Riddle: What is red and blue,
but white all over? Clue: “Save your Confederate money boys, the South will rise again!” Got
it? Well, let’s move on where the answer to this riddle will be
clearly revealed. For starters, this clue or phrase was proclaimed
after the Civil War by allegedly defeated White southerners. But,
in reality or in great measure, the “defeated” South never fell
to “rise again,” with the possible exception of a brief, so-called “Reconstruction” period
(1865-1876) when federal troops occupied the South. In essence,
the White South never has been “reconstructed” and, like the rest
of the nation, has neither repented, apologized or made restitution
for their sins, until this date – irrespective of alleged religious
beliefs in this “Bible Belt.”
Additionally, “The South Won The Civil War,” ideologically,
as I narrated in a January 1997 essay, now included in my most
recent
book, The Scoundrel Syndrome (2004). For the ideology of
racism and its inexorable corollary, ignorance and greed, although
often misperceived as a Southern sickness, was a nationwide phenomena,
a major factor underlying the removal of federal troops from the “defeated” South,
beginning with the disgraceful North-South political compromise
of 1877 that awarded the disputed election and presidency to Rutherford
B. Hayes. Dr. Rayford Logan, in The Betrayal of the Negro (1954),
has aptly described this ignominious compromise. Indeed, during
this era, as author Lerone Bennet has noted, the North was tired
of “the eternal nigger,” for “businessmen wanted to get back to
business as usual; the violence or terrorism in the Southern states was
playing havoc with their profits.”
Alas,
in partial support of this nationwide racist reality, the Ku Klux
Klan, founded in Pulaski, Tennessee
in 1865, had more members
in Indiana during the 1920s than any other state. And even today,
the Klan and other hate or terrorist groups – many with
high sounding names or euphemisms, like the Council of Conservative
Citizens – operate nationwide, with the same or similar basic mission
of the Klan, as documented by the Southern
Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama.
At the risk of being misperceived as a proverbial “wise guy,” I
can affirm also that “I told you so” in relation to the election
of President George W. Bush. For I predicted – publicly several months
ago, during a forum at the Unitarian Church of Columbia, SC – that
George Bush would win this election, by means fair or foul, based
upon my perception of The Scoundrel Syndrome. And the basic
premise underlying this “syndrome,” a pervasive societal evil,
is that the ideology-practice of White racism, based upon greed
and/or ignorance, continues to thrive or remain operative among
a plurality of Americans as reflected, in part, through their propensity
to elect or to appoint scoundrels as their leaders - people, like
themselves, who share similar values or viewpoints. Therefore,
it is no accident that “leaders” like Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond,
Trent Lott and Ronald Reagan were/are strongly supported in their
states and/or nationwide. And it is no accident that George Bush,
following the same racist “southern strategy” of his “conservative” predecessors, “carried” the
State of North Carolina, even with Senator John Edwards, a very
decent and most worthy opponent, on the Democratic ticket.
Think about it! America is essentially a White nation – run by,
for and of White people – irrespective of voting patterns in either
red or blue states. For neither political party has promoted an
agenda for our/Black liberation or dignity, irrespective of such
hypocritical rhetoric, like “liberty and justice for all.” Simultaneously,
they brazenly misuse some individual “kneegroes,” like Colin Powell
and Condoleezza Rice, who for personal gain or operating under
the illusion of inclusion, permit themselves to be projected “out
front” as “fall guys,” often to promote a “national” or White agenda,
generally in a racist corrupt system. Got it? – “red, blue and
white all over.”
Indeed and tragically, Blacks as a group, while citizens of this
country, both legally and geographically, are a population without
a country, psycho-spiritually. For this latter psycho-spiritual
concept of national “belonging” or identity is the highest connotation
of nationhood that reflects an essential, fundamental reality for
understanding the real America. Of course, we/Blacks or, my preference,
Africans in America, are entitled to all national rights or privileges “appertaining
thereto.” But – and a big BUT – our entitlement to civic rights
and obtaining these rights or ethnic dignity, in the context of The
Scoundrel Syndrome, is a deathly struggle that we must
continue, although apparently it is one that we may not win before
America, like other so-called “great nations,” has been assigned
to the dung heap of history. Indeed, the odds are against us,
but “what else is new?” We/Blacks in America always, metaphorically,
have been forced to “swim upstream without a paddle.”
As further support of the idea that “The South Won the Civil War,” the
reader is encouraged to check out the maps at The Blogging of
the President: 2004 web
site.
Here the reader will find, initially, two maps
of the United States – one
a Pre-Civil War map showing Free vs. Slave States and a second
map depicting in red and blue the 2004 Presidential Election Results.
Indeed, the correlation between these maps is very revealing
and interesting. Moreover, in one link to this site, the reader
may find information comparing the average IQ and Politics between
people in states that voted for Bush and Kerry respectively. And,
surprise, surprise! In those states that voted for Kerry, the average
IQ was above 100 – for example Connecticut 113, Massachusetts and
New Jersey, 111 – while in states that voted for Bush, the average
IQ was below 100, e.g., North Carolina 93 and Mississippi 85. Again,
these are very interesting correlations, not necessarily definitive “proof” of
superior intelligence among all Kerry supporters or gross ignorance
among all Bush supporters, especially in the context of documented
deficiencies in measuring intelligence through standardized testing.
Nonetheless, I am inclined to embrace some of these correlations
only as statistical indicators that may relate to the White majority
population, as defined in The Scoundrel Syndrome, especially
those underlying factors of ignorance and greed – while adding
a third factor, fear.
Finally, the reader also may find on this web
site yet another correlation, revealing higher divorce rates
in states that voted
for Bush, with lower divorce rates in states that voted for Kerry. Of
course, such data, irrespective of interpretation, cast serious
doubts on that “moral values” gang of Bush supporters that have
claimed the moral high ground on issues like abortion and same-sex
marriage – obviously ignoring, as usual, the gross immorality of
racial injustice and all of the horrific, terrorist acts
that have been/are perpetrated against Black people. Indeed, such
hypocrisy is by no means new in America – down South and “up South” – for
truly, “The South Won the Civil War.” However, let us be
reminded, once again, of the wisdom of Dr. Martin L. King Jr.,
to wit: "The arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends
toward justice." Amen!
Gyasi A. Foluke, MA, DD, a non-traditional Minister, is CEO
of The Kushite Institute for Wholistic Development and author
of The Real-Holocaust: A Wholistic Analysis of the African
American Experience, 1441-1994, The “Old Time Religion”: A Wholistic
Challenge to the Black Church, The Crisis and Challenge of Black
Mis-education in America and The Scoundrel Syndrome: Essays
on the African American Experience, 1996-2003. Phone 704 391
8505; e-mail [email protected]. |