It morphs and evolves

For Black History Month Michael Harriot tweeted a thread about the history of racism in America. Harriot is a senior writer at The Root and describes himself as a master race-baiter. He begins his thread with:

One of the most popular misconceptions about black history is that over time, America has gradually become less racist and more tolerant.

That is not true.

I’ve recently heard about the 1619 Project which emphasizes what they say is the first time slaves were brought to the English colonies. But, Harriot says, slaves first arrived on these shores in 1526 as a part of the founding of San Miguel de Guadalupe, now Georgetown, SC. This was also the site of the first slave rebellion, way before the Mayflower.

A myth to dispel: American Slavery was like British slavery. Nope. Americans put it in our Constitution. Our slavery was exclusively race-based. Our enslavement of Africans was not contractual servitude, which usually has an end date. Children of enslaved women were declared to be enslaved. It was illegal to teach slaves to read and write, from gathering together, from growing food. Communities patrolled for runaway slaves.

Harriot turns to the time after the Civil War when there was massive violence, an organized race war, against black people. Then came Jim Crow. And redlining. And poll taxes. And voter suppression. And funding black schools through neighborhood wealth where there was no wealth. And police shootings.

White supremacy hasn’t lessened. It morphs and evolves. Harriot concludes:

According to the Haynes report on lynching, between 1889 and 1919, a little fewer than 80 black people were lynched, on average every year.
…
In 2019, police killed 259 black people.

Now, I'm not saying it's worse for black people now than it was during slavery or Jim Crow. I'm not saying they're using the same tactics.

All I'm saying is this:

Don't think they stopped trying.