black suppression

As I grew up in public school, my history lessons were primarily white washed and romanticized accounts of American history.  It was not until the past decade that I learned about periods of time where great gains were being made by the black community only to be squashed and suppressed by white people.  Two examples:

1.  Reconstruction Period (1867-1877)

After the Civil War, Black Americans were rising as activists in the political, economic, and social landscape of the South.  Sixteen African-Americans served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction; more than 600 more were elected to the state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices across the South. As a way to suppress Black Americans' growing autonomy and success, the Ku Klux Klan rose up, voter suppression practices grew, Jim Crow laws were put into place, all to ensure that whites would not lose control and power. Read more here:   https://www.history.com/news/voter-suppression-after-reconstruction-southern-states

2.  The Black Wall Street Massacre in Tulsa, 1921

You may have heard on the news that there is opposition to the location choice of Trump's rally in Tulsa, OK, today.  Instead of just blowing by this in the constant stream of newsfeed, take a moment to read about this white act of terror and black suppression in Tulsa in 1921.  It's important not to turn our eyes from really uncomfortable truths of history that tell a different story than racism's narrative which will always work to criminalize people of color and to make white people out as the heroic, upstanding people group. 

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/19/tulsa-1921-massacre-trump-violence-legacy

Once we begin to see these patterns in history, we can begin to look for signs of racial suppression today in our current context.  

sup·press

/səˈpres/

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verb

1. forcibly put an end to.

   "the uprising was savagely suppressed"

   Similar:

   subdue

   defeat

   conquer

   vanquish

   triumph over

   repress

   crush

   quell

   quash

   squash

   stamp out

   overpower

   extinguish

   put down

   put out

   crack down on

   clamp down on

   cow

   drive underground

   end

   put an end to

   stop

   discontinue

   terminate

   halt

   arrest

   Opposite:

   incite

   encourage

   • prevent the development, action, or expression of (a feeling, impulse, idea, etc.); restrain.