintenance of the institution of slavery.
5. The South strongly supported low tariffs on foreign manufactured goods while the North wanted high tariffs to protect domestic industrial development.
6. A major element of Southern politics was the use of the Big Lie technique in politics, that, for example, the Civil War was most ironically about "Southern Freedom," that is the freedom to keep an element of the population enslaved. Further along these lines, whatever the war was, it was not a rebellion, but rather a "War Between the States," as Pat Buchanan (who had relatives from Mississippi who fought for the CSA) still refers to it, or the “War of Northern Aggression,” what it is called by James Porter, II, President of the National Rifle Association.
Except that the execrable practice of legal slavery was ended, the South achieved most of its war aims – in practice - despite losing the conflict. Perhaps most importantly, the doctrine of white supremacy is instilled as a deadly and pernicious legacy in the sub-conscious of many whites in the US.
What immediately followed the end of the Civil War in the South was, on the economic side, the assurance of the perpetuation of a living situation for the freed slaves that in many ways mimicked slavery, that is share-cropping (“40 acres and a mule” died under the veto pen of the Southern successor to President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson). On the political side, the first objective of the formation of the original Ku Klux Klan was to deny freed slaves the right to vote, which was largely accomplished following the withdrawal of the Union Army occupiers in 1877. This system, along with social and commercial segregation and a brutal subjugation, stayed in place until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. With the recent Supreme Court decision voiding a key section of that Act, along with the Republican national voter suppression campaign, African-American, as well as Latino, voting is being vigorously repressed in many states through a variety of strategies.
And so, you might be saying at this point, what this all has to do with the killing of Michael Brown.
It has everything to do with it. An unusual event? No, of course not, except for the particular detail of contemporary racial policing.
There is a reason for this state of affairs and it is not just that some white cops are racists and truly regard blacks and Latinos as second-class or non-citizens, with no rights. It is not just because a district attorney decides on his own that he is not going to play prosecutor in this particular case, but rather defense attorney for the accused.
Oh yes, and as for why District Attorney Robert McCulloch chose to make his announcement of the Grand Jury’s decision in prime time rather than around the time when it was reached, about 2 PM in the afternoon? Well, he did just win re-election, so that’s not it. No. This man was addressing all US whites who think the way that he does, and all the white law enforcement personnel across the US who don’t want to have to worry too much should they "just happen" to kill a person of color. McCulloch, who would likely defiantly deny that he incorporated the doctrine of white supremacy into the context in which he handled the case, was carrying out the legacy of the insidious mindset.
For many whites in the US, white supremacy is the doctrine that is a core component of their subconscious self-identity. And they need to feel that US “law enforcement” is doing its part to provide them with security against the dreaded “them.” I am not talking about feeling secure in their physical surroundings, for given how highly segregated US society is, that is not too often an issue.
And so Michael Brown is killed, and the killing has not stopped.
The toxic doctrine of white supremacy continues to burrow itself in the DNA of far too many whites and institutional systems within the United States.
Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and author/co-author/editor/co-editor of over 30 books. In addition to being a columnist for BuzzFlash@Truthout, he is the Editorial Director of and a Contributing Author to The Political Junkies for Progressive Democracy (http://thepoliticaljunkies.org/), and a Senior Editor, Politics, for The Greanville Post, (http://www.greanvillepost.com/).
