“This isn’t who we are!”
This was one of the most often repeated phrases after the attempted coup. On the contrary, the United States has had a history of uprisings when White Supremacy is threatened.
Here in North Carolina, the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 happened when White Supremacists overturned a democratically elected government. 60 to 300 people were killed and destroyed the property and businesses of Black people. The white press tried to spin it as a riot by blacks but the truth came out. This was the only overthrow of a government in the United States.
Last week during the House of Representative sessions on the 2nd Impeachment of Donald Trump there were lots of calls for Unity. That Impeachment would divide the country. No punishment for inciting an insurrection.
There is no Unity without Accountability.
Without Accountability the organizers of the Wilmington Insurrection gave us four North Carolina Governors, politicians, and other notables whose names exist on buildings around the state.
- Charles Blow has an informative piece on CBS Sunday Morning – The Greatest Threat to our Democracy – he describes Red Shirts, who were among the assailants in Wilmington. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/charles-blow-on-the-greatest-threat-to-our-democracy/
- NPR‘S Sam Sanders piece The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Race
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/10/955392813/the-lies-we-tell-ourselves-about-race
“We are a country built on fabrication, nostalgia and euphemism.”
- The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898 - Hate or heritage? Winston-Salem’s Confederate monument remains controversial, 100 years after dedication
https://journalnow.com/news/local/winston-salems-confederate-monument-remains-controversial-100-years-after-dedication/article_4c6251a0-9b26-11e7-928e-a73a8b22463a.html