American Racism and What You Can Do About It

The Hard Truth About America and Americans

Donald L Scott

• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781648950759
• Edition: 1

This book tells the hard truths of America's Founding Documents, written in 1776 and 1787 for white Americans and their future generations. Hard truths bring pain but are necessary for people to take the proper actions to correct the correctable and live with the uncorrectable. The God of the Universe and of mankind is included in my assessment of hard truths Americans must confront to end institutional racism.

My experience with American racism spans over eighty years and prepared me to share insights and observations of the white majority's rule in America. I am among the first African Americans to integrate public schools because of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in public schools in America and to assume leadership positions in previously all-white organizations and was among the first of that cohort appointed to senior executive positions in the military and federal government.

As the founding director of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, a national service program purposefully designed to attract eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old racially and gender-diverse youths; chief operating officer, City of Atlanta, Georgia, assisting Mayor Maynard Jackson to balance support between the white majority and minority populations; Deputy Librarian of Congress managing day-to-day operations and spearheading the resolution of decades old racial discrimination cases; and from rising through the ranks in the United States Army from second lieutenant to brigadier general, I was honored to be a part of the long, hard examination and revision of army regulations, policies, and systems that got rid of discriminatory measures that denied opportunities on the basis of race and gender. The US Army and uniformed services continue to have the highest trust among Americans for integrity and competence.

I will offer suggestions to defeat institutional racism and keep the focus of the inspiring words in the Declaration of Independence.

 

 Part 1

America’s DNA: Born in Crisis, Established in Controversy, Blemished by Slavery

Think on this for the remainder of your life. America was born in crisis, and the founding fathers declared independence from Great Britain in 1776 with the noble announcement of forming a new nation that believed that all men were created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. The Declaration of Independence starts with these lofty words that became the DNA of American identity. These same farsighted founders crafted the US Constitution to develop a government of the people, by the people, and for the people that protected the interests of slave owners at the expense of the Declaration of Independence. African slaves and Native Americans were not in the portrait of “We the People.” The seeds of white supremacy in the drafting of the Constitution protecting slavery influenced the admission of every state that joined the Union and American territories. Worst, the laws passed to protect slavery eroded the assertion that all men were created equal in the new government of the United States. Despite the flaws, America became and is the only planet on earth to stipulate a belief in God and nature’s God that all men are created equal. This belief has made America the most favored destination for people facing persecution or wanting the freedoms offered by the American Constitution. Americans in the twenty-first century must take note and eliminate institutional racism to protect our unique nation.

The Civil War, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights eras have not erased it from America. Ask yourself the question: what can I do to eradicate it?

This is a hard truth and critical question that must be embraced and answered without malice for the sins and injustices of/to our ancestors and damage to the Declaration of Independence. We now know that each generation of Americans must embrace the past, answer the question, and act to protect our American DNA, the Declaration of Independence.

 

 Chapter One

The Declaration of Independence: America’s Remarkable and Unique DNA

In the sweltering summer at Philadelphia in 1776, America’s DNA as a new nation was being formed. Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence,1 prominent slave owner, brilliant man of letters, an advocate of white superiority, boldly stated the proposition that all men were created equal without equivocation or qualification. He knew African slaves were human because he fathered children by a multiracial slave and half-sister of his wife. Nevertheless, Jefferson was known for his belief that African slaves were inferior to the white race but refrained or was restrained from limiting God’s creation to only the white race in the most cherished document of America, the Declaration of Independence. Perhaps the numerous revisions and edits by the drafting committee and the full committee wanted to use language that was compatible with the Bible and their belief that God was on their side.2 I’ll grant the good Lord’s intersession in their purpose for the sake of posterity. The remarkable fact remains that the original document published on the morning of July 4, 1776, survives unchanged unto this moment. The sentiment expressed in the opening paragraphs of the document places the Declaration in the sacred category as the Bible.

Not all who profess to be Christians practice the beliefs demanded by Jesus Christ. Not all Americans know that America was founded on the proposition “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Many who know don’t practice it. Both sacred documents require faith, commitment, and resolution to make sure the deeds of individuals reflect the organizations they represent: the church and the United States of America respectively. Both the church and the Constitution3 have been used to justify violations of human rights by unjust men. Jefferson and the founders of the Declaration announced to the world the unjust treatment by Britain that inspired them to establish America and their bold experiment with democracy.

Their noble document ushered in the drafting of the United States Constitution with its “we the people” preamble and seeds of white supremacy that damaged the credibility of the Declaration of Independence for over a hundred years.

Chapter Two

Out of Philadelphia: The Constitution and Seeds of White Supremacy

Most Americans know that George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Ben Franklin played important roles in the founding of America. The name and deeds of Gouverneur Morris,4 delegate from Pennsylvania by way of New York, is little known. He was not on center stage during the constitutional convention but played a significant role at the end of a fractious debate between delegates that crafted a remarkable new government embedded with the seeds of white supremacy. Gouverneur Morris and the more widely known Alexander Hamilton are representative of the small number of abolitionists who lost the effort to abolish slavery but managed to insert language that could include the slave at some future time in America’s future. It is also helpful to understand that white men in the eighteenth century believed themselves superior to other races in the world. For that reason, creating a government with a belief that all are created equal set expectations among some delegates that a new governing document would support that lofty belief. The deliberations would record that delegates were tied to traditions, fortunes, and cultural realities more than humanitarian, or moral, issues.

Fifty-five delegates representing all the states except Rhode Island met from May to September 1778 to write a workable Constitution. Many thought it was an improbable task as the state politicians did not want to give up their political power and state sovereignty to a more powerful central government. Most of the movers and shakers were present; Washington was unanimously elected president of the second Continental Congress, Madison of Virginia was a principal advocate for a strong central government, and Franklin, the peace broker, during heated debates was a busy man. Jefferson and Adams were out of the country but aware of the high stakes and importance to the survival of the fledging country and future of the United States.

Visions of Governance

The delegates from Virginia, New Jersey, and Hamilton of New York had a plan and vision of how the central government should be organized and exercise its power. Virginia seized the opportunity and made the opening presentation that stoked the worst fears of the smaller states. Virginia’s vision was a government with three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—with each branch independent and checking on each other. The states would give up their sovereignty to the central government. The delegates from the smaller states were so riled, they spent ten days debating the plan. New Jersey sharing the fears and concerns of the small states called only for a revision of the Articles of Confederation to enable the Congress more easily to raise revenues and regulate commerce. It also provided for acts of Congress and ratified treaties be “the supreme law of the States.” The smaller states rallied around this plan, but the plan was defeated by a majority vote. Madison of Virginia understood the opposition to a powerful centralized government and persuaded the delegates to agree that any new constitution should be ratified through conventions of the people and not by the Congress and the state legislatures. He had done his homework and knew that the legislatures would likely deny the centralized power of a federal government to protect their political power within the state and federal system of government.

With Virginia’s plan still on the table, Hamilton presented his vision of a strong federal government in detailing how it would exercise power-conjured fears of the return of a British monarchy. The delegates, weary of the debates of a weak or strong central government, began to explore the issues of concern to their states.

Clash of Interests

Commerce and taxation dominated the interests of the delegates. Both the northern and southern states had delegates from small states and large states that could turn a phrase and protect their state’s interest. Yet compromise was the pathway to progress. The small states lost the first battle when the convention approved a resolution that established population as the basis of representation in the House of Representatives. The small state...