Daily Archives: December 6, 2020

Most would assume that after the Civil War ended in 1865 and the 13th Amendment was passed that slavery was prohibited in the United States. Unfortunately, there is a loophole in the amendment that allowed a form of slavery to exist after the war that is still legal to this day.

The 13th Amendment states: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

The "involuntary servitude" caveat allowed for a form of pseudo-slavery to continue after the war during Reconstruction and beyond.

"What we see after the passage of the 13th Amendment is a couple of different things converging," Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, told History.

"First, the 13th Amendment text allows for involuntary servitude where convicted of a crime," she continued. At the same time, "black codes" in the south created "new types of offenses, especially attitudinal offensesnot showing proper respect, those types of things."

via Wikipedia

This led to a prison boom in the 19th century and the practice of "convict leasing" where states would lend prisoners to plantation owners and industrialists to use for labor. This meant that countless imprisoned Blacks were forced to work for no compensation in the decades after the war.

The death toll caused by this practice was so high that after 3,500 Texas prisoners died between 1866 and 1912, the state outlawed the practice.

These days, private companies continue to benefit from free or low-wage labor provided by prisoners. According to NPR, the annual value of labor provided by prisoners is $2 billion and big companies, including Walmart, AT&T, Whole Foods, and Victoria's Secret, profit from involuntary labor.

The State of California saves $100 million every year by using prisoners as volunteer firefighters.

The huge benefit that involuntary servitude has for major companies means amending the 13th Amendment will be a tough task. However, Democrats Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representative William Lacy Clay of Missouri have taken up the challenge.

Jeff Merkley and William Lacy Clay via Wikimedia Commons

On Wednesday, they proposed a joint resolution for the House and Senate to craft an amendment saying that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude may be imposed as a punishment for a crime."

"America was founded on beautiful principles of equality and justice and horrific realities of slavery and white supremacy, and if we are ever going to fully deliver on the principles we have to directly confront the realities," said Merkley.

"The exception to the 13th Amendment's ban on slavery corrupted criminal justice into a tool of racist control of Black Americans and other people of color, and we see that legacy every day in police encounters, courtrooms, and prisons throughout our country," Merkley continued.

"Slavery is incompatible with justice. No slavery, no exceptions," Merkley said.

"Our Abolition Amendment seeks to finish the job that President Lincoln started by ending the punishment clause in the 13th Amendment to eliminate the dehumanizing and discriminatory forced labor of prisoners for profit that has been used to drive the over-incarceration of African Americans since the end of the Civil War," Clay added.

"No American should ever be subject to involuntary servitude, even if they are incarcerated," Clay said.

Merkley and Clay have been joined by 17 co-sponsors in introducing the legislation, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Laura Pitter, deputy director of the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, believes that it's a much-needed step to finally put an end to an ugly remnant of the black-code era.

"The punishment clause in the 13th amendment is a legacy of slavery that has allowed people incarcerated, disproportionately Black and brown, to be exploited for decades. It is long past time that Congress excise this language from the US Constitution which should begin to put an end the abusive practices derived from it," Pitter said.

For the new amendment to pass, it would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority of both the House and Senate or by a constitutional convention in which two-thirds of the state legislature vote to support the measure.

After that, three-quarters of the state conventions or legislatures must approve of the change.

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Original post:

A loophole in the Constitution makes a form of slavery legal and is nearly impossible to fix - GOOD Magazine

One of President-elect Joe Bidens promises is that the US will recommit itself to defending democracy in the world, together with other democratic allies. The EU, it appears, plans to firmly embrace this proposal, with a particular focus on presenting a united front to China.

Yet criticizing Beijings mass internment of Muslim Uighurs or the Kremlins attempts to manipulate elections draws accusations of hypocrisy at a time when many western governments struggle to convince their citizens that representative democracy remains the most trustworthy way to deliver good governance. If the transatlantic alliance is to hold its own in competition with illiberal authoritarian rivals, its members had better fix their democratic problems at home. But how?

Granted, in the context of a decade of global democratic recession, the US and Europe still look quite respectable on the surface. The US presidential election last month was in many ways a triumph of democracy: Americans saw historic voter turnout, a process that broadly worked and officials and judges who refused to be intimidated. In Europe, populists hoping to exploit the Covid-19 pandemic to stoke fear and polarization have instead seen voters support centrist governments and fact-based policies.

Yet it is also true that the widespread commitment to liberal democracy a foundational value of the west is under fire. The fact that, in some cases, the attacks come from opposition parties within the political system is no cause for complacency.

In Germany, for example, the hard-right Alternative for Germany has been plateauing in the polls at around 10 per cent, and its leadership is mired in shambolic infighting. But it continues to wage a quiet and disciplined campaign to undermine and delegitimize democratic institutions. In France, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally, remains a serious contender in the 2022 presidential election.

Elsewhere, in Hungary, Poland and Turkey, the authoritarians are in government and have used their positions to change the rules of governance in order to expand or perpetuate their hold on power. And in the US, the alliances anchor democracy, an outgoing president is claiming against all evidence and with the support of his partys leadership that a massive fraud has denied him an election victory.

This democratic backsliding undercuts the cohesion of Nato at a time when conflicts around the world are heating up. It undermines trust between allies, limits intelligence sharing and reduces the effectiveness of diplomacy, deterrence and operations.

As for the EU, which the incoming US administration (unlike its predecessor) sees as a key provider of diplomatic and economic leverage, its budget is being blocked by Budapest and Warsaw in a fight over the rule of law. All this allows adversaries to exploit the wests divisions and gives them a welcome pretext to dismiss critiques of their own failings.

The transatlantic alliance, born out of the crucible of the second world war and the Holocaust, always had liberal democracy at its heart. For decades, the American security umbrella enabled the conditions for stable representative governance to take root in Europe: functioning states, open market economies, inclusive social contracts. Yet when some Nato member states took authoritarian turns as happened in Greece, Portugal and Turkey others turned a blind eye. Our allies domestic affairs, it was held, were none of our business.

This has to change. The alliance is based on the principle that the security of one member is the security of all. The 2008 financial crisis and its long aftermath taught us a hard lesson: in an interdependent world, the vulnerability of one is the vulnerability of all. And security today begins with resilient domestic governance.

Americans, Canadians and Europeans must now help each other think through how their own democracies can be made fit for purpose in an age of great power competition and deepening global networks. State institutions must be able to do their job providing public goods effectively and free from political interference or corruption. Economies must be made fairer, to minimize the kind of structural inequity that fuels popular grievances. Social and racial injustices, as well as the toxic legacy of slavery and colonialism, must be tackled head-on.

