LBJ: "If you can convince the lowest white man that he’s better than the best colored man, he ..."

[appalachiablue]

69. Keeping lower groups divided has always been the goal of those in power since their unity

means a challenge to the status quo. And unfortunately there's still animosity throughout the world, between people who are different in terms of class, race, income, education and social status. In the 1600s colonial legislators and governors soon realized how African slaves and white indentured servants could and would unite in rebellion against authorities as happened in Va. Laws were quickly enacted to break up this scenario by granting whites small plots of land, less desirable but enough to separate them from blacks and to ally them with land owners.

Poor white Americans today are easy pawns of hate media and anti govt. spin, are beat down by decades of job loss in decayed communities, are held together by bigotry and hate derived from US institutional slavery and racism. Some cling to vestiges of earlier cultural strength. In speeches and his book "Days of Revolt" Chris Hedges lays out the dismal situation of Americans in three impoverished communities; Native American reservation life in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, unemployed inner city blacks in Camden, NJ and rural white residents of southern West Virginia. Deteriorating for generations, like many cities in the Rust belt these places have received little to no help from govt. or business.

If politicians would listen or take action and if American people became educated and organized it would be a powerful force for creating change long overdue. It would also help us prepare for the new Automation Economy that will reduce jobs in the US by 50% during the next 20 years according to Oxford Martin and other reports.