The COVID-19 Jim Crow

Fri, Jun 18th 2021, 07:30 AM

Dear Editor, Within days of Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis' announcement of a forthcoming vaccination day for fully vaccinated Bahamians - in which the state will unwittingly carry out discriminatory measures against unvaccinated Bahamians - the United States Congress passed legislation which officially recognizes June 19 as a federal holiday.

In Congress, 415 lawmakers voted in favor of the holiday, while 14 Republicans voted against the bill. The holiday is named Juneteenth, which was officially signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 17. Juneteenth is now the 11th federal holiday in the United States, with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, ironically, being the 10th.
On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger announced to a group of African American slaves that the Civil War was over and that they were now free. Juneteenth came approximately two months after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at the hands of a Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth.
A legend in his own right, Lincoln, unfortunately, has been excoriated by certain African American historians, such as the late Lerone Bennett, Jr., author of “Before the Mayflower”.
I view Juneteenth as the fulfillment of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. Jim Crow, named after a condescending stage minstrel play by Thomas Dartmouth Rice, was a system aimed at undermining, not only the Emancipation Proclamation, but also Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
Amazingly, the repressive system of Jim Crow would span a century, from about 1865 to 1968. Its legislative demise was due to the Brown vs the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling in 1954; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
The gist of the court ruling and the three legislations is that discrimination against Black people is unconstitutional. In the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, who was also a slaveholder, all men are created equal.
Jim Crow was aimed at severely restricting the civil liberties of the newly freed slaves, while Confederates worked feverishly in implementing segregation barriers throughout the Deep South. African Americans who defied Jim Crow faced violence, and in many cases, death via lynching. Jim Crow was state sponsored discrimination carried to its logical conclusion. African Americans were made to feel inferior to White people.
Minnis’ vaccination day, while I understand what he’s attempting to accomplish, is an eerie reminder of Jim Crow, albeit a mild form. I honestly believe that this Free National Movement (FNM) government is under duress from powerful external forces to achieve herd immunity, or else. While Biden has gone on record in stating that COVID-19 vaccination will not be mandatory, he has declared that June is a month of action to get more Americans vaccinated by Independence Day, July 4, in order to enjoy the so-called summer of freedom.

In Congress, 415 lawmakers voted in favor of the holiday, while 14 Republicans voted against the bill. The holiday is named Juneteenth, which was officially signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 17. Juneteenth is now the 11th federal holiday in the United States, with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, ironically, being the 10th.

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger announced to a group of African American slaves that the Civil War was over and that they were now free. Juneteenth came approximately two months after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at the hands of a Confederate sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth.

A legend in his own right, Lincoln, unfortunately, has been excoriated by certain African American historians, such as the late Lerone Bennett, Jr., author of “Before the Mayflower”.

I view Juneteenth as the fulfillment of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. Jim Crow, named after a condescending stage minstrel play by Thomas Dartmouth Rice, was a system aimed at undermining, not only the Emancipation Proclamation, but also Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.

Amazingly, the repressive system of Jim Crow would span a century, from about 1865 to 1968. Its legislative demise was due to the Brown vs the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling in 1954; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

The gist of the court ruling and the three legislations is that discrimination against Black people is unconstitutional. In the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, who was also a slaveholder, all men are created equal.

Jim Crow was aimed at severely restricting the civil liberties of the newly freed slaves, while Confederates worked feverishly in implementing segregation barriers throughout the Deep South. African Americans who defied Jim Crow faced violence, and in many cases, death via lynching. Jim Crow was state sponsored discrimination carried to its logical conclusion. African Americans were made to feel inferior to White people.

Minnis’ vaccination day, while I understand what he’s attempting to accomplish, is an eerie reminder of Jim Crow, albeit a mild form. I honestly believe that this Free National Movement (FNM) government is under duress from powerful external forces to achieve herd immunity, or else. While Biden has gone on record in stating that COVID-19 vaccination will not be mandatory, he has declared that June is a month of action to get more Americans vaccinated by Independence Day, July 4, in order to enjoy the so-called summer of freedom.

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