Eugene Ardans: Slavery and what followed was a form of terrorism

Although acts of terror perpetrated by various Muslim factions frequently make the headlines, it is important to note that homegrown terrorism is as American as apple pie. For 90 years after the Civil War and Reconstruction, many fundamentalist white Christians fancied themselves the newly “Chosen People” who were tasked to carry out Mosaic law as regards manservants and maidservants (slaves).

Since they lost the war, they couldn’t make African Americans work without paying them, so they decided to terrorize them and punish any who complained. They took away their right to vote, they carried out frequent unpunished lynchings, they arrested them as “unable to show visible means of support” and sentenced them to months of labor on work farms (new plantations), they provided them with separate and unequal schools and murdered those who complained.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Eugene Ardans: Slavery and what followed was a form of terrorism."