In short, we must live up to our own principles again. Then, and only then, can we offer others advice about democracy.

See original here:

The West must live up to its own principles on democracy - Brookings Institution

Changes to the Immigration Rules that come into force on Tuesday will make rough sleeping grounds for removal for non-UK nationals. The Home Office has said the provision will be used sparingly, but campaigners have questioned whether this will be the case.

In a letter to Priti Patel, seen by The Independent, 141 charities, lawyers and local authorities that work with victims of exploitation or homeless people said the policy would have severe consequences for confirmed and potential survivors of modern slavery, increasing the number of cases where victims are wrongly arrested, detained and removed from the UK.

The signatories, who include Anti-Slavery International, the Salvation Army and Southwark Council, also warn that the new rules risk enabling exploitative employers to use the threat of homelessness to coerce workers, due to the threat that they will be detained and removed if they escape, and therefore playing into the hands of traffickers.

They say the fact that the changes are coming into force in the midst of a global pandemic is extremely concerning, seeing as many workers, including migrant workers, are being affected by large scale dismissals and unemployment linked to the economic downturn.

Many migrants face restrictions accessing state support under the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition, which puts them at great risk of destitution and homelessness since they have little to no safety net to assist them and their families during these difficult times, according to the signatories.

In short, the rules punish rough sleeping, force people into riskier and exploitative situations to avoid it and are likely to put victims in a revolving door of abuse and re-victimisation and at increased risk of detention and removal, the letter concludes.

We strongly urge that you revoke the rough sleeping rules to avoid aggravating the already precarious situation that many victims find themselves in and the potential negative impact on the current modern slavery strategy.

One of the signatories, Cllr Helen Dennis, cabinet member for social support and homelessness at Southwark Council where half of rough sleepers currently have NRPF due to their immigration status said it was inhumane and morally wrong to deport someone simply for falling on hard times and losing their home.

Most foreign nationals are here to work, quite legally, and we should be encouraging them to seek help and support, rather than pushing them away and increasing their vulnerability to modern slavery and other forms of exploitation," told The Independent.

NCA has launched a touring photographic exhibition which aims to portray the signs of slavery and exploitation. Entitled Invisible People, the exhibition will tour the country as part of the National Crime Agencys campaign to raise awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking.

National Crime Agency

Child trafficking for sexual exploitation Traffickers use grooming techniques to gain the trust of a child, family or community. The children are recruited, transported and then sold for sex, often returning to their homes immediately afterwards, only to be picked up by the same people again. This is happening here in the UK, to migrant and British-born children. Spot the signs of child trafficking: Often, children wont be sure which country, city or town theyre in. They may be orphaned or living apart from their family, in unregulated private foster care, or in substandard accommodation. They may possess unaccounted-for money or goods or repeatedly have new, unexplained injuries.

National Crime Agency

Some workers in the farming sector, harvesting grains or root vegetables, tending livestock or fruit picking, are being exploited every day in the UK. Victims of this crime in the agricultural sector are often Eastern European men and women, who were promised a job by traffickers, or they could be individuals on the fringes of society, homeless or destitute. Through threats, violence, coercion or forced drug and alcohol dependency, theyre enslaved, working for little or no money, living in squalid conditions having had their identity documents taken from them. Spot the signs of exploitative labour in agriculture: Agricultural slaves often have their wages paid into the same bank account, meaning an illegal gangmaster is likely collecting all their wages. Exploited agriculture workers often dont have suitable protective equipment, working instead in cheap sports clothing and trainers, and dont have a different change of clothes from day-to-day.

National Crime Agency

Polish or Slovakian men are brought to the UK with the offer of employment and, after arrival, gangmasters seize documents, opening multiple bank and utility accounts in their names but refuse to handover access to the accounts or bank cards. Hours are long and the work is gruelling and dangerous. Workers are abused and are controlled by threats of harm to their families at home. Spot the signs: Those exploited wear inappropriate clothes and often no safety gear despite working with dangerous and life-threatening equipment. They may often have untreated injuries and be refused medical attention, and will live and work in agricultural outhouses.

National Crime Agency

Labour-intensive sectors like construction, where temporary and irregular work are common, are high-risk sectors for forced labour. With new homes, offices and buildings being constructed or upgraded in great quantity, labour exploitation is the second most common type of modern slavery, after sexual exploitation. Spot the signs of exploitative labour in construction: Exploited workers are often not provided with protective clothing or equipment, and may show signs of abuse or carry old untreated injuries. Slave workers are also likely to work extremely long work hours for six or seven days a week without any leave. Photographer Rory Carnegie, said: I wanted this image to communicate that despite being forced to live, eat, wash and sleep where theyre working, in cramped and unhygienic conditions, that there is a human instinct to domesticate. I wanted to show how there is still hope and dignity in the most squalid and difficult of circumstances.

National Crime Agency

In the tough maritime industry young men, often Filipino or Indian, Eastern European or African, are promised a better life, but instead find themselves in a cycle of debt and exploitation. Unable to read, they are offered a job, given papers to sign and begin working on a trial-basis, only to be told they have failed and owe money, and have to work more to settle the debt. They may be forced to work for long hours in intense, hazardous and difficult conditions. Photographer Rory Carnegie, said: In the 80s, Chris Killip published a series of images called In Flagrante, and these images were at the forefront of my mind while composing this shot. I wanted to show the utter desperation of these men - how passed their limit they are. The broken floats and the entire decaying environment around him, I saw as a metaphor for his existence.

Rory Carnegie/National Crime Agency

Each year, women from across Eastern Europe and West Africa are lured to the UK by the dream of a better life. Whether by fake migration services or unscrupulous individuals who befriend and then betray them, women fall into a dark spiral of sexual exploitation and forced, unpaid prostitution, unable to escape. Photographer Rory Carnegie, said: What I really wanted for this image, was to depict how women are used as commodities, the complete control slavery has over them the helplessness of having to sit and wait for man after man, until no more men arrive. I wanted the image to show how lonely and eventually numbing that experience is, and for that ugliness to be contrasted against the bright blue of the wig a fancy dress item that we would usually associate with a fun event but here is used as a disguise, perhaps of her own identity to herself - to further emphasise how unjust the situation is.

