The broken economic promises of the first reconstruction

158 years ago, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Like so many strategies, the devil was in the details of implementation and the implementation was called reconstrustruction. Promises like political equality and economic reparations (most famously former slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule) turned out to be lies.

“Southern whites played the most obvious role in this overthrow [of reconstruction], but they would never have succeeded without the consent of the Northern Democrats, who had never been in favor of an equitable Reconstruction, much less a bourgeois one.” -Time Magazine

White backlash led to a 100 year period of economic wilderness for people of color, especially formerly enslaved Black people, until the civil rights movement began in the late 1950s. I mean, even today we can see the systemic barriers as Kamala Harris is the first black woman ever nominated to a presidential ticket for a major polictical party.

Dr. Martin Luther King + Whitney Young

Dr. King realized toward the end of his life that the struggle for economic integration required universal programs and laws like an Economic Bill of Rights. Up until that point, Dr King’s tangible goals for direct action had been standing with workers to integrate existing economic structures: unions, local governments, and for-profit organizations.

At the same time, Whitney Young was the chief economic partner to the civil rights movement and the Executive Director of the National Urban League.

“You don’t get black power by chanting it. You get it by doing what the other groups have done. The Irish kept quiet. They didn’t shout “Irish Power”, “Jew Power”, [or] “Italian Power”. They kept their mouths shut and took over the police department of New York City, and the mayorship of Boston.” -Soundbite from film “The Powerbroker”

Quotes like the one above demonstrate that Young’s ideology was similar to Booker T. Washington which has earned him quite a bit of shade in the modern era.

Do Black Lives Matter in the American Economy Today?

We provided lived experience and empirical evidence in our last newsletter that Black lives still do not matter at work and in the American economy. Princeton Professor, Dr. Eddie Glaude Junior calls this persistent under valuing of black people and black economic activity the value gap.

Modern Movement to Close the Value Gap

Note that many of the economic ideals expressed throughout this article reflect men’s economic evidence and opinions. The lack of gender and racial progress in both the practice of economics (private enterprise) and in economic scholarship (academia) is astounding. All institutions are still fully dominated by mostly cis-gendered straight white male gate keepers. Dr. William Spriggs, Professor of Economics at Howard University, argues in the linked article that essentially the very foundation of economic theory is inherently flawed (possibly racist). The domination and maintenance of solely white male economic credibility leaves us with a chasm of research and empirical evidence that could guide the creation of better economic policies. At Perspectives Media, we understand that structural and systemic racism play the biggest part in maintaining this power dynamic and we must see progress to achieve the better economic future we seek.

In Part 2 of this newsletter next week, we will dive into the present day economic demands of the coalition movement led by Black Lives Matter activists and organizers. We will examine the economic side of ideas like economic reparations, abolishing the police, and mutual aid. And we will begin to try to understand both the tactics for dismantling and the tactics for improving our current economic systems.

See you next week!