Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley claimed Tuesday that the United States has never been a “racist” country, rejecting a suggestion that she might have trouble becoming the GOP president…
I’m aware it managed to avoid the specific word “race.” It still enshrined chattel slavery thanks to the fugitive slave clause, even though they deliberately avoided using the word slave. I’m also aware the 3/5ths clause is often misconstrued (was pushed for by the northern states not southern), but it’s a huge indication that it was generally understood that the rights enshrined by the constitution did not apply to people of other races and slaves and they were to be treated differently. Not until the 14th amendment were the benefits of the constitution and the law in general theoretically available to people of all races, though on a state by state basis sometimes people of other races got some rights prior to this. It ultimately is a compromise document between pro and anti slavery framers with varying levels of racist thoughts and opinions, as was common at the time.
Nikki Haley of course also ignoring the vast multitude of even more explicitly racist laws throughout all of the colonies. Heck even though Pennsylvania law didn’t mention race in regard to voting, black people there lost the right to vote in 1838 because of course when we say men in the state constitution we just meant white men not black (they didn’t get the right back until the 1870s). A document can still be racist without explicitly using the words race or slave, if that’s how everyone understands it.
And then there’s Jim Crow and that whole era, not to even get into more insidious manifestations where race isn’t explicitly mentioned but racist effects result (but that brings up critical race theory, the ultimate conservative boogeyman).
And yes the confederate constitution definitely dials it up to 11, agreed.
I know the constitution isn’t the perfect example, but I bring it up because it shows that racism was a part of the country from the beginning. Overall point is just that saying we’ve never been a racist country is a ridiculous statement no matter how you frame it.
I’m aware it managed to avoid the specific word “race.” It still enshrined chattel slavery thanks to the fugitive slave clause, even though they deliberately avoided using the word slave. I’m also aware the 3/5ths clause is often misconstrued (was pushed for by the northern states not southern), but it’s a huge indication that it was generally understood that the rights enshrined by the constitution did not apply to people of other races and slaves and they were to be treated differently. Not until the 14th amendment were the benefits of the constitution and the law in general theoretically available to people of all races, though on a state by state basis sometimes people of other races got some rights prior to this. It ultimately is a compromise document between pro and anti slavery framers with varying levels of racist thoughts and opinions, as was common at the time.
Nikki Haley of course also ignoring the vast multitude of even more explicitly racist laws throughout all of the colonies. Heck even though Pennsylvania law didn’t mention race in regard to voting, black people there lost the right to vote in 1838 because of course when we say men in the state constitution we just meant white men not black (they didn’t get the right back until the 1870s). A document can still be racist without explicitly using the words race or slave, if that’s how everyone understands it.
And then there’s Jim Crow and that whole era, not to even get into more insidious manifestations where race isn’t explicitly mentioned but racist effects result (but that brings up critical race theory, the ultimate conservative boogeyman).
And yes the confederate constitution definitely dials it up to 11, agreed.
I know the constitution isn’t the perfect example, but I bring it up because it shows that racism was a part of the country from the beginning. Overall point is just that saying we’ve never been a racist country is a ridiculous statement no matter how you frame it.