NCA

The cannabis industry hides a dark secret in the house next door. Gangs bring young boys to the UK from countries like Vietnam and deliver them to a house where, once in, they wont be able to leave. Forced to tend cannabis plants that fill specially rigged houses, the boys are often locked in and forced to work, sleep and eat in one confined and dirty room. The chemicals used on the cannabis are poisonous, and often victims dont know where they are or how to get help if they do escape. The eyes, ears and compassion of the local community are essential. Spot the signs: Aside from the strong and prolonged smell of cannabis, have you noticed a house that looks unusual? Are the windows covered or usual entry points blocked? Buildings might be over-heated in very cold weather is the roof without frost, because the house is being kept warm to grow plants

National Crime Agency

Some workers in the farming sector, harvesting grains or root vegetables, tending livestock or fruit picking, are being exploited every day in the UK. Victims of this crime in the agricultural sector are often Eastern European men and women, who were promised a job by traffickers, or they could be individuals on the fringes of society, homeless or destitute. Through threats, violence, coercion or forced drug and alcohol dependency, theyre enslaved, working for little or no money, living in squalid conditions having had their identity documents taken from them. Spot the signs of exploitative labour in agriculture: Agricultural slaves often have their wages paid into the same bank account, meaning an illegal gangmaster is likely collecting all their wages. Exploited agriculture workers often dont have suitable protective equipment, working instead in cheap sports clothing and trainers, and dont have a different change of clothes from day-to-day

National Crime Agency

Spot the signs of forced prostitution: Victims of this type of crime might appear withdrawn or scared, avoid eye contact, and be untrusting. Poor English language skills could indicate exploitation because it suggests someone else must be arranging the work. A brothel is likely to be an average house on a normal looking street, but may have curtains which are usually closed and many different men coming and going frequently.

National Crime Agency

Spot the signs of exploitative labour in the maritime sector: Victims might appear withdrawn or frightened, often unable to answer questions directed at them or speak for themselves,. They might be afraid of authorities like police, immigration or the tax office, and may perceive themselves to be in debt to someone else. They may not have been given proper protective equipment so can suffer illness or injury. Photographer Rory Carnegie, said: Throughout the series of images, I wanted to juxtapose the harshness of the lives of slaves against bright primary colours colours we traditionally associate with happiness or a feeling of wellbeing to provoke a reaction. The image, as rich as it is, communicates how completely uncomfortable this person is. I wanted to show how his body is not his own, and how he has no right to avoid hardship, avoid the ice, or wear better shoes, he is utterly controlled.

Rory Carnegie/National Crime Agency

Photographer Rory Carnegie, said: This image communicates utter exhaustion and dejection. We can see how dire his situation is. He has no protective gear on, and we can see the extreme tiredness that leads him to a place of anxiety and distraction, where he doesnt care about whether hes operating machinery safely, or putting himself at risk.

National Crime Agency

The exhibition comprises a series of large, freestanding cubes displaying images capturing snapshots of life within different types of modern slavery - in agriculture, construction, maritime, cannabis farming and food processing, child trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced prostitution. Each image comes with written commentary describing what the viewer is seeing, and information about signs which may indicate someone is a victim.

National Crime Agency

Letcia Ishibashi, networks officer at Focus on Labour Exploitation, said it was shocking that the government had chosen to threaten homeless people with deportation at a time when so many workers are faced with job losses and wage cuts.

These new rules will likely pressure people facing destitution to accept any jobs, even exploitative ones, to avoid sleeping rough, she added.

"After the Windrush scandal, the government has promised a more compassionate and humane Home Office, and yet, it has now chosen to target people experiencing extreme hardship in the middle of a global pandemic and one of the worse economic downturns of last years. Its time the government delivers on its pledge and revokes these troubling policies.

A Home Office spokesperson said: The new rule provides a discretionary basis to cancel or refuse a persons leave where they are found to be rough sleeping. The new provision will be used sparingly and only where individuals refuse to engage with the range of support available and engage in persistent anti-social behaviour.

We remain committed to ending rough sleeping for good and have been working hard to ensure the most vulnerable in our society have access to safe accommodation. This year alone, we have provided over 700m in funding to support rough sleepers.

The safety and security of modern slavery victims is also a top priority for this government, and the Victim Care Contract provides support to potential and confirmed victims of modern slavery who consent to support, including accommodation.

Original post:

Home Office plans to deport foreign rough sleepers will 'play into hands of traffickers', Priti Patel warned - The Independent

Right now you can head over to theintercept.com/give and donate to support The Intercepts reporting. Your donations are what allow us to do the kind of independent, investigative accountability journalism the public relies on.

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With runoff elections in Georgia next month poised to determine which party will have control of the U.S. Senate, national media have turned their eyes south. To help you digest the coming avalanche of Georgia coverage, Ryan Grim sits down with Intercept contributor George Chidi to discuss his states raucous political history.

Ryan Grim: Welcome back to Deconstructed, this is Ryan Grim. Before we start the show today, I wanna ask you all a favor. Right now you can head over to theintercept.com/give and donate to support The Intercepts reporting thats theintercept.com/give. Your donations are what allow us to do the kind of independent, investigative, accountability journalism the public relies on. Later on the show, well talk about a story The Intercept broke that exposed the shady financial dealing of Georgia senator David Perdue, an investigation that is now shaking up a race that determines control of the Senate and the fate for better or for worse of the Biden administrations legislative agenda. This stuff is important, but its expensive to do.

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[Musical interlude.]

Sidney Powell: I think I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all until your vote is secure. [Applause.]

Lin Wood: If Kelly Loeffler wants your vote, if David Perdue wants your vote, theyve got to earn it. Theyve got to demand publicly: Brian Kemp, call a special session of the Georgia legislature. And if they do not do it, if Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue do not do it, they have not earned your vote. Dont you give it to them.

That was a recent rally in Georgia headlined by former trump lawyer Sidney Powell and Republican heavyweight attorney Lin Wood. But its not the only blow to the GOPs chances in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs.

CNN Newscaster: The latest attacks from Ossoff target the timing of Senator Perdues sales of more than $1 million worth of stock from Atlanta-based Cardlytics, a financial company where Perdue was once a board member. In emails obtained by The New York Times, Cardlytics CEO at the time, Scott Grimes, emailed the Senator on January 21: David, I know youre about to do a call with David Evans. As an FYI, I have not told him about the upcoming changes. Senator Perdue responded: I dont know about a call with David or the changes you mentioned. The Cardlytics CEO emailed back the next morning: David, sorry, that email was not meant for you. Wrong David. An email mix-up.

But the next day, on January 23, financial disclosure forms show Perdue sold between $1-$5 million in Cardlytics stock. Six weeks later, Cardlytics stock plummeted when the CEO announced he was stepping down, forecasting disappointing earnings. On March 18, with Cardlytics stock at $29 per share, financial disclosures show Perdue bought back between $100-$250,000 worth of Cardlytics stock. Cardlytics is trading this week at around $120 per share.

