Los Angeles: @Julio_Rosas11 on the scene as BLM protesters try to set a US flag on fire. “Make America native again,” they shout. pic.twitter.com/cYkPDZaVBg— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) May 28, 2020
Perhaps "Make America Native Again" is for the best. But I will be sad to see the "African Americans" go - especially as we were at least on course for a great fireworks show as ideologies of entitlement and ethno-chauvenism collide:
Of course, it will be eventful to see former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's dream of removing the Blacks from America come to life, which begs the question: where will they go? Will the destination be Liberia, where Lincoln's pal Henry Clay and his American Colonization Society once sent hundreds of thousands of Blacks? Or will Lincoln's own suggestion about deportations to Central America finally come to fruition? As Lincoln stated in his Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes on August 14, 1862:
"In the American Revolutionary war sacrifices were made by men engaged in it; but they were cheered by the future. Gen. Washington himself endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British subject. Yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his race---something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own.
The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just been with me---the first time I ever saw him. He says they have within the bounds of that colony between 300,000 and 400,000 people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our larger ones. They are not all American colonists, or their descendants. Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this country. Many of the original settlers have died, yet, like people elsewhere, their offspring outnumber those deceased.
The question is if the colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there? One reason for an unwillingness to do so is that some of you would rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I do not know how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to them at all events.
The place I am thinking about having for a colony is in Central America. It is nearer to us than Liberia---not much more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike Liberia it is on a great line of travel---it is a highway. The country is a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with your native land---thus being suited to your physical condition.
The particular place I have in view is to be a great highway from the Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this particular place has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are harbors among the finest in the world. Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country, and there may be more than enough for the wants of the country. Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get ready to settle permanently in their homes.
If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad show; and so where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily bread as soon as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is the best thing I know of with which to commence an enterprise.
To return, you have been talked to upon this subject, and told that a speculation is intended by gentlemen, who have an interest in the country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know whites as well as blacks look to their self-interest. Unless among those deficient of intellect everybody you trade with makes something. You meet with these things here as elsewhere.
If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the question is whether it cannot be made of advantage to you. You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on external help as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends upon yourselves. As to the coal mines, I think I see the means available for your self-reliance.
I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you engaged, have provisions made that you shall not be wronged. If you will engage in the enterprise I will spend some of the money intrusted to me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Government may lose the money, but we cannot succeed unless we try; but we think, with care, we can succeed.
The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that quarter; but it is true all the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization, and want it, and are more generous than we are here. To your colored race they have no objection. Besides, I would endeavor to have you made equals, and have the best assurance that you should be the equals of the best.
The practical thing I want to ascertain is whether I can get a number of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to go, when I present evidence of encouragement and protection."
For years, it was assumed that Lincoln had changed his views by the time he freed the slaves with his Emancipation Proclamation of September 1862. Because of that assumption, Lincoln has become a widely-celebrated icon in the post-1968 reconstruction American history. In this way, patriotism built around American heritage did not have to be discarded, only repurposed to show what one of its legends purportedly decided that America is, was and should be about.
But that can be laid to rest now that we know of Lincoln's endorsement, in June 1863, of a resettlement plan to put freed slaves to use in Central America. Historians recently uncovered a trove of documents dealing with the topic while digging in the National Archives in the United Kingdom. Several of the documents show coordination between the Lincoln White House and John Hodge, a British colonial agent, nearly a year after the Emancipation Proclamation.
As The Telegraph reports:
"Hodge reported back to a British minister that Lincoln said it was his ‘honest desire’ that this emigration went ahead,” said [Sebastian] Page, a historian at Oxford University. The plan came despite an earlier test shipment of about 450 freed slaves to Haiti resulting in disaster. The former slaves were struck by smallpox and starvation, and survivors had to be rescued.
Mr. Lincoln also considered sending freed slaves to what is now Panama, to construct a canal — decades before work began on the modern canal there in 1904. The colonisation plan collapsed by 1864. The British were fearful the confederate states of the American south may win the civil war, reverse emancipation, and regard British agents as thieves. Congress also voted to remove funding. Yet as late as that autumn, a letter sent to the president by his attorney-general showed he was still actively exploring whether the policy could be implemented. “It says ‘further to your question, yes, I think you can still pursue this policy of colonisation even though the money has been taken away’,” [Page] said.
So could Panama or Haiti be the solution? Panama has an expansive copper-mining industry, sitting atop over three billion tons of copper. One mine is expected to yield 100,000 ounces of gold - not to mention 3,500 tons of molybdenum, a critical element in steel alloys and fertilizer. Due to its location on a hotbed of minerals, Panama actually has an energy production surplus of 22%. Aware that some who insist we 'Make America native Again' are actually migrants from Central America, however, there is reason to doubt whether Central America is a safe place to resettle U.S. Blacks.
Another possibility is Africa. Already, in the era of Lincoln, Liberia was being used as a place to resettle U.S. blacks. But, as some might be aware, they ended up throwing those they encountered into a state of domestic servitude and flaunting their alleged cultural superiority. Therefore, Liberia might not be an idea resettlement location since, given every cultural development in the U.S. since that time, it is highly likely that those who are already in Liberia will consider those who come now from U.S. and bring gangsta rap and weed blunts the absolute definition of cultural inferiority.
Of course, there are other places in Africa that the U.S. Blacks could go. The continent is home to one of the world's most profitable diamond mining industries. But Africa's population has suffered under corrupt and exploitative leadership that has hoarded profit from the mines. The situation has gotten worse since the state took over - ironically, through what was essentially a 'Make Africa African Again', just like they did to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Funny that all these experiments would end the same way...
Another possibility is Africa. Already, in the era of Lincoln, Liberia was being used as a place to resettle U.S. blacks. But, as some might be aware, they ended up throwing those they encountered into a state of domestic servitude and flaunting their alleged cultural superiority. Therefore, Liberia might not be an idea resettlement location since, given every cultural development in the U.S. since that time, it is highly likely that those who are already in Liberia will consider those who come now from U.S. and bring gangsta rap and weed blunts the absolute definition of cultural inferiority.
Of course, there are other places in Africa that the U.S. Blacks could go. The continent is home to one of the world's most profitable diamond mining industries. But Africa's population has suffered under corrupt and exploitative leadership that has hoarded profit from the mines. The situation has gotten worse since the state took over - ironically, through what was essentially a 'Make Africa African Again', just like they did to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Funny that all these experiments would end the same way...
