America’s Evolution Toward Equality and Today’s Backsliding Under Mr. Trump

Despite reference to the “creator,” this is arguably the most revolutionary secular sentence penned to parchment in the annals of humankind. Most will immediately recognize the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence. The universality of the Framer’s prose has been embraced by throngs of people in disparate cultures for over two centuries. However, the aspirations manifest in this simple, yet enormously powerful sentence is tragically still unrealized for many American citizens. Thankfully, our understanding of the meaning of the first sentence, the remainder of the Declaration, and its offspring, the Constitution, has evolved, but only haltingly over more than two centuries. The often-repeated MAGA talking point that white people are a disadvantaged majority is not supported by the historical record.

There were several in the Continental Congress who despised the very idea of slavery; they ultimately made a pact with the devil. The issue of Black bondage was placed on-the-backburner in the interests of the future establishment of the world’s first constitutional democracy. By some estimates, the price of freedom from British oppression for the 13 colonies was the continued enslavement of nearly 150,000 persons. That number eventually swelled to as many as 4,000,000 in the following 87 years — until President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Often forgotten history, five thousand black men fought in George Washington’s army in integrated units. The terrible irony is all too apparent.

Although finally corrected in the modern era, individual Black slaves were enshrined into the US Constitution as 3/5ths of a white man by the Electoral College. The right-wing position that the Electoral College had nothing to do with slavery is a lie. Despite its clearly racist leanings, the system did have the notable distinction of being the first in recorded human history to elect a national leader via a democratic process. The Civil War’s arguable aim to “set men free” cost as many as 750,000 lives on both sides. Of those, 179,000 Black men wore Union blue, and 40,000 of that number died. Tragically, the conflict that was meant to bring freedom to those who most needed it ultimately failed to deliver on its promise. The southern states eventually developed the outrageous “Jim Crow” laws that promulgated the heinous notion of “separate but equal.” The midnight lynching activities of the KKK were eventually burned into the national consciousness.

Blacks were no longer slaves, but they were clearly not equal under the law either. Poll taxes and voter-ID laws all had the effect of suppressing the black vote. Slavery may have been outlawed, but obvious systemic racism was subsequently codified in jurisprudence. This evolutionary change from slavery to second-class citizen status was dreadful, falling far short of the stated objective of equality. The long-time-in-coming 1964 Civil Rights Act corrected twisted law, making it illegal to discriminate against anyone because of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” thus ending the odious policy of segregation. That act is in many ways the crowning achievement of the American Civil Rights Movement, which was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This was yet another milestone in the evolution toward making the world equal.

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 raised another marker on this arduous road. The Framers, perhaps understandably, could not have imagined in their day a black man serving in the highest office in the land. One wonders, though, why Mr. Obama could not have rightly been designated as white. He was, after all, a child of white and black parents. Why, then, is he universally considered black? Is mere appearance the ultimate qualifier?

Several years ago, I taught U.S. History to undergraduate college students. They often concluded that the Founders were men of their times: that they were flawed, as we all are, and cannot be judged by the standards and values of today. Thankfully, our society has matured in the right direction. Despite our collective failings, the aspirational words of both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution have stood the test of time and now rightly and legally include all peoples regardless of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

The scapegoating of minorities… the dismantling of checks and balances… the centralization of power… the suppression of civil dissent… the attempt to rig of elections by suppressing the Black vote… are all key indicators of a racist Oval Office. The great orator, abolitionist, and author, Frederick Douglass, perceived the Constitution as “a glorious liberty document.” Tragically, it is a wonderful aspiration that has yet to come to fruition. Under this president, America is backsliding into a fantasy world where Whites are a disadvantaged majority, an absurd narrative unsupported by the historical record.

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** Different versions of this commentary appeared in the Tampa Bay Times and then later in The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 360 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.