RG: On Thursday, I added new reporting to this scandal, namely that David Perdue had previously lied and claimed that an independent outside adviser made his trades, but its now clear he personally directed the sale after that email exchange with the CEO.

Im joined by Intercept correspondent George Chidi, whos based in Atlanta and has been closely tracking these races. Youre gonna be hearing a lot about Georgia the next two months, so today on the show we thought wed take a look back at that states tumultuous history and how it ended up in its present political mess.

George and I are gonna run through the history of the state from Oglethorpe to Talmadge, from Tom Watson to FDR, from Jimmy Carter to Stacey Abrams. But first, George, how is that Sidney Powell-Lin Wood rally playing in the news down there?

George Chidi: Oh, my goodness. So for the most part, people, the news, like the AJC, and the television stations, and whatnot theyre not really talking a whole lot about it. Where its coming through at all is in social media. And in that case, its really bifurcated. The progressive people in Georgia are seeing this and its mockery, and conservatives are seeing this and theyre torn, like theres a real internal argument happening in social media between, frankly, how crazy do we want to be? And whether or not we need to dismiss this stuff in order to move on and win the two competitive Senate races that are still on the table.

RG: What about David Perdues stock trading scandal? Hes been running this hilarious ad that refers to himself as totally exonerated, which is the least ringing endorsement you can give yourself in a campaign ad.

GC: Its very Trump-like.

RG: It is. It is.

Ad Voiceover: Perdue was cleared by the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee the SEC and DOJ. Perdue was totally exonerated. Jon Ossoff: you just cant believe him.

RG: But is it getting much play? Is this resonating or do people just not care? And if hes corrupt, hes our corrupt guy?

GC: Oh no they care, but not enough. They care, but its pecking at the edges. And Perdues ad, I might add, is running, but those are not the ads that people are paying any attention to. Because theyre not running a lot of those ads. Like, theyre out there in order to be out there.

Most of Perdues ad buy is about attacking Jon Ossoff as a Marxist radical and all the rest of it.

RG: Mhmm.

GC: Like, its rare to see a positive advertisement at all from Perdue, and completely none from Loffler. Loffler, as far as I can tell, hasnt run a single positive ad at all in the entire cycle. Im exaggerating, but only marginally like the vast majority of the advertising has been attacks on Warnock.

Ad Voiceover: This is America. But will it still be if the radical left controls the Senate? Raphael Warnock calls police thugs and gangsters; hosted a rally for communist dictator Fidel Castro.

GC: And the ad buys are $300 million, apparently, of ad buys have been placed for the cycle in Georgia. Its unreal. Its insane.

RG: And what about on the Democratic side? What are Warnock and Ossoff doing?

GC: So its a mix. Ossoff has taken the attack role. The Ossoff and Warnock campaigns are running as a joint campaign: theyre sharing staff, theyre sharing resources.

Ossoff has taken the attack role here, and hes pounding on the stock trades, but his ad-mix and his public communication mix is 50/50. Its a much more even split between attacking Perdue for being distant, and not holding town halls, and not talking to people, and being some sort of corrupt avatar of corporate America, and his own sort of take on trying to get rural hospitals going and talking about pandemic relief. Warnock is almost exclusively positive, talking, again, about pandemic relief and the soul of the nation stuff.

Its a fascinating problem, as Im looking at this. Both of them have to win. So theyre being very tightly connected. I think somebody got the memo and over on the Republican side, that only one of them has to survive this, so theyre taking a kind of a different tack, each of them.

RG: Right. I think what you said earlier about a lot of voters, you know, caring about Perdues corruption, but not quite caring enough, really kind of flows out of Georgia history, because its a place where political beliefs are held so intensely, and its kind of

GC: It also has a lot of political corruption in its history.

RG: Right.

GC: So, it is, even now, viewed as one of the more corrupt states in the United States. Let me tell you, as a close observer, for the last 10 or 15 years, its gotten better. Its actually better now than it had been, but it took a lot of hard work.

The people who care about the corruption issues, by and large, theyre the minority. The things that motivate voters here are the big-ticket abortion and gay rights for the religious right. Sort of a general anti-, I dont want to say anti-Black, but the sort of white racial resentment, driving some part of that, and this really old plantation class split, where folks whove got money are looking to protect it from the big, bad, evil government. Those are the things that motivate the right, at least, in Georgia.

RG: Right. Its been that way for hundreds of years, in some ways. And so tell us a little bit about James Oglethorpe and the founding of Georgia, and a lot of people might not know this, the really only Southern free state, at least for a while, you know, founded as a free state. How did that happen?

GC: Right. So like first things first, if you walk into the State House, at the top of the stairs, in the most prominent place in Georgia, you will see a giant bust of James Oglethorpe; and even now, hes a revered figure here. Georgia was founded as a state that would not have slavery in it.

RG: Right.

And whats amazing is that while it was founded as a free state and Oglethorpe was a genuine humanitarian, was opposed to slavery, he was this Englishman who had been a kind of prison-rights advocate, who saw the possibility of a colony in Georgia, as this classless society, he was going to bring over all these people who were in debtors prison, and turn them into artisans and farmers and create this kind of utopian society in Georgia.

But the reason that the Crown was OK with it at the time was not because they were humanitarians; they needed a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida, because down in Spanish, Florida, you had some Native American tribes, but you also had the Spaniards who, if enslaved people could get from South Carolina down to Florida, if they would convert to Catholicism, they had their freedom. And then they would form them into kind of guerrilla armies and send them back up into South Carolina, where they would inspire slave revolts.

And from the 1600s on, you had relentless slave revolts in the Caribbean, which people forget the Caribbean was part of Southern culture at the time. The Caribbean was really the kind of center of power and the thing that the English and the Spanish and the French were fighting over.

And the mainland colonies were kind of a side project. But as those slave revolts picked up in the Caribbean, a lot of these planters fled and moved over to South Carolina. And so they were tired of losing their human property through Georgia down into Florida. So they tried to create this whites-only, pro-slavery but free state.

But the problem was they couldnt find white people, because they wouldnt allow Catholics, because they figured the Catholics were going to be linked with Spain, or France, or Ireland, which was you know theyre all at war at this time. So they couldnt find enough people to work the land over there who were white and so they went and, like you said, reverted fairly quickly, 20 years or so, right, they legalized slavery.

And Oglethorpe is going back and forth, invading St. Augustine, invading Florida, the Spanish are invading back. And you dont really have todays Georgia take off until, what? After the American Revolution.

