The History of Systemic White Supremacy

White supremacy is a belief that the white race is superior over every other race and should therefore be dominant over these "lesser" races. However, this belief held by some white people who are racist is systemic and permeates into every aspect of our lives including, education, media, law, religion , politics, economics, science etc. I am going to explore the history of systematic white supremacy.

Slavery

The first systematic act of white supremacy was started by the Portuguese in 1441. Portuguese explorer Antão Gonçalves was the first European to buy Africans as slaves. This started a whole institution which would last for 400 years. Other European countries became involved in the slave trade including, Spain, UK, France and Holland.

During the trans Atlantic slave trade, Africans were kidnapped from their lands to never see their homes, family and friends ever again. They were marched to the coast and were branded with hot irons. They were forced into slave dungeons in cramped conditions until a slave ship came to the coast to transport them. They were also cramped on the ships, and had to urinate, defacate and vomit where they were. It's estimated that 2/3 of them died due to the inhumane conditions.

Europeans stripped enslaved Africans of their African identity. Their African names were taken and they were given European names. They were beaten if they spoke their native tongue and were forced to speak the language of their oppressor. They were banned from practicing their own religion and were forcibly converted to Christianity where they had to pray to images of white Jesus. Africans were not allowed to read, if a slave could read and their slave owner found out they would be killed, this was a form of mind control. Multiple slaves were not allowed to gather together without a white person being present. Women were repeatedly raped. Men were also raped (this was called buck breaking),  slave owners would get their most rebellious male slave then anally rape him in front of his wife, children, and the rest of the slaves on the plantation to emasculate him.  Families were often split up, an enslaved women could have her children sold off to other plantations to never see them again. If a slave tried to runaway and got caught they would be brutally punished, this included getting whipped or having body parts chopped off. There were also breeding farms where the stronger, healthy enslaved Africans were forced to have sex with each other so that they could reproduce many children.

Scientists used pseudo science to "prove" that black people were inferior. In 1851, an American Physician, Samuel A Cartwright said that slaves that ran away had a mental condition called  Drapetomania. Slaves were also used for medical experiments. James Marion Sims, also known as the father of gynaecology was a physician who used to do experiments on enslaved African women, without using anaesthesia, many of whom died. He believed that black people could not feel pain. This is a notion which is still prevalent by people in the medical field today.

Enslaved Africans were told that they were less than humans, they were ugly and savages that needed "civilising". Europeans forced the belief that being white was superior, pure and beautiful. This was the beginning of the indoctrination and brainwashing of black people to develop an inferiority complex which unfortunately exists within some black people till this day. Slavery ended in different colonies between 1838 - 1888, but the effects of this remained long lasting.

Colonisation and the Scramble of Africa

As slavery ended the colonisation of Africa by Europeans began. In 1884, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck organised the Berlin Conference. The purpose of this conference was for European nations to decide which parts of Africa they would control. This was supposed to stop wars amongst the Europeans over land. There were 14 European countries involved including  France, UK, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, USA plus more. No African was involved. When dividing Africa, they totally ignored the different cultures and ethnic groups. This led people who were from the same tribe to be on opposite sides of the border, and people from different tribes now being within the same borders. By 1914 90% of Africa had been colonised and Africa had been divided into 50 Countries. Liberia and Ethiopia were the only nations that were independent. The boundaries/borders created in this conference still remain today. It has also been the cause of conflict and division in Africa.

Europeans colonised Africa by using force and violence.  They imposed their way of life on Africans such as their language and religion. They also imposed their ideologies such as whites being superior. They forced their culture onto Africans, while disregarding the culture already in Africa. They were also stealing natural resources from Africa. There were also multiple massacres committed by Europeans, one example is  King Leopold II of Belgium who was responsible for the deaths of over 10 million Congolese people.

The decolonisation of Africa happened between the 1950's - 1975 when Africans fought the Europeans for their independence. Many African leaders who either successfully led their countries to independence or wanted to separate their countries from European influence in order to progress, were often killed or removed by European powers. This included leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Patrice Lumumba of Congo,  Thomas Sanakara of Burkina Faso as well a many others. European powers would then put their corrupted African "Puppets" who would follow their agendas, to lead these countries so that they could continue to steal resources from Africa, and keep Africa underdeveloped.

Unfortunately the legacy of slavery and colonisation and its affects still exists. When Haiti successfully gained independence from France in 1804, the French made Haiti pay them 90 million Francs (equivalent to $21 billion) for their "loss of slaves". Haiti only finished paying this in 1947. French colonies in Africa are are still obliged to pay a colonial tax to France which amounts to $500billion per year. Up until 2015, in the UK the British government were using taxpayers money to pay slave owners and their descendants for compensation after slavery was abolished. The enslaved Africans did not get a penny.

This is the reason why Africa is not as rich as Europe and has a higher rate of poverty. Europe and America would not be rich if it wasn't for Africa. The wealth of the west comes from slavery, looting and the pillaging of Africa. That is why we shouldn't judge Africa of African people by European standards. The racist ideology that black people are inferior has spread worldwide, hence why black people are the most disrespected race on the planet. No matter where black people are in the world, whether Europe, the America's, Asia or Australasia, they face discrimination and maltreatment.  Anti-blackness is global and even exists within the black community. This is a narrative that needs to change. My next blog post will explore how the legacy of slavery and colonisation affects black people today.