By Ashley Herndon
OCEANSIDE, Calif. | If any of our citizenry does not think “Plantation Capitalism” is being unleashed upon us, again, we need to review the U.S. History, not the conflated opinions of Tea Partiers, QAnons, Trumpsters, et al.
Herndon
We can begin with an easily available reference in pre-Civil War history.
In pre-Civil War days, Georgia’s Alexander Stephens, soon to become vice president of the Confederacy, delivered on March 21, 1861, the infamous “Cornerstone Speech” in Savannah.
Growing up in Georgia schools, both public and private, my classmates and I were not exposed to that diatribe, but were taught to sing “Dixie” full throatily, paying homage to losers.
The speech by Stephens was filled with bloated sickness. That sickness, though proven wrong, still exists, permeating what was a Grand Old Party, splintering it into several Us vs. Them pretenders, preaching the idea of “My way or the highway.”
Stephens
Stephens introduced the word “cornerstone” and the “Great Truth of White Supremacy’” and “Black subordination,” upon which secession and the Confederacy were based. “State’s Rights” was the bluff to elicit evil.
Jim Crow went live after Reconstruction. Like it or not, some of our states, as fast as they can, today are passing similar J Crow legislation. It is sad these misguided ideas and propaganda are using so-called “Biblical theology” while trying to take over secular institutions. They have blown every single historical try at governance by Clerical (cultural) means.
Why did we have the Reformation? Duh! It was to discontinue theological/clerical dictatorship. Authoritarians beware: as we go about our daily task and toils, more and more people are tired of those culturally abusive laws and verbiage.
Stephens preached on the foundation of “White Supremacy” untruthfully based on the evil myth that (“the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery is his “natural condition”).
Geeeeez. Stephens lost. It would behoove radicals to remember that.
Today’s remnants of the once reputable GOP want a government based on Confederate doctrines. They are trying their hardest to re-establish oligarchy. Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, South Dakota and other states have already passed laws telling women which parts of their bodies belong to the state and which are theirs to control. Wow! “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, according to recent votes. These political rebels seem to forget that.
Stephens’ theorem is based on Psalms 118:22-24: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.”
This use of scripture is not only scandalous, but sacrilegious. One of Stephen’s friends and conspirators referred to the non-plantation class as “mudsills,” that construction feature designed to support the foundation for a building. A Stephens follower said, “…the proposition that there must be, and always has been, a lower class or underclass for the upper classes and the rest of society to rest upon.”
This attempt to persuade listeners by supposed “divine laws” consigned African Americans to chattel slavery. Conspirators then, as well as now, exemplify what mis-education, mis-direction, and mis-guidance can destroy.
We supposedly are a free and independent people, capable of making our own decisions. So if someone believes there is a subset of people that are truly “mudsills,” then we are not bordering on problems; we have failed each other. Neo-fascism and authoritarianism, as some elected folks try to practice, are stealing our freedom and independence. Watch out for “Plantation Capitalism.”
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