Montgomery Was Anti-Black Racism From The Start

This was out and out anti-Black racism right from the start. Even from where I’m sitting on the other side of the Atlantic this was plain to see.

As we know Montgomery, Alabama has a history of anti-Black racism; from being a major slave trading port, to a key flashpoint in the civil rights movement, to the incremental rise in white supremacy. And this is what those white folks were leaning on.

They knew exactly what they were doing. They applied their white privilege, by mooring their pontoon boat where it should not be and they had been previously instructed, long before this incident, not to moor there.

They knew the paddle boat that would moor there on its return, would be predominantly occupied by Black people. Bolstered by the “Try That in a Small Town” anthem they wanted demonstrate their white supremacy, by making the paddle boat wait until they were satisfied to let it dock. What sheer hubris!

Then when the Black official had the audacity to move their boat, they decided “enough is enough with these Black people (maybe they would have used a different epithet) now is the time to teach them a lesson, in THIS small town.”

Now here’s where it got interesting, if it had been left at the one on one altercation, if the other white people arriving on the scene were there to defuse the situation, then this would not have escalated as it did. However that was not the intent of these white bigots. Their intent was to cause a flash point, but what they didn’t expect was how badly wrong it would go for them.

Looking at this from across the Atlantic it’s clear to me that this was a situation waiting to happen somewhere in the US. That it happened in Montgomery is ironic.

Black people across the globe have had enough, Montgomery is just the start. We have seen Niger taking a stand and other African nations standing with them against the ongoing exploitation of white European and American governments and corporations. We will see more examples of Black People unifying against oppression, if something is not done to start the reconciliation and reparations process towards us and other historically oppressed peoples.

I hope that the “Hat Signal” is a wake up call for all of us to “Assemble”.

Apologies for mixing the action comic metaphors.