And whats fascinating is that Georgia was actually the place where the cotton gin was invented, is that right?

GC: I believe so.

RG: Which then really explodes slavery through throughout the South. But not throughout the whole state. Its not not like South Carolina where it was dominated. So which parts of Georgia were the ones where slavery was prominent, and where wasnt it?

GC: So its interesting, theres still a belt. You can start that belt in Eastern North Carolina. And that belt goes through the center, and just above the the Southern line of Georgia still primarily African American, because of the legacy of slavery. And thats important, if you want to understand the history of Georgia and sort of Southern politics, one of my pet peeves is how the Confederate revisionist romanticists like to claim all of the South as their own. Appalachian North Georgia Ringgold, Georgia; Dalton, Georgia when people were coming together, just before the Civil War to say, are we going to succeed or not? By and large, North Georgia told the plantation class from South Georgia to go jump in a creek. They werent having it. They didnt want to go.

And as so much of Georgia politics is about like there was a national convention a few weeks later, and they got them all drunk, and then they said yes. But even now, like, yes, the delegates were bribed, they got them drunk, they delayed some of them, and they stole it. They stole it! That was secession. They stole secession in Georgia.

RG: Right. Probably plenty of bribes to go along with it.

GC: A lot of folks either chose not to fight in the north of Georgia, I might add a lot of folks in the north of Georgia either chose not to fight or fought for the union.

RG: Right.

GC: Even now, theres a Union County, Georgia. So its interesting.

Atlanta, I mean, they burned Atlanta to the ground, they burned most of this stuff to the ground, you started to see a few African-American elected leaders.

RG: And so how did that play out, then, in Reconstruction?

GC: I mean, Reconstruction was horrible, dont get me wrong, like it was painful for everybody. Except Black people, for whom it was somewhat less painful. And that didnt last long.

Eventually, guys in white sheets started taking control back, town by town. Everything sort of went wrong. And, eventually, African Americans were effectively re-enslaved, to a point where people who were confronting that in government, were being shot in duels.

RG: And it starts, in a way, with 40 acres and a mule. You know, Field Order No. 15, so General Sherman, marches from Atlanta to the sea, burning everything on the way. And as hes marching, hundreds and then thousands of people free themselves, and walk off of plantations and are following him.

He, in order to try to figure out what to do with this roving band of former slaves, comes up with Field Order No. 15. But that was something that, as I understand it, was pushed for by local Black clergy, and activists and organizers, kind of with the enslaved community. He said, What do you want? And they said, Well, what we want is land. And so he divvies up 40 acres per family, plus, if they want a tired, old mule that the Union Army is no longer using, they can have one of those. And, you know thriving communities begin until Lincoln is assassinated and white supremacist Andrew Johnson comes in and essentially takes it all back.

Now, I understand something similar happened on Sea Island, right, where the local, Black population there was able to take over the land, but they formed militias and fought off attempts to retake that land. And I dont know about this day, but held it for decades or maybe more than 100 years.

GC: Fun fact, David Perdue lives on Sea Island.

RG: There you go. Yeah, he has like a multimillion-dollar house there, right?

GC: Yes, he does: 9000 square feet.

RG: And thats where Republicans well, the American Enterprise Institute, I believe, holds a kind of an annual lavish retreat where something like 30 to 60 private planes land every weekend when they hold that.

And so you were saying as a result of the terror campaign, theres kind of a re-enslavement that brings you, eventually, into the populist era. So youve got Tom Watson, who ends up later in his career, becoming this kind of proud white supremacist, but post-Reconstruction in the kind of 1880s and 1890s, Tom Watson leads this Populist Party, which is going to be a coalition of Black and white laborers. And it starts to make serious inroads, particularly throughout the South, and he has this famous quote in one of the speeches he gave: You are kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings. You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism which enslaves you both.

That is the race-class narrative that the kind of more sophisticated left is pushing now, which says that: Look, the elites are using race as a wedge to divide people who have common interests, to use race to divide the working class. So this is 150 years ago, this is Tom Watson pushing that. He makes some substantial progress, but is eventually kind of co-opted by William Jennings Bryan.

GC: Right.

RG: And so the Democratic Party kind of adopts the white element of that and sheds the Black element of it. Why do you think that that fell apart? And whats the legacy of that effort to create a multiracial populism in Georgia?

GC: I think part of that is to, one, its the same political dynamic to some degree that exists still today a fear amongst modestly educated white people that their labor would be displaced by Black people. Trying to overcome that is unusually difficult. Because there was a lot of Black labor around.

On top of that, there was this sort of long-term resentment that still persists in politics today, you could still see pieces of it, of the cost of educating African-American children. Newspaper editors, eight ways to Sunday, including Grady, would speak at length about the sacrifices that white people had made, since the end of the war, in order to educate Black children, that so much public spending was being devoted toward the education of Black children and, to some degree, they were arguing that this is a waste, because Black people are never going to be fully educated educable equal, its not going to work. Like, look at all this waste that were doing. But were doing it because we want to show our good Christian character and our commitment to this idea. But no, its not working, and we should abandon this, and Black people need to be in their place, because the alternative is this waste.

That idea this idea of wasting energy and resources on Black people that was extremely difficult to overcome for folks who were still struggling to dig out of the problems associated with Reconstruction and their loss of economic power.

RG: It reared its head in the pandemic too, right? Did you see some of that play out?

GC: A little bit.

RG: Yeah.

GC: Like, why are we spending even now, despite a pandemic, well, its half of the people who are dying are Black. Like they its unstated, but its there. And why should I be spending my money in order to create financial support for these people?

RG: So then you move into the Great Depression, and now that the Democratic Party is becoming this interesting kind of white, populist beast down south. So 1936 thats the first time that a majority of Black voters around the country voted for the Democratic Party, or the party of the Confederacy. And FDR wins something like 80-plus percent across Georgia huge New Dealers down there.

At the same time, they elect Richard Russell, who is a kind of a New Dealer, but a white supremacist, and Eugene Talmadge, who was hostile to the New Deal. And his argument, as I understand it, tracks with what you were saying earlier: he was worried that the New Deal, by raising wages and living standards for everyone, would undo the apartheid that Georgia had implemented. Yet you had this kind of two-tier system, where whites were making one wage and living in certain areas, Blacks were making different wages and living in different areas. Thats how he wanted it to stay. And if you improved everybodys lot, that put that whole project at risk. And these are people in the same party.

So yeah, who is Talmadge and whats his legacy?

