Paul R. Lehman, Our history tells us why the mob stormed the Capitol.

January 9, 2021 at 6:06 pm | Posted in African American, American Bigotry, American Dream, American history, American Indian, American Racism, Bigotry in America, black inferiority, Brown v Topeka, Christianity, Congress, democracy, desegregation, discrimination, Disrespect, Donald Trump, Emancipation Proclamation, equality, ethnic stereotypes, Ethnicity in America, European American, extremists, incarceration, integregation, language, liberty, Media and Race, Pilgrims, Pledge of Allegiance, Prejudice, President Obama, President Trump, public education, Race in America, Republican Party, segregation, social conditioning, socioeconomics, the Republican Party, tribalism, white supremacy, whites | 7 Comments
Tags: ACLU, ADL, African Americans, American Indians, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Saxon myth, Attack on the Capitol, European Americans, Louisiana Territory, NAACP, Pilgrims, Puritans, Race in America, SPLC, Thomas Jefferson, white, white supremacy

The mob attack on the nation’s capital should not have come as a surprise to anyone who knows American history. Why? Because American history has from the beginning fostered the concept of America being an Anglo-Saxon, European American, white, only country. Other people living in America are here only by permission, even the Indians. If we were to follow American history from the arrival of Christopher Columbus, we would recognize the superior attitude exuded by him and the other Europeans towards the non-European people they encountered, especially the Indians.

When the pilgrims and Puritans arrived in the 1620s and 1630s not only did they bring with them the superiority attitude but also a religion that told them they could use their superiority to take by force whatever they believed their God wanted them to have. The history books pictured initially an America that was simply virgin territory with little evidence of civilization present. This description was accompanied by references to the native people as savages. One of the first things the Europeans built in America was fences, not relationships with the Indians.

To further the myth of America belonging to Anglo-Saxons, European Americans, whites, when we learn about President Thomas Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana Territory what we were not told is what Jefferson wanted to do with the land. He thought that he could kill two birds with one stone-the Indian problem and the slavery problem. He would force all Indians and African Americans into the new territory and have them fend for themselves, and hopefully, die out and thereby make the country all Anglo-Saxon, European American, white.

The myth of America belonging to the European Americans was underscored in society and the government through language and actions. The language invented, instituted, and promoted the concept of human sub-species by using the word race. Races were then divided into two groups, one black and one white with the white race given dominance, power, and privilege over all other races. The primary difference between the Anglo-Saxons, European Americans, and white and the so-called other races was that all the other races were considered sub-species and therefore inferior to the Anglo-Saxons.

The idea of European American (white) ownership of America has been consistent throughout history as indicated by the actions taken to preserve its superiority myth through the laws governing the behavior of its citizens relative to interpersonal relationships among ethnic groups. Although major efforts were taken to keep the superior and inferior concepts constantly in the citizen’s life and mind, the fights by African Americans to gain their full participation in American society has brought to the surface the hypocrisy of ethnic bigotry that undergirds much of the American psyche. Consequently, many European Americans feel threatened and a sense of loss of some of their power whenever non-European American citizens acquire elements of their rights and privileges.

Over the years, for example, since Reconstruction, when African Americans began to realize some of their liberties as free Americans, serious efforts were set in motion by bigots and their organizations to prevent any progress by African Americans in that regard. The preventive efforts included physical abuse, property destruction, and death to people of color simply because of the threat they represented to Anglo-Saxon loss of power. We must note that the government was complicit in supporting much of the adversity visited on the African Americans. Their complicity came in the form of segregation, discrimination, incarceration, and other social sanctions; these actions strengthened for the European Americans the concept of ownership and dominance in America.

When Barack Obama, an African American, was elected President of the United States of America, many European Americans felt as though a dagger had pierced their hearts; the bottom had fallen out. What were going to happen to them and their power and privileges? Their fears were alleviated by their congressional friends in high offices who promised that Obama would not be able to damage their objectives. The Congressional Republicans kept their promise and deprived America of the growth and success it could have acquired under Obama.

When Donald Trump was elected President the myth of Anglo-Saxon dominance and ownership of America was revitalized. The myth would no longer be hidden, but brought out in the open along with the far-right groups and organizations that supported and promoted it. The Americans who held fast to the myth were strengthened and emboldened by a President that represented and supported their views. The evidence of this new presence was reflected in the fact that Trump tried to undo every piece of presidential action made by Obama, and the reports from organizations like ADL, ACLU, NAACP, and the SPLC, among others relative to the growth of hate groups. A national division based on ethnic bigotry and liberal politics was encouraged and any attempt to strengthen democracy and diplomacy towards national unity was ignored and/or discouraged during the Trump reign. What happened?

When the people of the United States of America elected Biden and Harris to be the next president and vice president, they sent a strong and hard message to those proponents of the myth; America would keep its republic and its democratic form of government. That message was more frightening to those supporters of America belonging to European Americans (white) myth because now their leader and representative would no longer be in power. What was even more terrifying was that the country’s new leaders were promoters of national unity and one was an African American.

America and the world experienced the actions of a mob of frantic, frightened, and frustrated people whose worst fears were coming to fruition—they were not only losing their national source of power and support in the president and some members of Congress, but because of the rapid demographic changes in America, the value, power, and privilege of their identity. They realize that America is changing into something that will debunk the myth and neutralize their illusion of power. They will not go quietly away, but their public presence should become less acceptable in a society where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the right of all citizens. t