Early 2016, a Daily Mail article reported on a December 2014 Psychological Science study on intelligence, ideology and prejudice by Kristof Dhont and Gordon Hodson. Daily Mail: “Right-wingers tend to be less intelligent than left-wingers, and people with low childhood intelligence tend to grow up to have racist and anti-gay views, says a controversial new study. Conservative politics work almost as a ‘gateway’ into prejudice against others, say the Canadian academics”.
On 18 July 2016, Republican Congressman Steve King was asked by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, about the predominantly white makeup of the Republican Party. Steve King said: “This whole ‘old white people’ business does get a little tired, Charlie. I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about? Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization? “Than white people?” Mr. Hayes asked. Steve King responded: “Than Western civilization itself that’s rooted in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. That’s all of Western civilization.” (eg, NYT)
Mr King’s statement displays a rock solid belief in White Supremacy. Also see my 11 November 2015 blog on Black Twitter vs White Supremacy. Many whites will consciously or subconsciously share Steve King’s view. Sharing this opinion in public might either be seen as honesty or ignorance, depending on your own political views. But what about the facts??
European (read: white) colonisation of the USA began in the 16th century, with Great Britain establishing thirteen colonies along the East Coast (Wiki). The native American population and its legacy is mostly overlooked in US history. From a political point of view, U.S. history starts with the discovery by Columbus (Italian) in 1492 and the subsequent arrival of European settlers.
A highly interesting 3 minute Nature video about the History of Urbanisation from 3700 BC to 2000 AD suddenly revealed an ancient (ca. 600-1400 AD) huge North American settlement of which I was totally unaware. The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site near the city of Saint Louis “was the largest and the most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1000 years before European contact”. (Wiki)
To understand this significance, you should realise that “Cahokia’s population at its peak in the 13th century, an estimated 40,000, would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until the late 18th century. Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico” (Wiki).
A list of relevant contributions to modern society by non-whites / non-Europeans would include:
- The origin of humans and modern languages, the invention of fire, medicine, ships, timekeeping and tools: Africa including Egypt
- The origin of Jesus and Abrahamic religions, the invention of mathematics, weights & measurements, and the wheel: Middle East
- The invention of compass, papermaking, printing (press), gunpowder: China
- The invention of mathematics, numeral system, steel: India
White Supremacy is neither a fact-of-life, nor an opinion, and certainly not the Truth. It is a Philosophical Belief system, firmly rooted in its past achievements, guarded by a continued separation between Politics and Religion, pushed by Money and Science, and only threatened by Greed, Ignorance and a lack of Love for people and planet. (Black Twitter vs White Supremacy)
Only when human history starts 240 years ago (1776) then Steve King indeed has a point.
Winter in America (1974) by Gil Scott-Heron
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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