Legacy of Fairness and Equality in Building Democratic Society 

The price for freedom, justice, liberation, advocacy of human rights in an effort to raise a peaceful society over the last 401 years of black people sharpening America’s democracy.

Part II

Researched by Marquise D.B. with a compilation of  Africa dates Honore Gbedze

1936  – Ethiopia King Haile Selassie  Appeal to the league of Nations and warned the European and the world on possible 2 second world when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed in violation of international treaties in Ethiopia by Italy force .

1939- 1945  US Enters WW2: Over 1 Million Blacks Drafted and Still Fighting For ..?  Black Vet Came home to no GI Bills, No Bank Loans , No VA Housing Privileges . 99% went to White to Soldiers Starting White flight . –  Still no wealth or housing .

1954 Brown V Board of Education : 89  Years later segregation ( in Public Schools ) Is finally Unconstitutional .

1956 Rosa Parks Is Arrested – Montgomery Bus Boycott . J. Edgar Hoover Creates the Secret Counterintelligence Program ” Cointelpro “  to maintain the white U.S. Status quo and kill / Silence/Destroy Any and all Protests Movements and “Black Messiahs ” 

1957 Africa Independence : Continent Countries  started to receive independence from the European oppressor Colonizer Countries;  Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to achieve independence from British colonial rule led by Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah on 6 March 1957 Inspired other countries to seek liberation and 17 African countries gained independence in 1960 (Guinea Republic , Cameroon , Senegal ,Togo ,Mali, Madagascar, Congo RDC, Somalia, Benin , Niger , Burkina Faso , Côte D’Ivoire ,Chad ,Central Africa Republic , Congo Republic ,Gabon ,Nigeria Federal Republic ,Mauritania follow the by many more countries ) 

1962 Nelson Mandela : South Africa apartheid regime : Mandela was arrested and imprisoned subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state following the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. 

1963 President John F.Kennedy and civil right activist Medgar Evers Assassinated .

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Has a  “DREAM” Just one month before 4 young Black Girls are bombed and killed while getting dressed at the 16th Street Baptist Church In Birmingham . Alabama . 2 of the 5 White Men involved were convicted 38 years later in 2001 .

1964 Fannie Lou Hamer : Gives one the greatest speeches ever . New elected President Lyndon B. Johnson Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Which reverses the 1875 Supreme Court decision and prohibits discrimination  of all kind . At the same time , Civil Right Activist James Chaney , Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman are killed by police and KKK ( Mississippi Burning Protest ) Police actively involved in the suppression of Civil Rights ( and Black People) and directly connected with the Klan . Relevant .

1965-  Malcom X is Assassinated inside the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem ,New York , Nation of Islam was blamed BUT ….. 

Dr Martin Luther King Jr Marches 54 Miles from Selma to Montgomery . President Lyndon B. Johnson Signed the 2nd act so Blacks can Vote .( Finally ,Blacks are Human and Citizens )

1968 – Dr Martin Luther King Jr Assassinated : at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis ,Tennessee , James Earl Ray named BUT…… 

200 Cities Riot and Protest for 53 Days . FBI Documents are Classified until 2027 . Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos raise a Black Fist at the Mexico Summer Olympics .  President Lyndon B. Johnson  Signs Fair Housing Act Prohibiting Housing Discrimination .( After 349 Years , Blacks can finally vote, buy a House and be a Citizen with Protection , I need you to realize that was only 52 years ago )

1969 – Jimi Hendrix Opens at Woodstock and Black Panther Deputy Fred Hampton Was being assassinated in Chicago 

1970s -Technology , Globalization and Outsourcing Increases : Blacks unemployment 70% . Low education , no job opportunity ,and poor public housing environment leaves the door open for crime and drugs . Shirley Chrislom Becomes the 1st woman and 1st Black woman to receive the Democrat Presidential Nomination .

1971 – Congressional Black Caucus : Established in D.C. to advocate on behalf of Black People . President Richard Nixon’s ” War on Drugs” Begins for the next 40 years .  Police presence in inner cities increased significantly . Arrest rates soared and targeted Black Men . Mass incarceration begins again ( Convict leasing system ). Hoover’s Cointelpro ends . 2 years later , Martin Cooper Invented the mobile cell phone.

1980’s – President Ronald Reagan : Continues the “War on Drugs ” drug arrests up 126% . Harsh mandatory minimum sentencing . Still heavy police presence . corrections corporation of America  is founded , and prisoners become Wall Street Stock . Black Panther Party Ends due to cointelpro involvement .

1985 Contra Cocaine  – FBI ,CIA ,and US State Dept with Nicaraguan Rebels allowed drug trafficking into the US . Crack cocaine begins really destroying inner cities . ( See the FX Show ” Snowfall ” for non -fictional dramatization ) 

1986 -1989 – President George H.W. Bush : Continue the “War On Drugs ” Runs the “Willie Horton ” Ad – Instilling more fear about Black Men . Congress passes 100 to 1 Sentencing disparity for crack rock and powder cocaine. Whites used more expensive cocaine powder; Blacks used crack rock .Calls for $ 1.5 Billion on “Drug War “. ( Relevant 24 years and millions of prisoners later.) Court Rulings Release Desegregation Order , Increasing School Segregation .

