We were once called the melting pot of nations for the millions of immigrants from myriad nations who came to the United States during the 19th century in search of a better life. Polish, Germans, Chinese, Italians, Dutch, Swedes, Russians, Jews, and a variety of Eastern Europeans landed in New York. After 1849 hundreds of thousands of Chinese came through San Francisco in search of gold and to work on the western railroads.
All were discriminated against and persecuted until they found niches in American society. All but one race ultimately assimilated. The Chinese were considered too alien. Their culture, dress, physical appearance, cuisine, religion, language, and several other factors worked against them. They were denied immigration for 61 years by a string of measures beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Members of one foreign ethnic group, however, had been here long before all others. The institution of slavery had been established in 1619 with the arrival of 20 African captives in Jamestown, Virginia. Of all the peoples who came to these shores, only Africans came involuntarily, only Africans were forced into slavery, and only Africans were bought and sold as chattel in marketplaces.
Black lives matter and Black deaths matter. Not because they are inherently more important than those of other races, but because they have been disregarded for so long. For more than two centuries millions of African men and women lived, worked, and died in appalling conditions, first in the American colonies and then in the American states. Few of their names are known.
Emancipation brought an end to enforced slavery, but the plight of Black people, particularly in the South, was little improved. They continued to be harassed, beaten, taunted, persecuted, murdered, raped and lynched well into the 20th century. Systemic victimization, frequently by police, continues today, due in no small part to the rabble-rousing rants of the Racist-in-Chief, DJTrump.
We must learn that if we are to have a truly just and equal society we have to acknowledge the pain, torment and misery our ancestors visited on generations of ancestors of our Black sisters and brothers.
Black lives do matter, We have to speak it.
--- Diogenes, 7/15/2020
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