GC: So Im gonna back up for a second. Start at the turn of the century: white conservatives in the South had fomented a race riot in Atlanta, through the newspapers, particularly Watsons, but others, saying that Black people have finally started to run amok, theyre raping and attacking our white women, and we need to do something.

The new Klan emerges. Stone Mountain starts getting carved. Stone Mountain is a monument to the Confederacy in Georgia that, I might add, is two miles from my house and is the largest monument to the Confederacy in the United States. Its still the most popular thing anybody visits in Georgia, because its a nice park. But theres a giant carving of Confederate leaders on the side of a mountain.

And successively, Democratic leaders governors, Senators, whatnot they oriented themselves toward this idea that white supremacy is the most important thing. Eugene Talmadge, I would suggest, is the apotheosis of this political trend. A populist, absolutely, like in the vein of Donald Trump, a chicken in every pot populist. Like, I want the people of Georgia to know that their government is doing what they want it to do. The people of Georgia, among other things, want them Blacks kept in place. [Sighs.] And he, along with Richard Russell, were sort of instrumental in redefining this sense of rugged individualism, a very sort of classic, what we would think of as conservative views: free markets and free ideas, you should be able to do well based on your own individual enterprise and the governments job is to make sure that it can do that for you, with you, as a partner.

The thing is he got elected because he was able to tap very deeply into the white supremacist, white resentment of the white working class of Georgia, who felt that their position was owed almost entirely to well, it was not that their position was owed to being superior to Black people, but if there was any question of equality, that thats enough. Like there are no other issues for a subset of Georgia voters the white Georgia voters, then: Am I better than the Black guy whos competing for the same job that Im competing with?

RG: Right. And after his landslide win in 1936, Roosevelt starts to think that he has the power, that he can maybe do something about this. And now he comes at these Southern Dixiecrats in the next midterm and just gets crushed.

GC: Yeah.

RG: Like they annihilate him.

GC: Like, I think Talmadge won two, three counties. Maybe?

RG: You mean lost two or three counties?

GC: He lost two or three counties. Like he won everywhere. Bearing in mind, youve got no Black people voting, but still.

Eugene Talmadge died in office. And there was a question about he was Governor-elect, he died, essentially in the lame duck period, and the state constitution didnt say who would become governor in the lame duck period. Would it be the lieutenant governor?

RG: The U.S. Constitution is silent on that, too.

GC: Absolutely. Well, we fixed it now. But there was some question of political philosophical difference between the Lieutenant Governor-elect Melvin E. Thompson, and Ellis Arnall, who is like the outgoing governor. Because the legislature didnt necessarily get along entirely with Eugene Talmadge. The legislature, they sorted this out by getting drunk, because thats how they do things in Georgia. [Laughs.]

Quite literally, they had quorum trouble in the legislature as they were trying to sort this out, because there were too many people passed out in the anterooms. This isnt like 1820. This is 1946! People are alive who saw this and remember it.

RG: [Laughs.] Right.

GC: This sort of backroom struggle for power, I think it informs to some degree, the sort of craziness that were looking at today in Georgia.

Newscaster: Senators Perdue and Loeffler issued a joint statement calling for the resignation of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over alleged failures in the election process

GC: because he is unwilling to just set aside the election and decertify it in order to assign delegates to Trump. Theres a history here of backroom, double dealing, whatever it takes to hold on to power. Because theres a fundamental skepticism of democracy baked in, because of all of the effort that had been made to ensure that African-American voters were never able to exercise political power again.

RG: Right. That this is how its done in Georgia. Its been done this way before and theyre just trying to do it again.

GC: I want to say today that weve unwound a lot of that. I really think we do. But the DNA of that attitude is still baked into the political culture of Georgia. Like weve overcome it because of massive demographic change, and a tremendous increase in education. But politics are hereditary. Like I still argue with Herman Talmadges grandson on Facebook, and Herman Talmadges grandson both remembers all of this stuff, and is an advocate for it. Like, its still there, like, and I think its important that we talk through this stuff, so that people who are new to Georgia, and new to politics around here, really get where all of this is coming from.

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A Political History of Georgia - The Intercept

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Sept. 22 that banned all federally funded institutions, including Marquette University from discussing topics related to racial inequality, gender inequality or anti-racism. Any institution that continues to discuss or teach these un-American topics in official programming will lose federal funding. In the interest of protecting federal funds coming in to allow the university to function and allow students to pay for a Marquette education, Marquette University will follow the protocols laid out in the order. This executive order has several implications across the university, as most of the work Marquette has done to be an ally in the fight for racial equality must now be censored or deleted. However, the true effects of this order expand beyond Marquette and cut into the core of American education, freedom of religion and democracy.

Education cannot work without conversation. Trumps claims show the importance of learning history, even when it is uncomfortable. Trump says that the idea that America could be, at its core, racially or sexually discriminative is grounded in misrepresentations of our countrys history and its role in the world.

American history has rarely been kind to women or people of color. Despite the country officially being established in 1776, women were not allowed to own property until 1848 (72 years later), not allowed to vote until 1920 (144 years later) and still experience gaps in wage equality. Native Americans were forced off their land and subjected to disease and genocide that killed 90% of the population. Those who survived were often forcibly separated from their families to attend boarding schools that stripped them off their identity and culture. Languages, stories and religions hundreds of years in the making were lost forever.

African Americans were brought to this country as slaves, and even after slavery was abolished spent years under oppressive Jim Crow laws. They had to fight for equality. The fight continues today, as Black people who pose no threat are three times as likely as white people to be fatally shot by a police officer. Saying that American history has always followed the inherent and equal dignity of every person as an individual is a lie.

Structural racism exists in this country and barring us from learning about it doesnt make it go away, it makes us more ignorant. Trump cites several acclaimed federal institutions, including the Smithsonian, that have been infected with the messages that teaching people about the reality of race inequality is contrary to the fundamental premises underpinning our Republic: that all individuals are created equal and should be allowed an equal opportunity under the law to pursue happiness and prosper based on individual merit. What hes missing is that the point of understanding racial inequality is understanding that the promises made by our Republic are not being realized and that our responsibility as members of this Republic is to work toward changing those inequalities in order to make America great.

Faith cannot work without justice. Because of the order, Catholic social teaching about racial inequality from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is no longer allowed to be taught at Marquette University.

