Historical account of racism

 On a Thursday, December 1, 1870, when the last ship loaded with blacks robbed of their immense freedom and land, arrived on the coast of Haiti, where French rule predominated, and after approximately 250 years of complete crimes committed by ships of Insatiable pirates and unscrupulous traffickers who ravaged the coasts of West Africa, penetrating into Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola, when they were only sketches of organized nations, entire peoples that inhabited the along the rivers and in the savannas that were part of the Greater Mali Empire. As José Ramón Burgos mentions, in his article called “El ultimo Mandingo”; It seemed that the day would finally come when the black man would take back the essence of him, as a person, as a citizen, as a human.

Now, I know that the main issue was Afro-Colombians, however, I have to do this work in conjunction with Afro-Americans, since the racial struggle is not only limited to our territory, the multitude of African ethnic groups and cultures violated in this horrible Historical event shows that the multiculturalism that we have today is due to the fact that the peoples that made up our territory are not limited to a single African ethnic group, for that reason, at the American level I believe that it is convenient to carry out the work in question since, the Spanish control over The new grenade is beginning to crumble with the new laws and protections that are being recovered by those who were once enslaved.

However, this story begins long before this great event that would create a before and after in the history of the black race; In the 1600s, when the first English settlers arrived on the American continent, more precisely on the island of Roanoke, now North Carolina, United States, little more than 150 people arrived, who disappeared without leaving any trace. The first English settlement that managed to successfully survive the precarious climate, the constant struggles with the Native American Indians and the Spanish in the extensive struggle for power and consequently for territory, was the settlement of Jamestown, now James County. City, Virginia; that takes its name in honor of the king of that moment James II. Their stay in the American territory was not the most pleasant, since many died of starvation, and the few who survived had to resort to cannibalism, which was discovered in the remains of a girl of only 14 years, her skull and long bones. Like the femur, they had deep cut marks, assimilating the cut of the muscles of the bones.

Although the relationship of the English settlers and the Amerindians was not the most pleasant, the story would change with the marriage of John Rolfe and Lady Rebecca Rolfe, or better known and taken for multiple films and stories, Pocahontas. This union led to a progress in the relationship between the English colonists and the natives, however, they still did not trust each other. The fact that Pocahontas will save John Smith at age 11 according to history, was the predecessor of all this intercultural and interracial combination. With the expansion of the English and the decline of the natives, there was still the problem whereby the first settlers died, they did not know how to cope with a new life without the hand of the monarchy, that is, they did not have the ability to live off agriculture and livestock. With the union of the native people and the English people, this situation was lessened a little, however, the English monarchy in its quest to complete its takeover of the American territory embarked new colonies, and when these were already established, they began to reach out. of black work that had only been discovered for a few years.

In the first moment of rapprochement between the English and the African peoples, they were victims of racism and xenophobia. As it is described in the article, "Racism in the United States: challenges in the contemporary world" by Laura M. "The colonizers saw their encounter with Afro-descendants as a divine response to strong and sometimes inhuman labor", "They were beings uncivilized, grotesque, coming from evil and creators of perversion ”, this prejudice was instilled from generation to generation, and what today we call white supremacy, is nothing more than the answer that the colonists found to prosper in a territory that did not belong to them. and which they wanted to conquer in all their senses.

In Colombian territory, the first slave to rebel against the system was Benkos Biohó, or as his captors Domingo Biohó put him, this fighter for the rights of blacks was of monarchical origin in his hometown, hence his influence on the other enslaved was forceful, at the time of arriving in American lands he met with several relatives and acquaintances of his native town, who would help him in the next few years to escape his sentence towards freedom, this had the name of maroon, which at first meant something similar to "domestic animals that had escaped from their masters and had returned to their wild life", this term With the passing of the years it took a new course since the "maroons" adopted it as a doctrine, a lifestyle and an attitude of strong character of the people against the slave system.

