White supremacists using new tactics

After the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 14th, and 15th amendments Black men in the south, began to participate in civil society in large numbers. Hundreds of thousands registered to vote; more than 1,500 were elected to public office. For a short while, Black men even held a majority of the seats in the lower house of South Carolina state legislature

This outraged most White southerners — after all, many of them had been raised to view Black people as subhuman, fit only for subservient bondage. And now there they were, holding office, ruling over whites. To stop this, white supremacists resorted to terrorism. Black people holding office, voting or even registering to vote were threatened, beat up, saw their houses burned. Thousands were lynched.

As the numbers of Black men voting declined, white supremacists began to pass ever-increasing numbers of anti-Black laws. Backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, strict racial segregation became the law across the south

That continued for the next eighty years until the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Once again, Black people registered to vote in huge numbers across the south. Thousands were elected to office.

Once again white supremacists felt they had to end this Black political power. Today, instead of terrorism, (but once again with the blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court), the white supremacists use new tactics, gerrymandering and redistricting. Now in this Trump era, the idea is to draw district boundaries so Black people are in the majority in as few districts as possible, perhaps in none.

So, with fewer Black people holding public office, white supremacists will again be in control across the south. Who knows what new Jim Crow laws the current generation of white supremacists will pass.

That must not happen.

Hugh Brady

Arlington Heights