I see Arlington National cemetery is in the news bc a certain walking tanning bed was being a prick. What else is new?
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What went wrong?
Well first off, America is a country that freed the slaves in the 1860s but there remained literal slaves well into the 1900s as well as share croppers (slavery by another name) which affected my family well into MY generation. Yes, my family were share croppers until my dad was born and their properties were fucked with until I was an adult!
Frankly many Blacks never got a chance to hear about or use ANY of these banks or bureaus!
The Freedman's Savings Bank: Good Intentions Were Not Enough; A Noble Experiment Goes Awry
Like much else that came out of the Civil War, the Freedman’s Savings Bank (officially the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company) began with a sense of high moral purpose. Its founders understood that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, was only the start down the long road toward full participation in American society for former slaves.
OCC.gov (www.occ.treas.gov)
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The Freed Blacks who did get to use the bank setup for us by the government flocked to it and were extremely proud to be allowed to engage in commerce. The average deposit was $5-$50. In 1872 there were 70k accounts with a total of $31.2million deposited.
The rate of growth had it continued at this pace would have significantly closed today's Black wealth gap!
In today's terms the bank held $0.8 billion dollars. At the time only 0.5% of former slaves had an account with the Freedman's Bank.
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Like any good story there's a villain who killed the bank, Henry David Cooke. Fuck that guy!
He was one of the most experienced people on the board and fleeced the ever living shit out of the bank.
He had them build a lavish bank HQ. He had them expand branches too quickly and over spend on their construction.
He gave his family, a white already wealthy family, preferential loans... which of course they bungled.
Henry D Cooke was a crook!
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Cooke's professional life was full of insider trading and conflicts of interest. He barely ever showed up for work when he had political appointments.
Cooke was essentially a progressive + liberal political insider the likes of which there are MANY parallels to present day DNC machinations. By far Cooke and his cronies (including Ulysses S Grant and the supreme court justice Salmon P. Chase) would have been getting the "lesser evil" treatment in today's media.
But let's be clear this is evil.
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Now compare and contrast the bold politics and policies of the 1860s-70s to today.
nullagent (@[email protected])
Attached: 3 images I see Arlington National cemetery is in the news bc a certain walking tanning bed was being a prick. What else is new? It's worth noting how it became government property. 👇🏿 There's a reason the right doesn't say "give me the good 'ole days of 1861", cuz there was a time this country stood ten toes deep on expropriation without compensation of at least one prominent slavers riches. Alas reconstitution was never completed. #RobertELee #arlington #ArlingtonNationalCemetary #VA #Reconstruction
PartyOn (partyon.xyz)
Back then we had BOLD progressive leaders who invented BOLD policies. These leaders gave their sweat, blood and lives to eat -some- of the rich (at least Lee's estate and some burned properties in VA+GA, Custer & Sherman the realest).
They fought a total war only to see the liberal politicians sell ALL of the freed slaves down the river economically for a bit of clout.
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When I hear a politician being questioned about how they will enact Black Liberation with force of policy I listen closely
Bc as history shows these policies rarely survive internal sabotage/self dealing.
There's a $20T (and growing) wealth gap I'd like to see closed in my lifetime. It's critical it's closed to avert a second Civil War. Closing the Black wealth gap and completing reconstruction is a critical step in decolonizing American political leadership.
So what's Kamala say?
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What I hear today is mealy mouthed bullshit. It makes my hair stand on end and my blood boil everytime I hear Kamala say there's no policy she intends to specifically address the legacy of policy failure impacting descendant of slavery.
This lack of interest and creativity leads me to believe she cannot be trusted to lead Black policy in any meaningful way. Sure she'll beat Trump and that's about it.
Even Henry D Cooke was more able to string together coherent pro-Black policies ️
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I frequently hear today's Black media voices tell me I'm not allowed to critique, analyze or question the policies that affect me and my family.
That's bs. I have an econ degree, sue mayor's over accountability, if I'm not qualified to ask for specific policy goals who tf is?
Again, the Black leaders of the 1800s would be rolling in their graves at the idea they can't have an opinion about policies in a democracy.
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So while Trump's campaign photo op IS heinous and disrespectful it's not in the least bit surprising. The guy is a prick.
It's reported the photo op occurred at the grave site of the last two vets killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
I hope the cemetery's long history as a slave plantation turned slavery refuge camp is also told this week. Disrespecting this history is imo potentially even more sinister than a bad "support the troops" photo op.
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Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:replied to nullagent last edited by
@nullagent
Today I learned about the Freedmen's Bank, assuming I hadn't read about it in the past and forgotten about it. Thanks.