1992 – President Bill Clinton  – Continues the ” War on Drugs” Militarization , and mass incarceration. 3 million Blacks in Prison . Rodney King Beat on tap. All 4 cops were acquitted . More protests and riots .

 1994- Nelson Mandela President  : South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, lawyer , political leader and philanthropist was inaugurated as President of South Africa, the country’s first Black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election; and ended on 14 June 1999.

1997 –  1033 Program : Transfers  $5.1Billion Dollars in excess Military weapons to Law Enforcement . This includes : Tactical weapons , grenade launchers and mine-resistant ambush -protected (MRAP) Vehicles Aka the trucks used in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect US soldiers from terrorist stuff .

2008- Barack Obama : Became the first African American to be elected President of the United States, sparking many celebrations in the United States and around the world . Got in the house built by slaves , but he too continued the ” War on Drugs” and the militarization of the police in his 1st term . Qualified immunity also increasingly applied in cases involving excessive or deadly force . Wall Street Crashes and destroys the average American (“The Big Short “) Wall  Street is Bailed out Billions .  ( No one ever calls this “reverse welfare” or handout ) Black folks hit hardest again . 

8 years later ,Black Household Average Net Worth is $138.000 to $933.000 for White families . – Black Median  Wealth Income Projected to Zero by 2053.  Lack of home ownership and owning less valuable homes are partly to blame .

2009 – Unemployment : Still on the rise , Schools Underfunded Foreclosures . Housing Discrimination , Predatory lending against Blacks , Asians and Hispanics Continues during a global recession .  Drug use and dealing is rampant .( Really hope you see history’s hand in all this ) Police presence in inner cities is maintained.  Oscar Grant Killed on New Year’s Cop served less than 1 year . 

2010-  :  24 Years and 3 Million Plus Prisoners Later . President OBAMA Signed  “Fair Sentencing Act “  To reduce crack-cocaine disparity tied to President Nixon-Reagan -Bush -Clinton -Bush -Obama ‘s ” War On Drugs”  Prisons still overwhelmed , more being built ,cops still patrol the inner city . ( Yes. Obviously where there is crime there are police ,but the key is to understand how the inner city got this way .) 

“Kids for Cash ” Scandal – Judges receive a lot of dollars in kickbacks for imposing harsh sentences and increasing private prison rates . Wells Fargo exposed as restricting  ” Ghetto Loans ” to Black  “Mud People” 

2012 -2016 – Black Lives Matter : Movement created after , Trayvon Martin ,is killed . and then needed again and again for : Eric Garner . John Crawford .Ezell Ford .Michael Brown .  Tanisha Anderson . Aquan McDonald . Tamir Rice . Sandra Bland. Renisha McBride . Freddie Gray . Alton Sterling .Philando Castile . Samuel Dubose . Meagan Hockaday . Aiyana Jones . Rekia Boyd . Jeremy McDole . Walter Scott . Terence Crutcher . Korryn Gaines … etc.. etc.. etc.. Cell Phones Capturing Death , but cops still being acquitted and, In some cases ,receiving pay raises ( Daniel Pantaleo). (This is nothing new ,we are all just now seeing it thanks to Mr Martin Cooper ) . “Blue Lives Matter ” was created at the same time in response .

2016 -Colin Kaepernick sf 49ers Qb : Sits down on the bench during the “National” Anthem . after speaking with Army Green Beret Nate Boyer.  and learning from him what kneeling represents at Military Funerals ,Kaep Takes A Knee .  Not in disrespect to the Military or Veterans Or All Police – Just Against The Terrible Murderous Ones . And during the “National ” Song which was written during slavery , by a slave owner and silently protesting 346 years of social injustice in America and the police being aqucitted when brutality ,violence and murder happens is a right we should all understand. 

2017- 2020  ” Make America Great Again ” Donald Trump : Brings about the not -so -coincidental Rise of Racial Division ,White Extremists and White Supremacists rhetoric in the U.S  Symbolized by “Unite the Right ” Rally in Charlottesville and “Law and Order “ speeches. Redlining Policies from 88 Years ago. Still affecting 3 out of 4 Black neighborhoods.  

Coronavirus Disproportionately affecting Black People due to redlined living conditions and minimal access to Health Care.

Ahmaud Arbery . Breonna Taylor and George Floyd All killed within a 5 -Month time frame. 4 Black Men were Lynched. Over 20 days of protests and riots took place in every single state in America For The 1st Time Ever. 

The Riots and Protests Let to : Police Reform ,Qualified immunity and Funding Discussions ( City / State Level Not Federal ) Removal of Confederate Statues;

Black Mental Health – Juneteenth Being Recognized – Kaepernick Job Potential 

Joe Biden Democrat Presidential Candidate : Telling Black People  ” The Ain’t Black ” 

An increase in “Karen ” and “Amy “ Sightings But White People are also realizing being ” Not Racist ” Is Not Enough and Being Anti-Racist Is everything .

Bold Yellow Street Art -Black Life Matter – Nascar Confederate Flag withdrawals ……

Now as you have learned and better understand the sacrifice made by those who made it possible for the rights and freedoms we experience in our current time. Given what all of the legendary past humanitarians in their lifetime experienced to bring justice and peace we enjoy today. It is now your turn to stand and be involved in building the world’s democratic government you dream to see for your children’s and their children’s and the future generations to follow.

Part I