We Are Not Yet Equal

1. White Rage: The Hidden Force Behind Racial Progress Backlash

White rage is not about visible violence, but rather it works its way through the courts, the legislatures, and a range of government bureaucracies. It wreaks havoc subtly, almost imperceptibly.

Subtle but powerful. White rage operates behind the scenes, using seemingly race-neutral policies and legal maneuvers to undermine black advancement. It's not the overt racism of burning crosses or violent mobs, but rather a calculated effort to maintain white supremacy through systemic means.

Triggered by progress. This backlash is consistently activated by black achievement and demands for equality. Whether it's emancipation, the Great Migration, school desegregation, or the election of a black president, white rage seeks to roll back gains and reassert control.

Systemic impact. The effects of white rage are far-reaching, impacting education, voting rights, criminal justice, and economic opportunity. By working through institutions and policy, it can create widespread and long-lasting barriers to racial equality while maintaining a veneer of colorblind fairness.

2. Reconstruction's Promise and Betrayal: The Birth of Jim Crow

"We showed our hand too soon," said a regretful Mississippi planter speaking of the Black Codes. "We ought to have waited till the troops were withdrawn, and our representatives admitted to Congress; then we could have had everything our own way."

Failed promise. Reconstruction offered a brief window of hope for newly freed black Americans, with citizenship rights, voting access, and elected black officials. However, this progress was quickly undermined by white resistance at both the local and federal levels.

Legal oppression. The Black Codes and later Jim Crow laws created a system of legalized discrimination and segregation. These laws restricted black economic and social mobility, enforced second-class citizenship, and laid the groundwork for decades of oppression.

Federal retreat. The U.S. government's failure to fully enforce Reconstruction policies, coupled with Supreme Court decisions that undermined civil rights protections, allowed Southern states to effectively nullify the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments for black citizens.

3. The Great Migration: Black Exodus and White Resistance

To those who aspired and paid the price

Mass movement. The Great Migration saw millions of black Americans leave the rural South for urban centers in the North and West, seeking economic opportunity and escape from Jim Crow oppression. This demographic shift reshaped American society and culture.

Economic motivations. Industries in the North, facing labor shortages during World War I, actively recruited black workers. The promise of better wages and living conditions drew many to leave behind the sharecropping system and racial violence of the South.

White pushback. Southern authorities attempted to stem this exodus through legal restrictions, intimidation, and violence. In the North, black migrants often faced housing discrimination, job discrimination, and racial violence as white communities resisted integration.

4. Brown v. Board of Education: A Landmark Decision Met with Massive Resistance

"Of only one thing can we be certain," Byrnes swore back in 1951. "South Carolina will not now, nor for some years to come, mix white and colored children in our schools."

Legal breakthrough. The 1954 Brown decision overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine, declaring segregated schools unconstitutional. This ruling was a major victory for the civil rights movement and challenged the legal basis of Jim Crow.

Massive Resistance. Southern states employed various tactics to delay and subvert integration:

• School closures
• Private "segregation academies"
• Pupil placement laws
• Gerrymandering school districts
• Violence and intimidation against black students

Long-term impact. While Brown was a crucial legal victory, its implementation was slow and incomplete. Many schools remain effectively segregated today due to residential patterns and funding disparities rooted in this era of resistance.

5. The Civil Rights Movement: Advances and Violent Pushback

"My fellow Americans, those of you who tuned in a few weeks ago may remember that the topic of my broadcast was crime," said President Ronald Reagan in a gripping radio address on October 2, 1982. "Well, this week I'd like to narrow that subject down to drugs, an especially vicious virus of crime."

Legislative victories. The Civil Rights Movement achieved major legal gains:

• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Fair Housing Act of 1968

These laws dismantled much of the legal framework of segregation and discrimination.

Continued resistance. Despite these advances, white resistance persisted through:

• Violence against activists and black communities
• Economic retaliation against civil rights supporters
• Political realignment (Southern Strategy)

Shifting tactics. As overt racism became less socially acceptable, opponents of racial progress adopted new strategies focused on "law and order," states' rights, and color-blind policies that maintained racial inequalities.

6. The War on Drugs: A New Tool for Racial Control

Confronted with headlines about KKK rallies and jackbooted sheriffs, white authority transformed those damning images of white supremacy into the sole definition of racism.

Racialized enforcement. While drug use rates are similar across racial groups, the War on Drugs has disproportionately targeted black communities. This has led to mass incarceration and devastating long-term consequences for black families and neighborhoods.

Political motivations. The escalation of the drug war in the 1980s coincided with the rollback of civil rights gains and social programs. It provided a race-neutral language to discuss crime and social problems while reinforcing negative stereotypes about black Americans.

Systemic impact. The drug war has created a system of legal discrimination against those with criminal records, affecting:

• Voting rights
• Employment opportunities
• Access to education and housing
• Family stability

This has effectively created a new racial caste system, as described by Michelle Alexander in "The New Jim Crow."

7. Voter Suppression: Modern Tactics to Disenfranchise Black Americans

"Conservatives were looking at it and saying 'We've got to clamp things down.' They'd always tried to suppress the black vote, but it was then that they came up with new schemes."

Evolving tactics. After the Voting Rights Act of 1965, direct barriers to voting were largely eliminated. Modern voter suppression uses more subtle methods:

• Strict voter ID laws
• Purging voter rolls
• Closing polling places
• Gerrymandering
• Felon disenfranchisement

False premises. These efforts are often justified as preventing voter fraud, despite little evidence of widespread fraud. The real impact is to reduce turnout among minority, low-income, and young voters.

Legal setbacks. The 2013 Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, allowing states with a history of discrimination to change voting laws without federal preclearance. This has led to a wave of new restrictive voting measures.

8. The Obama Presidency: Racial Progress and White Backlash

"Why would they try to make people hate us?"

Symbolic milestone. Barack Obama's election as the first black president was seen as a sign of racial progress. It inspired hope for a "post-racial" America among some observers.

Intensified opposition. Obama's presidency triggered a strong backlash, including:

• Unprecedented obstructionism in Congress
• Questioning of his citizenship ("birtherism")
• Racialized rhetoric from opponents
• Tea Party movement

Revealing tensions. The reaction to Obama's presidency exposed the persistence of racial resentment and the fragility of racial progress in America. It set the stage for a political realignment that emphasized white grievance and nativism.

Last updated: August 11, 2024