birth of a nation, a landmark film that came out in 1915. black people were portrayed in a very demeaning manner. and the ku klux klan as heroes. birth of a nation attests to the purity and chastity of white women. and black men mixing with white women is a distinct taboo. which often did result in the death of the black men. the film became pretty much of a national phenomenon.
it brought home just how pervasive racism was in the united states and in the social system. historians often refer to the early part of the 20th century in america as the low point of race relations. african americans are under attack in all different quarters and all parts of the union. this is an era where the nature of lynchings are getting more and more barbaric. lynching is a form of domestic terrorism that targeted primarily african americans. in events to which people brought their children, lynching was widespread in the united states. that there would be such a film like birth of a nation produced at the time, neither shocks nor surprises me.
moments in american history, and outside of the lincoln memorial and lincoln s listening to it, right, is martin luther king saying, i have a dream. so it is a century after his gettiesburg address, exactly. he s listening in a photo of atherton what s going on. the klan in 1925 with you know their history from birth of a nation, gone with the wind. they added to their portfolio. they said, we can be anti-immigrant and anti-catholic and anti-jewish as well as anti-black. swelled to 4 million population. controlled the southern half of alabama. they were able to march in by the thousands and thousands and the next day they went to arlington, burned a 80-foot cross singing onward christian
i don t think it is a reiteration of something. this is a continuation. and it s a continuation that really began since reconstruction with birth of a nation. i m going to take it all the way back there. the very first thing was set up a structure of white grievance like they were coming to get you and that message has been used a variety of ways. this is not new. that everything is discriminated against white people and this goes back to. 1865 1866. so, this is jesse helms versus heart mcgahn. the ad where the black hand takes away the white guys paycheck. this is a distillation of white grievance politics we have seen. and i guess kudos to actually distilling it that well but. this is the kind of that we see all the time. and it s just racism. again, in georgia
does stephen miller want voters to vote for herschel walker or do they prefer they vote for a white candidate? i don t know. i think stephen miller is throwing stuff against the wall to sow what sticks. no, i think this is calculated. but i will say this. i don t think it is a, you know, a sort of reiteration of something. this is a continuation of something. oh, yeah. and it s a continuation that really began since reconstruction, with birth of a nation. i m going the take it all the way back there. the very first thing they did is set up structure of white grievance. black people are coming. they re coming to get you. and that message has been used over and over again in a variety of different ways. stephen miller is just the latest of the continuation. this is not new. white grievance politics and the idea that anything everything is discriminate night against white people and giving blacks special rights. this goes back to andrew johnson vetoing the civil rights act