News/Politics thread by @michaelharriot

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There's a long history of sending military officers into Black cities to stop "crime." 

In fact, I'd argue that this is what caused the Democrat & GOP realignment

The story involves gangbangers, bowling, a stolen election & the civil rights era's bloodiest event

A thread:

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First of all, when people say it's "unconstitutional" to use the military against civilians, they're not EXACTLY wrong.

It's ILLEGAL.

It began when violent gangbangers & anti-American thugs were causing problems in Democrat-run cities and whining about voter suppression

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After the Civil War, the traitors who betrayed their country returned to the Democrat-controlled South with their asses thoroughly kicked.

Many patriotic Americans wanted to arrest them for treason, but the prisons were already full.

Don't blame them. It's their culture.

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The "Radical" Republicans in Congress wanted every confederate traitor to swear they were not insurrectionists before they could vote, but Lincoln thought that was too much.

To be fair, he didn't have time to change his mind.

An insurrectionist killed him

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As soon as Jackson became president, he decided to let bygones be bygones. Jackson, a Southern Democrat, issued blanket pardons to insurrectionists – As long as they promised to stop being so insurrectiony. If they didn't...

Did I mention that Jackson was a Southern Democrat?

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So what did they do?

Start insurrecting! (You know how "those people" are.)

But, unlike slavery, Native American genocide & forcing people to listen to white gospel music, this violence was political. Because Black people were allowed to vote, they were outvoting whites!

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There was only one way for the violent insurrectionist who failed at creating a white supremacist country to preserve their power in the Democrat controlled cities:

Insurrection. Violence. white supremacy.

Credit @eji_org

                        1:07

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But the racial terrorism wasn't about political PARTIES.

In fact, when people who don't read books say "the Democrats invented the KKK," ask them who BLACK PEOPLE said they were fighting during Reconstruction

Southern conservatives

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When MOST of this violence took place, the South was still occupied by Union forces who were there to protect Black people from the terrorists. But for some reason, the soldiers weren't very good at stopping crime & violence. I think I know why:

BECAUSE THEY ARE SOLDIERS!!!

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To be fair, who knows how bad it would've been if the soldiers weren't there? 

Oh, wait. I do. 

On July 4th, 1868, as the all-Black town of Hamburg had their 4th of July parade, 2 random white dudes tried to walk through the parade. The Black folks were like: GTFOH!

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Later that night, they came back with the Red Shirts and started murdering Black people. 

Who were the Red Shirts?

Well, the Red Shirts were a paramilitary force led by confederate traitor Wade Hampton III because  Black soldiers had already kicked the KKK's ass.

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The KKK wasn't involved in MOST Reconstruction violence. In SC, it was the Red Shirts. GA & AL had the White League. La had Knights of the White Camelia.

It was white Conservative gangs

(Fun fact: Nikki Haley attended a segregation academy named after the Red Shirts leader)

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Anyway, when Hampton's Red Shirts committed mass murder, it was not about a parade. It was about stealing the upcoming election. Hamburg had seceded from Edgefield County. After the Hamburg Massacre, the Red Shirts massacred Black ppl in Laurens County.  

Then election day came

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Remember, SC was MAJORITY BLACK. Yet, when the votes were counted, the Black people voted Conservative! In fact, in some counties, more people voted than actually existed. But the results in two majority Black counties were literally unbelievable.

Guess which counties?

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Remember, SC was majority Black & controlled the govt. Black Secretary of State Henry Haynes refused to certify the vote.

The Red Shirts just installed their pick as governor. For months, SC had 2 governors

Wait, did I mention the conservative candidate's name?

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This is literally the origin of the quote "We were eight years in power"

Anyway, SC had a bigger problem.

The electoral college.

Neither presidential candidate had a majority, which threw the election to the House. The House vote TIED, so they just decided to made up a rule

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It was tied 7-7. So, in exchange for the presidency, Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South. To be fair, the GOP did ask: "If I do this, y'all not gonna be racist, will you?"

Conservatives: Who? Us? NEVER!

Ladies & gentlemen, meet Jim Crow.

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As soon as Hayes became president, the Southern Conservatives created a racial apartheid system. Then, they passed a law that would ensure a President wouldn't use the military to police their Proud Boys

After they passed the Posse Comitatus Act they went back to gangbanging.

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And it NEVER worked.

When racists bombed the Freedom Riders, the governor declared Martial Law and called in the National Guard...

TO PROTECT THE RACISTS!

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When segregationist George Wallace took his famous "stand in the schoolhouse door" to stop Black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama, JFK called in the National Guard. In his order, JFK mentioned the specific law that gave him the authority. Let's look it up

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BC the governor was literally considered an insurrectionist, Posse Comitatus didn't apply to this case.

THank God the National Guard was there to protect Vivian Malone from the terrorist gangs in Alaba...

Oh wait.

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Anyway, in 1965, the National Guard was called in during the Watts riots to protect the Black residents from the roving gangs of Black criminals.

I wonder who killed the 34 people who died?

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Then came 1968. But before a gangbanging conservative killed MLK...

Before RFK was assassinated

Before the anti-war protest at the Democratic Convention in Chicago

There was Orangeburg

In '67, Ike & CLeve, 2 students at SC State University heard John Stroman was back in town

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Ike & Cleve were troublemakers. They loved fucking with gangbangers, forcing them to desegregate & even picked the school PRESIDENT. But John was an OG. He attended SCSU before he was drafted

By the time John returned to SCSU, Ike & Cleve had graduated & the city was integrated

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Except for one place...

