Mirror to Failed Reconstruction

By Vivian Bui / Winter 2021

Dear Mother,

The events at the Capitol two weeks prior to the 46th President’s inauguration may seem surprising and unprecedented; however, occurrences like these have been present in our history and they will continue to show up. Following the end of the Civil War in 1865 was the Reconstruction where there was the reintegration of Southern states, attempt reparation for freed slaves, and the election of African Americans into government. From there, the Reconstruction gradually came to an end as support for it dwindled and violence from white supremacist organization reversed the changes brought by the Reconstruction. The white elites used violence against the freed slaves to push them back to the lowest position of the pyramid. Jim Crow laws were enforced which segregated the blacks from whites in public areas and facilities. On top of that, the white supremacist groups fought violently to prevent African Americans from voting and taking office. To stop the African Americans from gaining power and to maintain control over the government, the Red Shirts, a white supremacist group, massacred African Americans.

The violent riot against Congress at the U.S Capitol parallels the violent uprisings of the Reconstruction. The rioters of our time stormed the Capitol to overturn the results of the election. Like those white elites of the Reconstruction, they did not want change and they did not want to give up their hegemony. They refused to have anyone in political power who would threaten their position in the social hierarchy. The white supremacists of the Reconstruction wanted the African Americans to be away from political power and to remain in the working class while the white supremacists of today want a political figure, who doesn’t condemn them, to stay in power. The ideologies of nativism and white supremacy existing during the Reconstruction were also present at the storming of the U.S. Capitol. This could be seen through the types of groups represented in the mob, white supremacists, and the confederate flag that was waved around.

In addition to the violent massacring of the African Americans, the white supremacist of the Reconstruction used myths to turn people away from supporting civil rights. Myths saying that the freed slaves would take all the jobs away from the poor white workers were spread. By doing this, they cleverly put two groups against each other so that they don’t get blamed for exploiting workers and reaping the benefits. These types of myths have been seen consistently in our history and continue on till this day as Americans always need a scapegoat for their problems. The myth of immigrants coming in to steal jobs from Americans has persisted to this day, yet they are really just being exploited for doing the jobs that no other Americans want to do. Recently, Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans have been the scapegoat for the pandemic in America even though they were deemed the “model minority” right before. Even then, the model minority myth is dangerous as it is used to make flawed comparisons with other groups and supports the competitive individualism ideology.

The failed insurrection at the capitol mirroring the violent events of the Reconstruction serves as a reminder that the dominant ideologies of the past, such as white supremacy, are still here and have not gone away. We will have to continue to fight against these ideologies and protect those that are hurt by them. The boiling pot of ideologies may have been brought down to a simmer in our history but it still threatens to boil over again if we don’t carefully watch. When it does begin to boil over again, we must turn down the fire and bring it back down to a simmer. These hateful ideologies will not go away so all we can do is watch and counter. Not only will these ideologies persist, but the myths used to control people are also consistently present. We would just have to put on our critical glasses and see why such myths exist. Also, we have to remember not to blame other groups for our problems and instead blame those who would benefit the most from the tension. This may be difficult as we are often disoriented from all the tension and division we face; however, we can always turn to our history to reorient ourselves.

Sincerely,

Vivian Bui