By Arthur Fleming
Let’s end the civil war. Really, let’s end it. As proxy warriors in one of the longest running civil wars of all time — the American Civil War. Let’s end it.
What does proxy war mean? Proxy wars are conflicts where a third party intervenes indirectly in a preexisting war in order to influence the strategic outcome in favor of a preferred faction.
The American Civil War of 1861-1865 actually never ended.
I know you are aware of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox and the ceremonies associated with the event; however, certain issues concerning African American freedmen and women were not addressed when decisions were made at Appomattox concerning transitional strategies for the newly freed Freedmen.
No education — It was against the law for enslaved African Americans to read, even with no formal education.
Our ancestors’ building of the country meant our ancestors had labor skills and abilities still in great demand by the former enslavement owners.
No food stamps — Imagine being pronounced free on a plantation where all matter of wrong had occurred, and now you must negotiate wages.
No unemployment check — only the clothes on your back and the freedom to leave, but to go where?
No bootstraps — “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps“ says the Supreme Capitalist, but to quote Martin L. King, “It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.”
Fourteen years after Juneteenth 1865, the Andrew Johnson administration gave up on African American political power as a concept, sold out our hopes and dreams of freedom, and ushered in the era of terror.
After letting the Confederate traitorous insurrectionists go free without consequences, and by abandoning the newly freed enslaved communities throughout the south, the North left the African American communities exposed to the ways of the KKK and other terrorist organizations’ deadly and suppressive activities.
This was the beginning of the fascist state of America in the south, where federal and state political power consolidated around issues related to white power and privileges.
Why did the North abandon the NEGROE South, leaving our ancestors politically defenseless?
The tensions between North and South continued after war’s end. The Northern political establishment grew tired of policing their Southern white brothers on behalf of their commitments to the African American communities promised after 1865.
Another reason for the tension was white jealousy of the African American prosperity and success, in-spite of obstacles like “Black slave codes“ that empowered Southern whites with state police power (schools to prison pipeline today). The coming together of poor whites and Blacks was seen as a threat to the Southern aristocracy.
The same fear dynamics concerning the combined power of Blacks and poor whites exists today. The Rev. William Barber now has taken the baton from MLK and leads the National Poor Peoples Campaign to address the issues that are common to Black and white communities.
The North/South political elites’ agreement concerning the African American communities’ governance structure was based on the white privileged principle of superiority.
The North and South agreed in effect to continue the Civil War with the African American communities as proxy soldiers. This was done by creating discrimination laws in finance, education, land ownership, business, and violence. This was the beginning of the North and South fascist systems, developed in the South with the North as white privileged brothers.
The unresolved issues concerning the Civil War were termed “the white man’s burden.”
African Americans call it “the Black man’s burden.”
Since that time, not much has changed in the macroeconomic sense. The North and South colluded to rewrite American history with economic redlining, over policing of African American communities, suppressing voters, introducing addictive drugs (crack), naming military bases after traitors to the country, and establishing school to prison pipelines.
The African American communities are proxy warriors in the extended American Civil War that never ended and that rages on today. As African American proxy warriors, we have some power we can apply. The African American proxy warriors have been used as symbols in political parties, churches, media portrayals, and military—If you breathe air in America, you are a proxy warrior.
Because the African American enslaved were not consulted about our American Freedman future, the white privileged agreement between North and South remains the status quo.
First, we must understand that African American communities are in a four-hundred-year abusive relationship with white America.
In “White Fragility,” Author Robin DiAngelo talks about the inabilities of white people to acknowledge their own history. Still, by becoming conscious of who and what we are, we are allowing the abuse and the abuser to evolve.
We have begun to move past the current state of white fragility to grow conscious of who and what we actually are. We are the people that can make a way outta no way. As African American proxy warriors know, you are the symbol and the embodiment of American freedom. Your proxy power is in your knowing from whence you came.
As proxy warriors, the African American communities want what’s promised in the Constitution of the United States of America. The African American community wants access to the ballot minus voter suppression. The community wants real American history taught in schools, not the current suppressed versions that leave Black children feeling less than. We want health care for our communities, not the big pharmaceutical weighted system we have now.
As proxy warriors, these are just some of the issues worth fighting for. The African American communities, per the proxy war definition, must seek to influence our political leadership to choose American values stated in the Constitution over the current fascist values being displayed by many political influencers.
I grew up around a wood stove. The warmth and fire from that stove still burns in me today. The fire that burns in me today is Freedom Rides 2.0. Let’s gather wood for the Freedom Rides 2.0 fire and shine a light on our political power and political rights.
As African American proxy warriors in this great American experiment, know that you are America. Make it what you want. Make it what you will.
Arthur Fleming can be found on Facebook at Dallas Civil Rights Issues Group and reached at pflashs@hotmail.com.
Great editorial. Proxy warriors in this extended American Civil war..Thank you for sharing!