Jim Crow Hangover: Poverty, Racism and Classism in America

By James Paige

Jim Crow Hangover looks at America's unending quest to address the unresolved Civil War. The terms of agreement for surrender signed by Robert E. Lee in 1865 ended the armed conflict. After each side put down their arms, negotiations regarding states' rights, social integration, and economic support for the formerly enslaved began.
The issue of the states' rights - rights and powers reserved by the state governments rather than the national government according to the U.S. Constitution – remains an issue. The battle over states' rights has shifted from north versus south to red versus blue. The social and economic disparities between Blacks and whites persist.
There are three periods of race relations in the United States following emancipation. Reconstruction, Segregation, and Complicit Tolerance.
Reconstruction, 1865 to 1877, was a period of hope. The formerly enslaved were less restricted socially and politically. Continued negotiations on the Confederacy's states' rights led to the withdrawal of Union troops - freedom protections for the formerly enslaved ended.
Segregation became law in 1896, and hope for inclusion and integration faded. It took nearly 60 years for the United States to rule segregation and the associated Jim Crow laws illegal.
The Brown v Board of Education of 1954 did not lead to a post-segregation era. The Jim Crow Hangover started an age of Complicit Tolerance of discriminatory practices against and over-policing African Americans.
Congress passed the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Act of 1972, and in 1974, the Fair Housing Act. Housing and employment equity remains elusive. After several voting rights acts, there is still voter suppression. Toleration of racial, social, and economic inequity continues.
The wealthiest country in the world continues to produce an astonishing number of under-resourced and unhealthy citizens. What could ignite sufficient moral indignation to challenge America's social and economic structures?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781667808765

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©2021 by James Paige All rights reserved.

Published in the United States

ISBN 978-1-66-780876-5

A Segora Group Publication www.segoragroup.org

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

DISPARITIES – AN AMERICAN TRADITION

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

POVERTY

TYRANNY OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

HEALTH

HOUSING

EDUCATION

PERSONAL FINANCES

LAW ENFORCEMENT

RACE AND CLASS

PUBLIC POLICY

PERPETUATING THE UNDER-CLASS

AFTERWORD

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

What could ignite sufficient moral indignation to challenge America’s social and economic structures? The wealthiest country in the world continues to produce an astonishing number of under-resourced and unhealthy citizens.

The highest level of imprisonment and social and economic disparities exist within the United States. What attitudes, beliefs, and systems make this so? Why have racial inequalities persisted?

Jim Crow laws of the late 1800s delineated where Black people could live, work, attend school, and who they could marry. Laws disenfranchised African Americans and ended the political and economic gains made during the Reconstruction period.

Jim Crow laws remained in force until 1965. Although the rules are is no longer legally enforceable, the hangover of negative typecasting of African Americans and discrimination persists.

Ferguson, Missouri, formed a commission to investigate the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. The commission’s findings came 50 years after the Kerner Commission Report and mirrored the recommendations from 1968.

The Kerner Commission’s final report summary ended with an overview from Dr. Kenneth Clark that resonates today. Like past reports, Clark wrote the findings did not uncover any startling truths, unique insights, or simple solutions.

The destruction and the bitterness of racial disorder, the harsh polemics of black revolt and white repression have been seen and heard before in this country. It is time now to end the destruction and the violence, not only in the streets of the ghetto but in the lives of people.

Disparities will continue to widen unless we re-imagine America’s social order. Laws and public policies have not delivered equity. America has blind spots about race and class.

The circumstances we are born into and grow in are Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) - housing, education, household income, etc. These factors predict life’s trajectory.

For people of color, especially African Americans, racism and discrimination are health determinants that contribute to economic and social insufficiencies.

Harmful determinates of health hamper the ability to access opportunities. The absence of opportunity leads to unstable households, disruptive communities, and unhealthy lifestyles.

During the 2020 pandemic, people from all walks of life lined up for food bank donations. Income disparities shifted from existing only in depressed African American communities to all racial and neighborhood demographics.

Economic stimuli helped the poor and working/middle-class mitigate financial losses due to COVID-19, keeping millions from slipping into poverty.

Poverty versus wealth does not adequately describe the economic disparities and inequities within American society. Poverty is a term used to describe people lacking the resources to have the basics of life consistently. In the United States, most citizens are not poor, but a significant percentage of the population is under-resourced.

