The Peculiar History of African-Americans

"It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains." - Assata Shakur

Legitimate government draws its power from the consent of the governed. Our country was founded on that principle. Our country was also founded on the idea that the bonds that unite citizens are not eternal, and that if government is ever destructive to its ends, the people may revoke their consent and revolt against their government. John Locke writes that citizens unite for  "the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties and estates." He puts emphasis on the word "preservation," but "mutual" is the operative word. The social contract in America is failing black people in regards to fulfillment of this purpose. They do not live as long as their counterparts and are more likely to die at the hands of the state, they are more likely to be imprisoned, and more likely to live in poverty. Why then should they consent to be governed in a country that has systematically oppressed them?

In his treatise on The Social Contract, Jean Jacques Rousseau quips that "man is born free and everywhere he is in chains." In the state of nature, a priori to civil government, people exist in a state of perfect freedom and equality. In it, one is free to do as he wishes, so long as he does not violate the law of nature: the golden rule which is self-evident to people across cultures. Each person is equal in jurisdiction and dominion. Locke writes that "every man hath a right to punish the offender, and be executioner of the law of nature."

While the state of nature is one of liberty and equality, it is not a state of security. Though Locke differentiates the state of nature from the state of war, unlike Thomas Hobbes who calls the state of nature a war of all against all, Locke admits that each cannot enjoy the freedom and power one has in the state of nature for they are "constantly exposed to the invasion of others." For the protection of their property, people come together to form governments in want of three things:

1. "an established, settled, known law"
2. "a known and indifferent judge, with authority to determine all differences according to the established law"
3. "power to back and support the sentence when right, and to give it due execution."

Subsequently, each gives up their perfect freedom to do whatever they wants for his preservation and satisfaction, in accordance with the law of nature, to live under the laws of government. In addition, "the power of punishing he wholly gives up," granting the state a monopoly on the legitimate use of force.

I do not write about the state of nature and the social contract to suggest that it was a historically accurate process. Rather, social contract theory should be seen as a thought experiment that determines the legitimacy and purpose of government. Historically, the creation of governments and the relationship between the government and the governed are much messier. For many Americans, their lineage is a story of their ancestors leaving a land of oppression seeking opportunity for themselves and their posterity; whereas, African-Americans have a peculiar history - even within the diaspora - as they were brought here to serve the ends of others and continue to live in the land of their oppression. The history of African-Americans is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the infringement of their natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness:

They came to America, not by choice but by force, chained together in conditions so decrepit that millions never survived the voyage.

As colonists fought for their right to self-governance, blacks were stripped of their language, history and religion and treated as property whose purpose was to fulfill the desires of their oppressors.

Their very existence contributed to the political clout of their oppressors, as slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person for census purposes, but given zero-fifths of their God-given rights.

In the Antebellum South, they lived under violence to the worst degree, in order to keep them subjugated.

Their families were split up as fathers, mothers, sons and daughter were sold like cattle, and African-American women were raped by their oppressors.

A new nation was formed, in rebellion, declaring it a lie that all are created equal and that the negro's natural and normal position is slavery. Even after its defeat, monuments to this unnatural and illegitimate cause litter the country.

Upon their emancipation, African-Americans still lived as second class citizens in a separate and unequal conditions while under the threat of extra-judicial lynchings and terrorism.

In disproportionate numbers, African-Americans took up arms to fight for the liberation of others across the globe in two Great Wars, only to come home to their continued subjugation.

They migrated north to escape the lynchings, bombings and demonstrations of the Klu Klux Klan, only to live in inadequate slums and to find a racism of a subtler variety.

When they stood up to demand equality, they were met with violence at the hands of the police and their leaders were assassinated.

After achieving de jure equality, a generation of African-Americans was lost to death, addiction and imprisonment as the government introduced crack cocaine to their ghettos while simultaneously starting a war on drugs.

In today's political climate, one party does everything to prevent African-Americans from voting and attracts the vote of those who hate them, while the other party takes their support in bloc for granted.

African-Americans face housing and job discrimination, are even treated differently than their peers by their doctors, and disproportionately live in sickness and poverty.

And, they are denied due process and equal protection as the police disproportionately kill them with impunity.

Some may say that the election of Barack Obama proves African-Americans "have no more excuses," as if the success of one man washes away the sins of generational and institutionalized racism. However, Barack Obama has his own claim peculiarity. While black people across the globe have had to endure racism and colonialism, President Obama is not the descendant of African-American slavery. The dreams he got from his father are different than the dreams I got from mine.

This is neither a call for revolution nor the dissolution of political bonds between African-Americans and their fellow citizens. Although, precedent shows that doing so is justifiable. The aforementioned grievances are neither light nor transient. However, as President Clinton said in his first inaugural address, "There is nothing wrong with America, that cannot be fixed with what is right in America," but one must question how much longer African-Americans will patiently suffer such a long train of abuses and usurpations. It is their right, it is their duty to fight for their freedom. Like Thomas Jefferson, "Most blessed of the Patriarchs, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just[,] that his justice cannot sleep forever." It is their duty to win. The American government should heed Samuel Adams's advice to Governor Gage and "no longer insult the feelings of an exasperated people." They have nothing to lose but their chains.