Commentary on "Amend: The Fight for America," Episode 2 on Netflix
Episode 2 of “Amend: The Fight for America” had me in awe of all the speakers. It starts by going through the history of resistance to the 14th amendment, Reconstruction, and the Civil War.
Eric Foner says most Southern whites did not want the 14th amendment and felt it was a humiliation, particularly in the day to day interactions.
Here we get a focus on white feelings and the concern seems to be about how Black people would behave.
Florida Governor, William Marvin, 1865, “You must not think because you are as free as white people you are their equal because you are not. If you wish to be esteemed as ladies and gentlemen you must conduct yourselves accordingly. Call your old master, master, and your old mistress, mistress.”
Governor made it plain that whites wanted to get inside of Black people’s heads. Free did not mean equal. And again the focus is on conduct and white feelings.
Bryan Stevenson says, “With the presence of federal troops, Black people became successful…”
I believe state power is necessary to end whiteness and white racism. History shows us when federal troops were present, Black people thrived. Federal troops should’ve killed more whites and enforced Reconstruction. A part of me thinks the problem with “federal troops” is their direction; it is that federal troops are often directed against Black people and people of color. If federal troops could be directed against white policies and white resistance, history shows that is necessary and beneficial.
“There were forces in the white South that were determined to get things back the way they were”
This quote from the episode says a lot. One side of whiteness always wants it more than the other side. The South was more determined than the North. The GOP is determined than white Democrats.
John Archibald Campbell, US Supreme Court Justice, 1853 - 1861 “Darkness is the fashionable color in these regions. We have Africans, in place all about us. They are jurors, post office clerks, custom house officers. The Southern communities will be a desolation until there is a thorough change of affairs in all the departments of government. Even insurrection would be better than the insensibility that seems to prevail.”
“Even insurrection would be better than the insensibility that seems to prevail.” The quote by Campbell in the episode speaks to politics in the United States today. The January 6 white terrorist attack on the Capitol is summed up in Campbell’s quote. Look at the white obsession in his quote about “demographic changes,” and Black leadership. Campbell is no different from the whites who opposed Obama and couldn’t stand the sight of Black man in the White House.
14th amendment says everyone is equal under the law, 15th amendment gives Black men the right to vote.
I’m not sure this episode makes clear the exclusion of women. The exclusion of women in the 15th amendment also calls into question the 14th amendment.
Will Smith says the two amendments changed, for a time. Southern law and Southern leadership, but many Southern minds didn’t change at all. They’ll do anything to take back their power.
I find this quote interesting because whites did not always exist in colonial history. They did not always feel this way. White identity is an invention. And James Baldwin says it took vast amounts of coercion for whites to think they are white. Before white identity and the interference of elites, everyday Europeans and Africans freely associated. Vast amounts of coercion made whites think they’re white. Today, however, we are told by the FBI that they don’t focus on ideologies. They don’t focus on what’s in people’s heads. We are told that you can’t legislate hearts and minds. I think that’s wrong and it’s proven to be unsuccessful. It will take vast amounts of coercion to undo white identity.
The thing in this quote by Will Smith is the reference to Southern minds. It reminds me of George Wallace saying the whole country is Southern, and Malcolm X saying if you’re south of Canada, you’re Southern. Smith later says, in reference to Red Summer of 1919 that “the resistance is no longer a Southern problem; it’s an American problem.” The book “Southern Nation” explains the history behind the Southernization of America. The way whites felt in the South is how white America feels.
The Supreme Court decisions put Black people back under violence and oppression. Slaughterhouse decisions deferred back to the states and weakened the federal guarantee of rights. The Supreme Court allowed private actors to do what they wanted so long as the state didn’t do it.
The Supreme Court did not have to interpret the laws the way they did. This was about their refusal and resistance. There was always a loop hole to excuse whites and to allow oppression.
As Sherrilyn Ifill says 20 years after Black people had been enslaved for centuries, the Supreme Court is ready to move on from enforcement and protection.
“The Northern public lost interest in the project of reform of the South. And this appetite occurred which was “let’s put this behind us” “let’s not be divided as a country between North and South”… there was this appetite for what was called Reconciliation. Federal presence in the South ended and Jim Crow was born.
Look at how tired whites became. Look at how disinterested they were in change. Look at how quickly they wanted to move on to reconciliation. Even in those days whites didn’t think slavery was a barrier to Black life. This desire to reconcile reminds me of the white terrorist who said, “Whites don’t shoot whites.” Rather than dissolve the white union and soak the ground with more blood, whites prioritized white solidarity over Black people again and again. This is a good example of Steve Martinot’s theory that “Racism is ultimately a relation between whites.” The relation between whites must end for racism to end.
Ida B. Wells “human holocaust,” and the Black body vs soul, lynchings, the KKK. More white terrorism, "
In this section of the episode we hear Ida B. Well’s reference to “human holocaust.” As others have pointed out, it’s important to recognize that there is no “The” in holocaust. There have been many.
This section also mentions various mechanisms of white terrorism. This reminds me of James Baldwin’s essay, “On Being White And Other Lies” where he says whites did terrorist acts because they think they are white.
This also reminds me of a piece I wrote Tricked by Whiteness, and what my podcast partner refer to as “misplaced white aggression.” Whites should’ve put their aggression on elites, but when they became white, they misplaced their aggression. And that’s what elites intended.
Bryan Stevenson mention how everyday whites were the white lynch mob.
The fact that everyday whites were the white lynch mob underscores the point that white identity itself is problematic by design. I have made the point repeatedly that white identity is a radicalized identity. The ideology of whiteness is radical and radicalizing. We also saw in the Capitol attack that everyday whites were the insurrectionists.
There’s a section in this episode with old images of white terrorism and the recent chant by the white terrorists Charlottesville saying “You will not replace us.” “Jews will not replace us.”
White identity is generally fearful of replacement. You have some white hate groups organized around that fear. A lot of effort goes into persuading whites that they are not in danger of replacement.
I want to suggest that replacement is exactly what needs to happen and replacement is the objective. We need to replace the ideology of whiteness, and that means white identity will not exist. Relatively light skin and European features as we understand them? All fine. But skin color and features can come or go. The preservation of certain skin color or features is not an entitlement. If people think that whites no longer exist because ancestry becomes visibly mixed, then bye bye to whites. We need to replace that ideology.
If white population numbers in the United States matched the global population of whites, what would be the problem?
Let’s look at what Frantz Fanon says in “The Wretched of the Earth”:
“We have seen how the colonized always dream of taking the colonist’s place. Not of becoming a colonist, but of replacing him.”
“Meaning that the colonized can see right away if decolonization is taking place or not: The minimum demand is that the last become the first.”
In this section of the episode we see and learn about The Lost Cause, monuments to Confederacy, Gone with the Wind, Birth of a Nation, cartoons - all propaganda and ideological productions.
“The North” should’ve crushed all the white propaganda and ideological productions. Contrast what they did not do with the GOP efforts to ban the 1619 Project.
“We cannot be afraid of the truth” Mayor Landrieu
I appreciate this quote from Mayor Landrieu as he spoke about removing Confederate statues. I wish whites would say this about white identity.
The episode ends with images of past and present Black freedom struggles and protest, and then Trump asking for a return of Gone with the Wind.
We all know Trump is a racist and his politics is white identity politics, but the quote from him about Gone with the Wind really puts it in perspective. Keep in mind 57% of whites voted to reelect him, and that’s an unforgettable and unforgivable shame.