American Power Dynamics

CW: Marginalization, -isms

The United States of America has a laundry list of oppression and marginalization from its very beginning. It doesn't take a history scholar to look backwards to see the type of horrors that have been committed in this country.

1. The Dynamic of Racial Division

As you research more about the American structure, you learn about the dynamic of slavery and the purpose it served. Obviously, it served an intensive labor purpose, in which, black people were dehumanized and forced to work and suffer to build up this country.

However, slavery in all of its "peculiar institution" glory had another dynamic to it.

The institution of slavery permitted white people to have a position of power, almost regardless of their economic standing. You did not have to be a rich elite to have slaves. White male slave owners were able to get out any aggression they had on slaves and white women, who were second class citizens at best, had people of their own to oppress.

With this institution in place, the elite could remain the elite. They weren't often threatened with a loss of power because the people below them had power and people to oppress. It's much easier to oppress a group of people if they get to oppress another group of people.

When slavery was abolished, black people were not immediately subjected to Jim Crow laws. That hadn't happened quite yet. An enraged and undignified white population grew serious disdain to the now freed black people. They were angry that they lost their free labor, their power completely gone.

Status quo, however, was severely enforced by civilian to civilian violence and once the federal government removed their troops from the South, it became even easier to oppress the newly freed people.

Prior to this, some states had actually elected black officials, and even a few legislators were elected at the federal level. This frightened many politicians, who feared that the black man was going to takeover the land and in turn oppress them.

Violence ensued.

As Jim Crow developed, it was first backed by a conscious of the white population that racial integration would be very dangerous for all parties involved. Pseudoscience said black people were racially inferior. But most importantly, the name Jim Crow itself came from the minstrel shows, "Jump Jim Crow", in which a white performer portrayed a black man while in blackface. These offensive minstrel shows were created to entertain white audiences but also served as a powerful force in shaping the minds of the white public as to the behavior of black people.

A play, The Clansmen, was written by the Ku Klux Klan to create a conscious image in the mind of white people of the dangers of racial integration. This was later turned into a silent film in 1915, known as The Birth of a Nation. The film depicts the dangers of the Reconstruction era and perpetuates an image of white lives in danger at the hands of the black man. The film's hero, the Ku Klux Klan, is there to save the day.

Jim Crow laws relegated black people to second class citizenry. Although the Plessy ruling claimed separate but equal, such a thing was not the reality. Sections dedicated as "Colored" were of lower quality, rarely maintained and when it came to public services, were often underfunded.

Jim Crow, in and of itself, was an institution designed to continue the power dynamic that the abolition of slavery destroyed. Your average white man, rich or poor, had someone beneath them.

They had people they could take their anger out on. When things went wrong, they had the perfect scapegoat to blame.

The average white American simply had a fear of being equal to black people. They were afraid they would lose their piece of the pie and their stance in society. With this in mind, Jim Crow was viciously enforced both by law and by culture.

Anyone who attempted to disrupt the system was considered a troublemaker who needed to be stopped.

See, the system had a very important reason for existing. By keeping the power structure in force, the elite could remain the elite. As long as the people in the middle of the system had the psychological feeling of power and superiority, there was no doubt that the elite would not find themselves in a position of peril from the awoken masses.

In order to keep the system in place, the country had to ensure that white people knew their enemy was disruptive, entitled black people and not the government or the capitalism system in and of itself. In fact, serious fears existed around the topic of integration. From concerns of crime, rape and economic competition. White people thought that black people integrating into their schools or into their workplaces would result in their jobs becoming at risk. They weren't willing to chance this.

While it would be nice to pretend that the racial division power is a thing of the distant past, that simply is not true, as it is very much alive and well to this day.

2. The Dynamic of the Immigrant Enemy

Like racism, xenophobia is an important power structure to maintain the systems. The hot button topic of immigration is as American as apple pie. Cities were often segregated by ethnicity and people were quick to blame immigrants for all the woes in society.

The government knew they wouldn't be held as responsible for the woes of society and the oppression of capitalism if the immigrants could be blamed for stealing jobs and harming the American culture. German immigrants, Irish immigrants, Italian immigrants, Mexican immigrants and Middle Eastern immigrants all at one time or another were the scapegoat for the plight of the American worker.

This selling point has existed in the political arenas for as long as forever. It's an easy sell. These immigrants are going to come in, take over our language, destroy our customs and steal our jobs.

Today, the immigration conversation is mostly aimed at Mexican immigrants and immigrants from the Middle East. For the Mexican population, the fears that are perpetuated are the fear of drug cartels and job theft. For the Middle Eastern population the fears that are most often perpetuated involve terrorism and the disorder of the religious systems we have in our society.