Freedom of religion means the ability to practice any religion to its fullest extent. Banning part of the practice or education of a religion because it makes people feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex is unconstitutional. Seeing other people face injustices we dont as a Caucasian race is supposed to make us uncomfortable. Catholic Scripture makes many calls to action, two of them being 1 John 3:17-18: But if anyone has the worlds goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does Gods love abide in him? and Proverbs 29:7: A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

God Himself became human through Jesus Christ, not only to save us, but to understand us. Seeing the struggles of human existence must have made him feel anguish, discomfort and maybe even guilt, but He knew that the only way to understand someone is to learn their reality, no matter how uncomfortable it is. God would not want us, as white people, to stand by in the struggle for racial equality. He would want us to be like Himself and fully immerse ourselves into understanding the struggles of our brothers and sisters of color in order to be allies in the fight for justice, no matter how much psychological distress it brings.

Democracy cannot work without debate. Claiming that the discussion on race (is) designed to divide us and to prevent us from uniting as one people in pursuit of one common destiny for our great country, simply because the conversation makes those who benefit from structural racism uncomfortable misses the point of the conversation.

The only reason the race discussion has divided the country is because people who benefit from a system of oppression have a hard time grappling with that knowledge. Facing this reality would make anyone uncomfortable, so many choose to deny the existence of inequality. This reaction does nothing to stop the problem and creates a divide between people who want to see America become the nation of freedom and equality it was meant to be, and those who choose to tell themselves it already is. Without the ability to educate and convince the latter group that change and the promotion of equality is good, the divide will only grow larger.

Patriotism cannot exist by turning a blind eye to a nations flaws. Instead, we must love this country enough to want it to be better and truly live up to the promise of liberty and justice for all. We cannot get there by ignoring the injustice of racial inequality.

This story was written by Katie Robertson, a Marquette student who volunteered to write this letter. She is not a staff member for the Wire. She can be reached at katherine.robertson@marquette.edu.

To submit a letter to the editor, email Executive Opinions Editor Alex Garner at alexandra.garner@marquette.edu and copy Managing Editor of the Marquette Tribune Annie Mattea and Executive Director Natallie St. Onge on those emails. They can be reached at anne.mattea@marquette.edu and natallie.stonge@marquette.edu.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: President Trump's executive order cuts into the core of American education - Marquette Wire

KARACHI: I wash cars and motorcycles to earn a living. I study during the day and do this work from afternoon to evening. I want to be a doctor one day but my father died and I have to take care of my mother and younger siblings. It is not enough and I wish I could do better but this is the best that I can do, 14-year-old Yousuf Abdul Sattar told Dawn.

The young boy was the one among a large number of people asking the government to spare a thought for them during the workers rally organised jointly by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) on Sunday. Carrying red flags and red banners, they filled up the roads from Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club.

Fixing of minimum wage at Rs30,000/month urged

The rally included both formal and informal workers, who marched in a coordinated and disciplined manner, while observing all standard operating procedures (SOPs), on foot, on motorcycles, atop trucks and in buses while raising their demands and chanting slogans.

They complained about inflation and their meagre earnings, some cried for having lost their livelihoods altogether.

Empty metal platters were being beaten with ladles to remind the authorities of the empty stomachs of workers who even after a days hard work go to bed hungry at night. They complained about the risings cost of flour, ghee, sugar, rice, vegetables and inflated utility bills.

Here even shrouds have also become expensive. Dying costs money, living costs money, they chanted. Go Niazi go, they chanted. And when they were not saying anything they had motivational songs playing on loudspeakers.

Later, the very loudspeakers carried afar their woes regarding the anti-labour and anti-worker policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which they called out as completely unacceptable and akin to slavery. They also condemned bids by the federal government for the unconstitutional occupation of Sindhs islands.

Amir Baksh of the Ship-breaking Workers Union in Gadani said that they were still working in miserable conditions in the ship-breaking yards at Gadani.

Despite so much written and shown about it, we the workers of Gadani are still working without any safety measures, without any health facilities, without a proper place to live and without clean water or proper food, he said.

Other speakers also said that the government had dented the country, economically, socially and politically. They said that 220 million people here were compelled to live like animals as as the government safeguarded interests of big investors and profiteers.

Production processes are decreasing and the purchasing power of the people is reducing but the rulers are enjoying the bliss of ignorance. They have pushed Pakistanis into slavery of the IMF as the institutions employees rule over Pakistan like viceroys. Real inflation has jumped to 14 per cent and about 17.5 million people are jobless. Thanks to the worst-ever economic policies of this government, the countrys loans have colossally increased. Not only present Pakistanis but their coming generations have also been indebted, said Nasir Mansoor of the NTUF.

Important and essential entities are being privatised and thousands of workers are being rendered jobless. The worst example of this is the sacking of over 4,500 workers of Pakistan Steel Mills. The same is also being done in PIA and other organisations. And the media is also being made weaker so that sufferings of the masses due to economic collapse go unreported, he added.

It was said that the workers felt like slaves in factories and workplaces where they were not even paid the minimum wage of Rs17,500 per month.

And due to rupee devaluation the real wages of Pakistani labourers have dropped by 50 per cent. Informal labour has increased as factory owners do not get their workers registered with the institutions of social security and pension. They are compelled to work for many hours a week without overtime, they are deprived of their right to make labour unions and elect their collective bargaining agents (CBAs). And the police and Rangers back the illegal steps taken against them and harass them. Retired military officers employed in factories have brought in a virtual industrial martial law at factories, where discrimination against women workers is widespread and sexual harassment is also common, Mr Mansoor added.

The speakers also pointed towards the withdrawal of state subsidies on the directives of international lending institutions and the increased rates of daily use items, edibles, utilities by 200pc.

Today, the common man cannot feed his family two square meals as the rate of flour has risen from Rs35 to Rs75 per kilogram. This shows the height of the anti-people policies of the government. More than 35 per cent of the total population of Pakistan is living below the poverty line, said Asad Butt of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The government and state have failed to deal with the situation created by the [Covid-19] pandemic. Instead of giving relief to poor people, more and more perks are being offered to the elite class. The worst affected of this economic crisis is the non-organised sector and a large number of home-based workers, mostly women have become jobless. The government has left these people alone to face the virus. When it was time to provide more healthcare facilities, the government increased the prices of medicines, especially the lifesaving ones, by more than 200 per cent, said Zehra Khan of the HBWWF.

Sadly, besides the government, the opposition has also failed to come up with a solid strategy for the rights of workers. In order to steer the country clear from the ongoing crisis, it is necessary to shun the disastrous policies of the IMF. The constitutional rights of the provinces should be respected and their ownership on their resources and islands should be accepted, said Aqib Hussain of the Young Naujwan Committee.

Other participants of the rally demanded that the minimum wages of workers be fixed at Rs30,000 per month.

They called for tabling agreements with the IMF in the parliament for a debate. They demanded distribution of land among peasants, or haris, so that the national economy was given a boost.

