Division In American History

American History has been filled with countless of hardships such as wars, political division, and racial struggles. In the more recent months it seems that instead of moving forward and away from these past hardships, the country is moving backwards into a new time of division. The division is coherent with social tension and division within the political parties. If a person didn’t live through certain events, then it’s easy for them to stay in the same retrospective cycle. When looking at past events, it’s evident that there are certain ideologies that have stayed prevalent and currently, we see an evolved way that these same ideologies have manifested in modern day events. There is clear evidence that there is a historical antecedent to
modern events and in a way that makes us wonder if history really is repeating itself. The issues among the candidates have only added fuel to the social issues that have existed and have caused conflict for decades in America.
For example, probably the most controversial one at the moment has to do with the movement known as Black Lives Matter, which is a campaign against the violence towards African Americans, specifically the fight against what many believe to be the justice system’s unfair targeting of African American versus Caucasian Americans. The oppression of African Americans dates back to the beginning of the reconstruction of America, specifically to the enslavement of the Africans during the 1600’s, which was when it was first introduced to North America. The end of the Civil War meant two things, the passing of the Thirteenth amendment which meant that “the nearly four million enslaved people in the South before the Civil War (American Horizons, 567)” were now able to reconstruct their lives and also the Fourteenth Amendment, which was the “constitutional amendment that guaranteed national citizenship and equality to former slaves, but offered no specific protection of freed people’s voting rights” (American Horizons, G7). Although African Americans were technically no longer considered slaves thanks to the thirteenth amendment, the fourteenth amendment had was not clear enough in outlining how African Americans were to receive equal rights when it came to political aspects, for example, voting. There were prevalent social inequalities that
still seemed to exist and the social standings of African Americans at the time, although they were now free people, they were still unequal. The existing stereotype of African Americans derived from the negative association that has followed them and caused members of society to unconsciously continue to follow the negative stigma. For example, when people think of African Americans they associate them with words like thug or criminal and on the other hand, whites are associated with more a more positive and respectful viewpoint. Important civil rights activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X differed in the way they led their movements, but they each called for basic needs for African Americans and for their prosperity in America. This was nearly 60 years ago and currently many believe that African Americans are still being deprived of what was promised in the fourteenth amendment which was the guaranteed equality of all.
Currently, police brutality against African Americans demonstrates that not much has changed after the Civil Rights movement after all.
The thing that one can take away from our history is that race has played a factor in the way people interact with one another and this is still being seen. The way people are being treated and criminalized just because of the color of their skin seems to be taking us back to the civil rights movement. Black people have often been associated with certain stereotypes and portrayed a certain way in the media that it has led many people to demand change. There is no way that the past has not clearly affected the way we presently live. That is the primary reason why this issue has currently caused so much controversy; America has already experienced a movement that demands change and equality among all ethnicities. America has already gone through the riots and deaths due to this issue. There have been many protests and it seems like a repeat of the civil rights movement that took place in 1960’s. It’s clear that it’s hard to be completely rid of racism and it’s also hard to be completely rid of the stereotypes created by
racism.
The 2016 election season has brought a lot of tension and caused many issues but this is primarily because of the two candidates, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. These two candidates share totally contradictory mindsets and each of them seems to be representing different things. Although both candidates are probably well qualified and might have great ideas for policies, this election is going to be about the social aspect. Many people describe Donald Trump as a racist and his slogan “Make America Great Again!” demonstrates that he represents the mindset of the past since his main goal is take America back into what he considered “greatness”. His most controversial statement is when he said that he wants a wall to be built so that Mexicans can’t enter the United States illegally anymore because he referred to Mexicans as rapists. This offended a lot of people but also simultaneously brought forward a lot of supporters for Trump. On the other hand, Hilary Clinton is on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to tolerance in comparison to Trump. There is stronger amount of support coming from the younger age groups for her than for Trump. Her slogan “Love Trumps Hate” demonstrates how she aims to win her voters over with showing a clear contrast between Trump’s controversial remarks and her “love” filled ones. Although it seems like there is just a divide between the Democratic and the Republican Party there has recently been a split among the Democratic Party. The two main candidates for the Democratic Party were Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton. Although the official Democratic candidate is Hilary Clinton, many of the millennial generation were in favor of Bernie Sanders because of his progressive thinking and his hopes for the country; he especially spoke for the lower class Americans and his hopes to help them. Hilary is often described as a crook by Bernie supporters. The Bernie supports say that they only wish to see someone that truly has the best interest in the lower class Americans, whom are often forgotten or ignored by big money. This resembles when the Populist Party existed, which was also known as the “People’s Party”. The beginning of the party came from the “frustration by the unwillingness of Republicans and Democrats to enact any significant reform, farmers in 1892 created a national People’s Party, its agenda summarized by the slogan, ‘equal rights to all, special privilege to none’…which offered an alternative party with a clearly articulated reform agenda”( Schallar,669). The creation of the third party was only after the lower class Americans such as the farmers, grew tired of feeling as if their needs were not being met by either party. Coming back to current day, after it became clear to many that Bernie Sanders would not be able to beat Hilary in the primaries, the division of the Democratic Party began. Many people urged Sanders to run as an independent party, but ultimately that would only divide the Democratic vote, which would make it harder for either candidate to win. It’s evident that there has been a divide among the Democratic Party for decades. There are the Democrats that have money and are well off and there are the Democrats that have to work hard to make ends meet which probably represents the larger portion of the party. Although the Populist Party eventually merged into the Democratic Party, there have always been those people that agree with neither Democrats nor Republicans. The tension only increased when leaked e-mails showing that the Democratic Party favored Clinton throughout the primaries. This intensified Sander’s popularity among the lower class because he became what people thought to be a symbol of hope against the corrupt political system that is in favor of the wealthier classes. If it weren’t for Bernie Sander’s endorsement for Hilary at the DNC, the party would’ve probably continued on its road to division, and the possible creation of the Populist Party, round two. Ultimately, our past events have only made it that much clear that our current circumstances are paralleled. The social struggles for African Americans in regards to being given the same treatment as a white man that we see today are a clear link to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. Along with that, the divisions among the Democratic Party are the same issues as to why the Populist Party even started in the late 1800’s. The only way to actually see change in our history is if the focus is on ways to defuse the growing social tensions challenging us more and more each day.