As long as there are immigrants to blame, the lower and middle class person cannot focus on their government's oppression. They feel that capitalism would work if only these people would stop consuming the entire system.

It threatens the core of the American identity and in their minds, the core of the economy.

3. The Dynamic of Political Order

The fear of socialism and communism has been rampant in the United States. The red scare is probably one of the most famous incidents in our history. Any person who subscribed to any type of communist or supposedly anti-government philosophies were dubbed a serious threat to the national security of the nation.

In order for the oppressive system of capitalism to thrive, it must rely that the people within it are invested in it entirely. It is very fragile, like all elements of the status quo, and will fight away any enemy. Capitalism works, they will tell you, and they will point out to the many successful and brilliant people that America has produced.

Most Americans do not have a true, definitive understanding of either socialism and communism, in fact, so many Americans think they two are non distinct of each other, which isn't true at all.

Anyone who is seen as a radical opponent of the capitalist system as it stands is branded as a communist or socialist. When this happens, it is severely stigmatized in the public conscious. Thoughts of North Korea or Cuba come to the mind.

This fear is important to maintaining the political order as we devote most of our collective allegiance to two establishment parties that truly encompass the interests of elitists in one form or another.

But--as long as the average American has an enemy, they will not realize that the enemy is the violence perpetuated by the very government and economical structure of the land.

4. The Dynamic of Social Order

Social order is important in American society. Men do this and women do that. Gender norms are challenged every day and have come quite a long way but most of us are very trapped into the gender normatives that society expects of us. Homosexuality and transgender identities are stigmatized. Anything that disrupts the social order is a threat to the fabric of the American form.

Just like with immigrants--it is at the expense of sexual minorities, non-binary people, genderqueer people and otherwise non-traditional gender people. This creates an enemy to the social order and allows the common collective to have a view of "us" vs. "them".

One of the most powerful persuasions in this thought occurred during the suffragette movement. Suffragettes were portrayed as masculine, unattractive old maids. Fear campaigns distributed propaganda that shows women in charge and men relegated to a second class citizenry. With this in mind, the social order was easy to maintain because it played into the collective male fear of losing their power and privilege.

When marriage equality was still not uniformly legal, this threatened the social order Americans hold dear. Even though men marrying men would do nothing personally to heterosexuals, it was an extremely serious issue for them. It threatened the social order and the values of the American conscious. Many opponents of gay marriage were willing to "compromise" by supporting domestic partnerships--as long as "they" didn't come for marriage, then it was okay. We have to have our institutions and they can have theirs.

5. The Dynamic of Patriotism

The American conscious is very much about patriotism, the flag and pride. Despite how oppressive our government is and how horrible the capitalism system is to really most of us, people are blindly patriotic. Challenging this status quo leads to social stigmatization and possible violence.

We must stand up for the anthem. We must recite the pledge with our hands over our hearts.

Talking about the injustices of America, like slavery or the genocide of the First Nations, is simply unAmerican. We must respect the flag and all the privileges that they believe it gives them.

If you speak ill of the American systems, you are a traitor and you "need to move out" if you don't like it.

Assimilation is the only respectable way to be an immigrant, along with doing it the legal, documented way. Anything less and you are an infiltrator.

We are indoctrinated at a very young age to believe in the American dream, prosperity and that we are the greatest nation on the Earth. Criticizing America too harshly will make others uncomfortable and is considered disrespecting the flag and our troops.

Truthfully, Americans are fearful of breaking the customs and traditions because they don't want to be outcast.

American patriotism is no different than a cult. America is God, the flag is Jesus and capitalism is the Holy Ghost.

As a natural born American, I feel it is so important that our youth think critically. Yes, there are wonderful things about America. Multiple truths can exist! But we can no longer indoctrinate the youth into these principles of American exceptionalism. The longer we are indoctrinated, the longer people will continue to be oppressed. If we were, in fact, the greatest nation on the Earth, we wouldn't have people using GoFundMe to raise money for health care.

We can no longer live in fear of immigrants and we can no longer perpetuate racism and sexism. If we truly want to live in the land of the free, we must become free in our minds from the chains of the American structure.

Toxic American culture is killing all of us slowly--and the problem is, it is not a liquid that you drink, it is a gas in the air that we breath in. It is a way of life and thinking outside of it is uncomfortable.

But we must work past that discomfort and understand that most everything we've been taught is a sugar-coated, whitewashed lie.

While these thoughts are my observations based on what I have learned, seen and even experienced, I am not the first person nor the only person to think them up. This has been a discussion for years--often undercover and silenced.

Much love,
ArchAngel O:)