Throughout history very few people dared to go against these ideologies imposed by the colonists, and those who did ended with a tragic end to their lives. Years passed, and the life of the black was imposed by the white; In each of the states that made up the USA, slavery was legal, blacks were sold like cattle, and they had no rights whatsoever. The 16th president of the United States Abraham Lincoln, completely abhorred slavery, however, he did not have a strong hand to completely eliminate it, he reached an agreement in which, the states where slavery was legalized by tradition would not change, but the new states that were to be constituted later would not have any slaves, in order to avoid a war which would happen a few years later between the northern and southern states, to preserve the slave system.

The end of this war would come with a famous phrase: "all persons kept as slaves in any State ... in which the constitutional authority of the United States is not therefore recognized in practice ... free forever" with the emancipation proclamation of July 1862. Blacks would retake a small part of their freedom that was robbed of them for more than 250 years, however, this fact, as I mentioned above, had a tragic end, in which the president was assassinated in His murderer was a sympathizer of the southern states, who were "harmed" by the abolition of slavery, since their main source of income depended on agriculture and consequently on black labor. At this time the blacks finally had their freedom, but not their citizenship, they still took them as soulless beasts. At this moment in history is where we can most denote the unfounded racism by the English colonists , and now with a greater repudiation and hatred of the whites for their situation in the coming years without the slave system.

After this event, several years of struggle of the Afro communities passed, against civil rights, several activists appeared on the scene such as: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and one of the most influential due to his transcendental history in sport and In the social problems that plagued blacks in the United States, the champion who had his championship taken from him for refusing to be drafted into the army, Muhammad Ali, or known in his career as a rights activist Cassius Marcellus Clay. And you wonder why I mention the boxer if he was not a high-class thinker? It's because he was too influential in consolidating civil rights for Afro-Americans. His world fame for the boxing championship led him to have a strong voice in front of many communities and for this reason he led him to be an activist who had a "protection" for the fame acquired from him. The aforementioned were great activists for rights, however, they had a tragic end for their constant struggle.

In our territory, there was also an athlete who broke racist paradigms and put the world's eye on the territory that was once founded by Benkos Biohó, that was Antonio Cervantes Reyes better known as "Kid Pambelé", the first boxing champion in Colombia , originally from San Basilio de Palenque, although he is a slightly more modern character, I emphasize his importance in terms of the conception of Afro communities in Colombia, since, at the beginning of his career, there was very little support that received by the same government, which is currently the case with almost all athletes, such as Egan Bernal who received almost no support from the government, and at the time he won in his discipline if he is received as a national hero and the state is fills his mouth alluding to his unconditional support for national athletes. The same situation happened with "Kid", at the time he was champion, the government put its eyes on the people that had been little recognized by Colombian society, and that today is recognized as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by the Unesco.

The discrimination "ended" in 1965 with the law that took place in the presidency of the 36th president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, it should be noted that he only finished the work that his predecessor John F. Kennedy had started. And who curiously also had a tragic end due to the ideologies of and his support to the Afro community. With this new milestone in history, Afro communities obtained their citizenship and therefore their essence as human beings, however, I want to mention the case of Stokely Carmichael, who was the first black to enter the University of Los Angeles, Every day he had to be escorted by members of the police since he was the object of racism and xenophobia, and by first I do not mean that he was the first to enter the university, since at that time and to this day, the community Afro has very few possibilities of study without having the economic and purchasing power. The only blacks who could enter to study were artists and athletes, they do not recognize the intellectual capacity of their community, they give scholarships only to basketball or football players, this is the path of low-income children, to be a good player to be able to have the opportunity to obtain a scholarship in a university.

My intention with this historical review of the Afro community is not to justify the actions that are carried out by the whites on the blacks, but rather, it is to demonstrate how influential enough communities have existed to overcome prejudices about the blacks; the first English settlers, the merchants of the southern states who based their economy on the slave system, and all those people who believe that white supremacy is absolute.