OPINION: White Supremacy can be overthrown in America

By Ivory Phillips

JA Contributing Editor

White Supremacy, America’s oldest and most central problem, can be overthrown. That has been the case for some years and is becoming even more the case today.

This week in Gloucester County, Virginia, 363 years ago (1663), there was a conspiracy planned by indentured servants and enslaved people, which had it been successful, would have dealt a serious blow to the slavery that flowed from and helped strengthen White Supremacy. 

The 1663 conspiracy included African, Native American, Irish, and English persons who were being held as slaves or indentured servants. A group of these individuals had planned to meet in the nearby woods, arm themselves, and proceed to attack local plantations, gaining more arms and supporters, as they sought their freedom from their harsh treatments as slaves and indentured servants. It could have set a pattern for enslaved people gaining freedom.

We point to that conspiracy as we discuss the overthrow of White Supremacy for several reasons. One is that, although some of the conspirators were Europeans, its success could have nullified the early, iron-clad development of White Supremacy by the upper-class European Americans. A second is that the conspiracy clearly suggested a coalition of those who are victims of White Supremacy can, as a majority carry the day, even if they are not the ones in political control. Third, it shows such actions have a long history, running through Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, Charles Deslondes, and others. It is on the second point that we dare to assert that White Supremacy in America can be overthrown. 

At the time the writer was in graduate school, there was a great deal of talk about and high hopes of America’s oppressed minorities coalescing to overthrow White Supremacy and the oppression which it produced. Those dreamers pointed to the number of students from Africa and the Middle East who understood the colonialism that ruled their home countries as well as the treatment which they experienced in America as a consequence of their race. They pointed to the number of Native American students (especially the rising American Indian Movement) whose ancestors had been robbed of their land as well as they themselves having to choose between lives of poverty on reservations or sure discrimination in the cities. They pointed to the number of Hispanic students who, along with their families, daily experienced oppression. They pointed to the number of African American students who, even after slavery, experienced Jim Crow and other forms of oppression all over America. They pointed to the number of Asian, Arabic, and Pacific Island students who were discriminated against. The idea was that these students, joined by their communities, could rise up, leading to changes in terms of who ran the government and who received what benefits and services from the same. They were certainly on the right track. 

The biggest problem, however, was that, like the power-brokers in Gloucester County, Virginia, in 1663, White Supremacists in the areas affected began making distinctions in how they treated the various non-white groups, thereby dissuading them from coalescing as budding revolutionaries. In some communities, Asians and Arabs became what could be called, “honorary White people,” meaning they were accorded privileges beyond those of African Americans. In some instances, students from Africa were perceived of and treated differently from African Americans. Systematically, the potential allies were chipped away. The teaching of fallacious history and the spread of racial stereotypes also have gone a long way in keeping African Americans separate and apart from not just European Americans, but other ethnic groups.

If these things have happened in the past to thwart alliances that could have overthrown White Supremacy, what is different now that can produce a different outcome, one might ask. For one thing, there have been great leaps in the uncovering and spread of more genuine racial oppression history here and around the globe. Second, there have been gigantic advances in transportation, communication, and technology, enlightening and bringing people together. These things have helped create a new day. (The United Nations has played a key role in both efforts.) 

Simultaneously, the harsh and aggressive pursuit of the “make America great again” agenda has helped expose the fact that not just African Americans, but other non-European Americans, are at risk of losing their human rights and are falling more and more under clear racial oppression. As these out-groups come to see these things, they could easily become realists and join in the struggle to overthrow White Supremacy and White minority rule.

Despite this optimistic view, however, we realize that these things will not come to pass automatically. Bringing them to fruition will require massive, consistent, and comprehensive publicity and organizing. It will also require overcoming the biases that may have grown-up between the separate ethnic groups. A great deal has to be done. It is not a task for mere dreamers, but for those who are willing to work and to struggle in an effort that is winnable and that has patterns to guide them.

The major point in this writing is that White Supremacy CAN be overthrown. Furthermore, the time for such seems more “right” than ever before. The challenge is for astute and courageous leaders to emerge and help the people to “seize the moment.”