American Democracy Under Siege

Americas Democracy Under Siege

Since 2016, slogans like “Drain the Swamp” and “Make America Great Again” has opened old wounds of division in this country. Rallies held by President Trump promoted violence, racism and white supremacy, in which his supporters backed him every step of the way. This has been a major part of his campaign, and in a recent event, his supporters stormed the capitol in D.C. in an attempt to delay the Electoral College voting count. This is not the first-time white supremacy has threatened the government in order to turn over an election. In Wilmington North Carolina,1898, white supremacist (democratic party) installed fear in its’ followers that blacks were a threat to a white nation and white women. A Georgia writer by the name of Rebecca Felton said, “If it takes hanging a black man a day to protect white womanhood, I say lynch.” At a rally right before the election, Supreme Court Justice Alfred Moore provoked the democratic party even more by saying “Negro office-holding ought at once, and forever be brought to an end.” The democratic party formed a group called the Red Shirts that attacked and blocked black residents from voting. Every seat that was up for election, was filled with democratic members. After the election, the democratic party held a meeting and came up with a document called The White Declaration of Independence. It stated that “We will no longer be ruled and will never again be ruled by men of African origin.” We are witnessing this similar situation unfold right now in Washington, D.C. For the last past four years, Trump has influenced his followers to create chaos across America leading up to D.C. riots. Mary Miller, an Illinois congresswoman, even quoted Hitler to the crowd of Trump supporters on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Although Trump supporters did damage to the Capitol, it was not handled to the degree that they would’ve taken if it was an African American crowd. African Americans get killed over simple things like traffic stops, mistaken identity and get killed in their own homes for no apparent reason. Police have gotten away with the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Andre Hill, while Trump supporters has broken all kinds of laws, and half of them will probably get a slap on the wrist. This display of terrorism has shown that black lives are not valued in America, and Trump has gotten away with treason at its finest.