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Divide or Unite? Racism and Power
How those in power use racial conflict as a means of control
Note: I provide links to all of my sources. They are underlined and in boldface. I want my readers to be able to check out all sources for themselves.
There are two ways to lead people — either you divide-and-conquer, or you unite and build up. This has been true since Roman times.
Julius Cesar notoriously used this strategy to conquer Gaul twenty two centuries ago. The Latin phrase for it was Divide et impera.
It is a moral strategy?
According to Nicolo Machiavelli, “politics have no relations to morals”. He also said, “one who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.”
Origins of black skin being associated with slavery in America
In the United States, divide-and-conquer was used by the Southern planter class originally to drive a wall between white and black workers. The consequent association of black skin with slavery was one of the sins of early American history and we continue to pay a price for this injustice today.
In the early colonial period, both blacks and whites were kept as indentured servants. Many of the white workers came…
