Racism is quite simply the simple-minded idea that some people are more virtuous, more intelligent, more inclined to achieve greatness, more civilized, and thus more entitled to roles of leadership and all the other benefits of society. These are very old ideas, probably dating back to the early efforts at civilization such as the Incas and Babylonians. In one guise or another, the struggle between racism, which is properly attributed to groups within systems instead of people, and the ideas of equality have very few times before leaned so far towards justice. I'll take a look at how racism played out in earlier days as opposed to the Now, which you'll see is quite different.

I mentioned the charge of racism as being applicable to groups, and this is useful for helping us see the institutional racism that has developed, but it was not always so. Remember there was a time when whites in the south had no need of Jim Crow laws. Northern segregation likewise was not necessary until blacks began moving north seeking factory work. In short, as the society's individuals began turning against the idea of racism, there had to be more institutional means of controlling blacks. Lynchings for instance were tacitly condoned by the federal government in the early 20th century, when our nation averaged some 100 lynchings a year of black men in the south. This form of control by fear though was drawing way too much attention, so the feds stepped in and made some arrests of prominent white men. With the Depression on in the 1930's, the incidence of lynchings fell to the single digits. With fear being slowly removed from the picture, there had to be other ways of controlling the black population.

In the north before 1920 or so and in the south much later, blacks were living within white neighborhoods which mostly consisted of working class folks, but it was not uncommon for wealthy people to be living on the same streets. That was ok for most whites, because the blacks were controlled by fear, as we already mentioned, and in the south by Jim Crow and formal segregation. This was special seats for black bus-riders, special water fountains, benches, and a whole host of other duplicated services for the effect of making white folks feel safe. Blacks however did not feel safe and became very restless. The summer of 1919 would prove to be a huge turning point and excellent illustration of what was passing and what was to come.

First was the Elaine race riot

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