'Prom Night in Mississippi' Reveals Racial Divides

The complexities of race based relations in American will only be understood when the full scope of a society that built its wealth and power on the backs of the enslaved descendants of Africa is explored.

American society allowed itself to flourish for centuries, mindless of the liberty it deprived Black people in America, as it sought to assure its continuation, teaching all those within the society, Black and White, the twisted psychology that Black people were inferior and, upon the end of slavery, the need to suppress and oppress Black America, to make sure it never rose to dominate White society.

This, in turn, caused internalized anger and resentment within Black Americans, a natural response to a society that sought to strangle the lifeforce from its Black, written into law as an afterthought, citizens.

The evolution of America, forever evolving while it grapples with its ugly legacy and heritage, is not complete. 

My comments do not address the abolitionists, who obviously held different views than those I have addressed with my comments. However, the abolition movement was not a movement in existence as long as slavery existed.

The Civil War and those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for their service, consisted of two sides, with one side, the Confederate States of America, fighting as fiercely for the institution of slavery as the North fought against it.

After the Civil War began all of the shameful lists of unjust laws and practices of which we are all well aware. If anyone is unaware, please visit my page here at NowPublic where I have articulated some of the particulars of these actions.

I do not dismiss the so called lower classes and their misuse as they have been taken advantage of by industry, in the past and now.

My statement addressed the unpaid enslaved labor force that toiled for several centuries, with each layer of society benefiting monetarily from the goods and services provided and produced by the enslaved.

As one example of wealth created by the enslaved, a brief glimpse and snapshot in the production of cotton, given the time frame highlighted, with the creation of the cotton gin, created in 1793, patented in 1797.

After the creation of the cotton gin, cotton, which had previously been considered a time consuming, non profitable crop, resulted the importation of approximately 80,000 Africans, to hurriedly get Africans into the country before the year 1808 when importation of Africans was to end, as written into the U.S. Constitution.

From Archives.gov:

The Effects of the Cotton Gin

After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Demand was fueled by other inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the steamboat to transport it. By midcentury America was growing three-quarters of the world's supply of cotton, most of it shipped to England or New England where it was manufactured into cloth. During this time tobacco fell in value, rice exports at best stayed steady, and sugar began to thrive, but only in Louisiana. At midcentury the South provided three-fifths of America's exports -- most of it in cotton.

However, like many inventors, Whitney (who died in 1825) could not have foreseen the ways in which his invention would change society for the worse. The most significant of these was the growth of slavery. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave labor. In 1790 there were six slave states; in 1860 there were 15. From 1790 until Congress banned the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808, Southerners imported 80,000 Africans. By 1860 approximately one in three Southerners was a slave.

Because of the cotton gin, slaves now labored on ever-larger plantations where work was more regimented and relentless. As large plantations spread into the Southwest, the price of slaves and land inhibited the growth of cities and industries. In the 1850s seven-eighths of all immigrants settled in the North, where they found 72% of the nation's manufacturing capacity. The growth of the "peculiar institution" was affecting many aspects of Southern life.

People are conditioned to feel good or about themselves based to a large extent on what they see in the mirror. I think racism is a misnomer, it's more about being around people who reflect something which makes you feel good about yourself and aren't threatening.

The reality is though that the Black population of the US is 13,4% of the total population and the White population is 74%, demographically it is impossible that the White build their wealth on the back of the Black population, if it was the other way around, yes then your argument would stand. However it is not. Even Obama was elected with a majority vote from the White population making the claim as you said "the need to suppress and oppress Black America, to make sure it never rose to dominate White society." not accurate. 

Sounds like US abolitionists don't count in your book, nor the Civil War, where thousands of whites died to free the slaves.

What you don't take into account is the way all lower class citizens have been taken advantage of by the industries, etc., even now, and it doesn't matter what race they are.

Karen, I agree with you and support what you're saying 100%.  It is wasted effort to try and explain something to someone/anyone who isn't willing to listen or learn.  Cheers.

I haven't heard of this film, but it sounds really good - to think that the incident took place in 2008 is awful though - shameful really.

Unreal!

It is very difficult to understand US racial mentality as an outsider. The hate and racism seems to be deeply embedded and mutual. Not logical either, since the two have been so deeply mixed by now that DNA shows strains of both in many.