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"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down

by kevmo 9y ago

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." -Lyndon Johnson.

Spooky23 9y ago
That's a spot-on quote that captures one of the fundamental tensions of US History. Johnson is a enigmatic figure, as he grew up experiencing this, and did great things to bring justice to people, yet had his own personal and policy failings that stand in jarring contrast. Much of the institutional racial and policy oddities in this country stem from this form of control, which was used to make and keep slavery an institution and keep the lower classes in check. One of the rallying cries of the draft riots (that is uncomfortably close to the modern Trump-ist white nationalist rallying cry) is that slaves were valued more ($1,000 for a slave) than the Irish ($300 to avoid war service) and were on the rise, and that rise would drag down wages when freed slaves flooded New York labor markets.
- gspetr 9y ago
  This is not an apples to apples comparison. The slaves were already in the US. Illegal immigrants are not. I don't see much arguments from the right that it's the blacks and not illegal immigrants who are driving down wages, given the fact that black unemployment has gone WAAAAY up since the 50s. Black teenagers had a better employment rate than white teenagers back in the day.
  - Spooky23 9y ago
    Sorry, but you’re dead wrong on this. The US and its predecessor colonies imported slaves by the shipload well into the 19th century. You can literally go back to the original Virginia colony, where the landowners didn’t like the high costs and turnover (due to malaria and AWOL) of indentured servants from England. So they started importing African slaves, who didn’t need to be paid, didn’t have a term contract, and often were resistant to malaria. They started having problems with slaves escaping and joining up with frontier communities of former or escaped indentured servants. That's where the racial supremacy stuff started -- to keep people at odds and under control. The illegal immigrant issue isn't the same, but isn't totally different either. There's a demand for cheap labor without normal labor protections, and demand for life outside of third world countries.
    - gspetr 9y ago
      > African slaves, who didn’t need to be paid, didn’t have a term contract, and often were resistant to malaria. You still needed to pay someone to guard them and feed them. According to Larry Elder only 5% of whites in the US today can trace their lineage to slave owners. Majority of whites migrated into the country after the slavery. And even with regards to whites owning slaves, most only owned 1 or 2 because they were expensive, plantation owners were the ones who owned majority of slaves.

by kevmo 9y ago

Spooky23 9y ago

That's a spot-on quote that captures one of the fundamental tensions of US History. Johnson is a enigmatic figure, as he grew up experiencing this, and did great things to bring justice to people, yet had his own personal and policy failings that stand in jarring contrast. Much of the institutional racial and policy oddities in this country stem from this form of control, which was used to make and keep slavery an institution and keep the lower classes in check. One of the rallying cries of the draft riots (that is uncomfortably close to the modern Trump-ist white nationalist rallying cry) is that slaves were valued more ($1,000 for a slave) than the Irish ($300 to avoid war service) and were on the rise, and that rise would drag down wages when freed slaves flooded New York labor markets.

gspetr 9y ago
This is not an apples to apples comparison. The slaves were already in the US. Illegal immigrants are not. I don't see much arguments from the right that it's the blacks and not illegal immigrants who are driving down wages, given the fact that black unemployment has gone WAAAAY up since the 50s. Black teenagers had a better employment rate than white teenagers back in the day.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  Sorry, but you’re dead wrong on this. The US and its predecessor colonies imported slaves by the shipload well into the 19th century. You can literally go back to the original Virginia colony, where the landowners didn’t like the high costs and turnover (due to malaria and AWOL) of indentured servants from England. So they started importing African slaves, who didn’t need to be paid, didn’t have a term contract, and often were resistant to malaria. They started having problems with slaves escaping and joining up with frontier communities of former or escaped indentured servants. That's where the racial supremacy stuff started -- to keep people at odds and under control. The illegal immigrant issue isn't the same, but isn't totally different either. There's a demand for cheap labor without normal labor protections, and demand for life outside of third world countries.
  - gspetr 9y ago
    > African slaves, who didn’t need to be paid, didn’t have a term contract, and often were resistant to malaria. You still needed to pay someone to guard them and feed them. According to Larry Elder only 5% of whites in the US today can trace their lineage to slave owners. Majority of whites migrated into the country after the slavery. And even with regards to whites owning slaves, most only owned 1 or 2 because they were expensive, plantation owners were the ones who owned majority of slaves.