Under-resourced living is lacking the means and environment needed to access housing that serves family’s needs and an education that adequately prepares students to pursue careers of choice and a living wage income.

Overcoming under-resourced living is more than just getting a job, and overcoming classism and racism is more than just changing the law. It requires a societal commitment that America has been unwilling to make.

Statistically, 25% of African Americans live in poverty; the majority do not. Given the obstacles – employment, housing, education, and economic discrimination - it is incredible that more African Americans do live on society’s margins.

The enslaved and their descendants have been on an incredible journey navigating the waters of racism, discrimination, and bias.

From George Floyd to the January 6th insurrection in the nation’s capital, law enforcement’s unequal treatment of Black people was on full display. Over-policing of African Americans led to George Floyd’s death. The preferential treatment accorded to white citizens led to a challenge to American democracy.

Black excellence has emerged from the cavern of oppression. Given the opportunity, African Americans have excelled in every endeavor - science, mathematics, sports, business, politics, entertainment, etc.

Closing the white/black disparities gap requires more than special programs and equity initiatives. Social services assist people in managing their adverse living conditions better. They do not, however, lay a foundation for upward mobility and self-reliance.

Equality and inclusion are not outcomes of legislation, programs, or Presidential orders. They are a product of social justice – equitable distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges.

A society willing to accept all its citizens on fair and just terms provides equal opportunity.

Disparities are not the absence of wealth. Disparities are a lack of social equity.

AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

Afghanistan is not America’s longest-running war; it is the Civil War. The armed conflict ended in 1865. A century and a half later, unresolved racial issues remain, and America is still grappling with the lack of social and economic equity.

The unresolved social and political issues in Afghanistan are thousands of miles away. The unresolved social, political, economic, and educational matters post-Civil War persist in the homeland.

Enslavement lasted from 1619-1865. The Emancipation Proclamation instantly freed 3.1 million from bondage. Ownership of human beings, limited to persons from the African continent and their descendants, was declared illegal.

It has been more than 240 years since owning other human beings became unlawful, yet, criminal justice disparities and discriminatory practices against descendants of the formerly enslaved continue.

Three periods of race relations in the United States followed Emancipation. Reconstruction, Segregation, and the current period of Complicit Tolerance. Reconstruction was a period of hope, but following Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the former Confederacy continued negotiations on the states’ rights and won. Their victory led to the imposition of Jim Crow and the Black Codes.

Segregation became law in 1896, and hope for inclusion and integration faded. Segregation was ruled illegal in 1954. Instead of fostering social and economic equity, the current Complicit Tolerance of African American second-class citizenship began.

Segregated communities were formed under the law, reinforced by Jim Crowism, and perpetuated by complicit tolerance of bias.

The Reconstruction Era - 1865 to 1877 has two meanings. The first applies to the complete history of the entire country following the Civil War. The second meaning is the attempted transformation of the 11 former Confederate states as directed by Congress.

During this brief 14-year period of Reconstruction, the newly freed were less restricted socially and politically. During Reconstruction, the Union required the former confederate states to craft new constitutions, which needed approval by the U.S. Congress.

After completing the requirements, the former confederate states were granted readmission to the Union. Additional laws passed defining how the constitutions of states of the former Confederacy would be created and enacted.

Society’s response to Reconstruction was to exhaust every avenue – legal and illegal - to maintain the Dixie way of life. There was minimal change in the racial, political, or social landscape.

The wartime proclamation by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was to allot land to the formerly enslaved, allowing them to build financial self-reliance. The phrase 40 acres and a mule has come to symbolize the broken promise of economic justice for African Americans.

From 1865 to 1870, The United States passed Constitutional Amendments ‘guaranteeing’ freedom for all and discriminating against the formerly enslaved and their descendants is unlawful.

1865: The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except for those duly convicted of a crime; 1868: The Fourteenth Amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws for all persons.; and 1870: The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination in voting rights and prohibits the federal government and each state from denying citizens the right to vote based on that citizen’s race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

In 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew the Union troops from the south as part of a compromise to get reelected, removing freedom protections and nullifying the constitutional amendments.

Local governments instituted the Black Codes immediately following the ratification of the 13th Amendment. The Codes became the foundation of Jim Crow laws.

The 1896 doctrine of separate but equal became the national standard that allowed for and required racial segregation in public

and private institutions such as schools, public transportation, restrooms, and restaurants.

Jim