They said bids to snatch the constitutional rights of provinces were tantamount to attacking the foundations of the federation of Pakistan.

Saira Feroze of the HBWWF, Owais Jatoi of the Garment Workers Union, Saeeda Khatoon of the Baldia Association, Bashir Mahmoodani of the Ship-breaking Workers Union, Rahmat Ali of the Youth Committee, Rehman Baloch of the Shehri Awami Mahaz, Mahbood Khan of the Shipyard Action Committee, Tauseef Ahmed of Balochistan NTUF, Sajjad Zahir of Anjuman-i-Taraqqi-pasand Musanifeen, Fahim Siddiqui of the Karachi Union of Journalists, rights activist Qazi Khizar and rights leader Gul Hassan Kalmati also participated in the rally.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2020

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Workers rally slams govts policies, seeks end to protection of major investors - DAWN.com

This summer, tragedy and subsequentactivism created a wave of consumer support forBlack-owned businesses.

Dr.Michael Carter, Sr.has been working to bring about this kind of support for a long time. In 1998, the theologianfounded Black Wall Street USA, a nonprofit that seeks to establish urbaneconomic districts and commercial centerswhere at least 50 percent of businesses are owned by Black people.BWSUSA to date has established 48 such districts for in the U.S. and abroad.

Carter was inspired to launch his organization by an entrepreneur named Ottawa "O.W." Gurley. In the early 1900s, Gurley played a pivotal role in transforming Tulsa's Greenwood District into the first "Black Wall Street" by launching and running many of Greenwood's businesses, offering loans to open new businesses, and even turning over ownership of some of his established businesses to other community members.

It was important to Gurley to help other Black people achieve economic independence, says Carter. "The importance of what he did was to sustain and solidify the area for the long haul for Black entrepreneurs. He was a visionaryin that regard."

A Serial Entrepreneur

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, to freed slaves in 1868, Gurley was a man of many hats. Before landing in Tulsa, he was a minister, a landowner in the deep south, an educator, a U.S. Post Office employee,a member of President Grover Cleveland's administration, and, of course, an entrepreneur.

In 1905, after oil had been discovered in Red Fork--a small town south of Tulsa--Gurley and his childhood sweetheart packed up their homestead and general store in nearby Perry, Oklahoma, where they'd lived since 1893. Theyjoined the thousands of Americans racing to soak up the opportunities created by the oil boom--which would later givebirth to thousands of family businesses and a growing middle class in the region.

According to Randy Krehbiel, a Tulsa Worldwriter and authorwho created the newspaper'sTulsa Race Massacre archive, it's a commonly held belief (though impossible to confirm with incomplete property records) that Gurley bought roughly 40 acres on the northeast side of the city. Krehbiel says Gurleyresolved to sell those plots solely to Black settlers. His first real estate venture was a boarding house to support the growing number of Black people migrating from the South. The census of 1920 reported 8,878 African Americans living in Tulsa. By 1921, that number was almost 11,000.

The boarding house eventually became the Gurley Hotel, and Gurley launched new businesses to support it--including a textile, tapestry, and furniture business that drew international interest. This was a pattern Gurley would repeat--when he saw a need, he tended to fill it, becoming a supplier for other businesses in the area, and starting new businesses to support his ventures. "Out of the 600 businesses in Tulsa, Gurley owned at least 100as a result of demand and need," Carter says.

Whatever the community needed, Carter says, they could buy right there on their own blocks. And because of segregation, many Black folks worked on the White side of town, then came back and spent their money in Greenwood, strengthening the district's economy: "You had the wealthy, middle class, the poor all living on the same block, and so many of those individuals who started out in the working class, because they lived there, would eventually go on to own their own business," Carter says. "That's a result of Gurley's contributions."

In other parts of the country, researchers note, some Black peoplewere still living under slavery conditions by another name: peonage. That refers to the situation in which many freed slaves found themselves trapped in a cycle of labor without pay to work off debts.

The working opportunities Gurley and others like him afforded people of color in Tulsa were highly unusual, says Krehbiel, adding that "in a place like Greenwood, you could go out and make a living wage. If you didn't like who you worked for, you could go down the street and work for someone else--[there] was a certain amount of freedom that other places didn't have."

For 15 years, Gurley helped build a town where Black families could afford to own private planes and play grand pianos in their living rooms. Gurley envisioned economic districts like Greenwood throughout Oklahoma in historically Black townships. It wasn't just about Tulsa, Carter says, though that city was in a unique position to receive an injection of funding and investment as a newer settlement.

The Burning of Greenwood

Historians believe Gurley would have continued his mission if the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 had not stripped him of almost everything he owned. Accounts differ, but the Tulsa Race Riot Report by the Oklahoma Commission says that Gurley was worth$157,783--the modern day equivalent of almost $2.3 million--when a White mob burned his businesses and the rest of Greenwood to the ground.

"My best guess is he was one of those people who was fairly well off on May 31. And when he woke up on June 1, he was broke," Krehbiel says.

The survivors of the riot attempted to claim insurance money, and according to Gurley's testimony at those legal proceedings, White rioters appeared at his hotel that morning, all wearing khaki suits: "They saw me standing there and they said, 'You better get out of that hotel because we are going to burn all of this God damn stuff, better get all your guests out."

The mob banged on the lower doors of the hotel's pool hall and restaurant, and people began to flee, leaving their possessions behind.

"There was a deal of shooting going on from the grain elevator or the mill, somebody was over there with a machine gun and shooting down Greenwood Avenue," Gurley said. "The people got on the stairway going down to the street and they stampeded."

The community tried to defend their homes and businesses, survivor W.D. Williams said, until "airplanes came dropping bombs." Then the community burned, including hotels, a school and even brick homes with people most likely still inside, according to Reconstructing the Dreamland by Alfred L. Brophy. The district was mostly rubble when the riot was over. In the end, over 300 people died--and, according to some, more were buried in mass graves. Brophy says that, Gurley left Tulsa and resettled in California. There is no record of him engaging in any major businesses after that day, and despite revival efforts, the Greenwood District hasn't quite returned to its former heights.

But Gurley's legacy has long outlasted his fortune. On the Black Wall Street USA website, Gurley's biography averages 300,000 unique hits a day, Carter says: "What Gurley did was for the long term--for the generations who never would have met him," Carter says, calling Gurley's work a blueprint for future generations: " He laid the groundwork for our generation to pick it up and run with it."

Originally posted here:

Meet the Entrepreneur Who Created the First 'Black Wall Street' - Inc.