All-Star bowling

The only bowling alley in the majority Black college town was owned by a conservative insurrectionist. John was gonna change that, but he needed some help. 
See All-Star's owner swore he wasn't racist, his alley was just "members only"

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On Monday, Feb 5, 1968, John got a white kid to go to the alley and just bowl. THey didn't even ask the white kid for a membership. But when John showed up, the insurrectionists were like: "Members" only. Then they called the police.

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The next day, John showed up with a crew and staged a sit-in, so they were arrested...

Just as John planned. But then someone cussed at a police officer and things got crazy.

Not like, RECONSTRUCTION/Gangbangers/Red Shirts crazy, the cops just started beating up students.

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Remember, by this time, Cleve had already graduated and was kind of a big deal. He was hanging with Stokely Carmichael and Black Power organizers. But he went to the Bowling  and tried to calm students down. 

By Wednesday, gangbangers were literally doing drive-by shootings at the HBCU students

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The students wanted to march, so the governor called in 250  National Guardsmen EVEN THOUGH THE PERMIT WAS DENIED...

On Thursday, a rumors spread that Cleve was calling "his Black power friends" so the gov. called 100 more National Guard

TO PROTECT WHITE OWNED BUSINESSES

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By Friday, the gangbangers were attacking the students, undercover FBI agents were on campus and the Gov had the campus surrounded by state troopers & soldiers

So instead of getting shot or marching, the students decided to start a bonfire.

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Then, as students yelled at police and soldiers from national, state and local agencies, someone threw a piece of wood at an officer who were lined up in front of the bonfire. 

Of course, the officers responded.

They started shooting students.

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It was a literal firing squad.

For 8 seconds, they mowed down students with shotguns, machine guns and a pistol.

31-33 ppl were shot, including Cleve. MOST were shot in the back. Three were killed, 

Delano Middleton
Samuel Hammond
Ezekial Smith.

Delano was in HIGH SCHOOL waiting for his mom (an SCSU employee) to get off work

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Smith had FIVE bullet wounds. 

Although the officers claimed they "heard a shot" no soldiers or cops were hurt. And here's the thing:

Most people believe that Smith was shot by mistake. They say the cops were aiming for someone who the FBI was tracking.

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Ezekial Smith was the same height, had the same haircut and was dressed EXACTLY like the guy who FBI agents would later say they were there to watch.

Cleveland "Cleve" Sellers. 

There's no way to know if this was true because, to this day, there was never an investigation into the Orangeburg Massacre, the bloodiest event of the civil rights era.

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That's because the governor who called up the National Guard, Democrat Robert McNair, was up for a promotion.

See, McNair was known as one of the GOOD Southern Conservatives because... well he liked to call up the National Guard to quell protests

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Conservatives needed the South to win a presidential election. Fortunately, President LBJ was from Texas and had only served half a term after JFK was shot. 

When LBJ announced he wasn't gonna run for reelection, RFK was the favorite. Then he got shot in June.

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But before the convention, everyone assumed that the nominee would choose a VP from the South and McNair was the favorite. 

But after RFK got shot and MLK got shot and riots ensued and protesters marred the Democratic Convention, the Orangeburg Massacre doomed McNair.

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The person with the FEWEST primary votes, Hubert Humphrey, won the Democratic nomination and ran against a guy from Maine. 

So the Republican candidate saw an opening:

The Southern Strategy is just old-school gangbanging.

                        1:39

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And guess who was put on trial for the Orangeburg Massacre?

CLEVE.

Fortunately, a jury found him not guilty on all charges.

Now I know you're gonna think I'm giving you MY version of what happened next but you should go look it up for yourself.

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He was not convicted for anything  having to do with the Orangeburg Massacre.

He was convicted and imprsioned for being at the BOWLING ALLEY.

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You can watch the movie or the documentary or read the book for yourself

Oh wait. Besides a book by two reporters in 1970, none of those things exist.

And when that book came out, the authors revealed that the FBI knew that the gunshot thing was a lie.

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But there's an interesting backstory to all this:

In 1960, 187 Black college students gathered at the SC state capitol to protest segregation. The governor didn't have time to call the National Guard, so he called the cops, who arrested all 187 students.

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The students were literally just singing, but the WHITE PEOPLE were attacking them. 

so the appealed their convictions all the way to the Supreme Court. In an 8-1 decision, SCOTUS declared that you can't arrest peaceful protesters – even if you don't agree with their protests.

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But if the governor had called in soldiers and shot them, absolutely nothing would've happened.

After that protest, the legislature voted on a concurrent resolution to fly the Confederate flag to let EVERYONE know their position.

Insurrection.

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So when the governor blamed Cleve, he was doing what the Red Shirts and the Confederates and the Conservatives- REGARDLESS OF PARTY – always do...

Blaming their crimes on Black criminals

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If you look at the cases of the Jan. 6 insurrection, they LOVE to argue that they were protected by Edwards v. SC. But those Black students would have despised those white insurrectionist gangbangers.

How do I know?

Well the youngest ppl arrested at the 1960 protest were twins

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Ike and Nell Williams

Yep, the same Ike from Orangeburg.

My aunt and uncle.

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here's a picture of Ike and Cleve

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And if you think this history is from a LONG time ago, here's a picture of Ike's son, Cleve's son, and Ike's nephew hanging out LITERALLY this exact day last year

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History ain't that long ago but I'm sure this time enlisting armed soldiers to police a Black city will turn out... Umm....

What's the word for when someone does something over and over again and expects different results?

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It's called Detroit in 1967
It's called Newark 1967
It's called Los Angeles, 1992
It's called Ferguson and Baltimore and Minneapolis and AMERICA

IT IS A FACT that Black people are MORE LIKELY to die when soldiers act as cops.

But I'm sure this time will be different.

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There's a long history of sending military officers into Black...

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