By State Representative Mesha Mainor (D-Atlanta)
(723 words)
On the heels of celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and as we prepare to celebrate Black History Month, I have been reflecting on the ideal of non-violence and the notion that compromise does not require bloodshed. Although violence has collectively decreased on the streets of America compared to the bloody times of the Civil Rights Movement, inhumane policies still exist. Black people are no longer thrown across streets with the powerful force of water for the color of their skin. Japanese, Italians and Germans are no longer incarcerated for their ancestry after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 was repealed. Chinese individuals are no longer barred from immigration based on the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. But, Mexican, Caribbean and Latin American individuals are still excluded from immigration rights unlike other countries due to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which is commonly known as the Hart-Celler Act. Yet, even President Lyndon B. Johnson, recognized that our American democratic values are in constant change when he stated that some laws “repair a very deep and painful flaw in the fabric of American justice. It corrects a cruel and enduring wrong into the conduct of the American Nation.” Republican President Ronald Reagan also recognized the errors in policy that U.S. leaders sometimes make by issuing a public apology on behalf of the government and authorized reparations for Japanese Americans and their descendants in 1988 following mass imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
Republican President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in 1865 with the 13th Amendment. He once stated, “In the first place, I insist that our fathers did not make this nation half slave and half free, or part slave and part free. I insist that they found the institution on slavery existing here. They did not make it so, but they left it so because they knew of no way to get rid of it at that time.” President Lincoln also said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
In 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney declared in the Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court decision that slaves on American soil were not U.S. citizens, but commerce. A Black woman, man or child were property by law under the Fifth Amendment, and that any law that would deprive a slave owner of that property was unconstitutional. Furthermore, in 1887, Congress enacted a law to help some Native Americans become citizens, and it was not until 1924 when all Native Americans were recognized as citizens. It was not until 2018, four years ago, that American Samoan people were almost recognized as citizens even after giving up their country’s rights to America in 1900. American Samoa is the only unincorporated territory of the United States where the inhabitants are not American citizens at birth. They cannot vote and hold a non-voting seat in Congress.
Prejudice against race and culture are not the only systemic determinants of your place in America. The LGBTQ+ community was struck with fear during the rapid spread of HIV in the 1980s. There are at least 28 states with laws that criminalize and demonize people based on their sexual preference. Women have also been minimized in systemic stagnant patterns. Women did not gain the right to vote until 1920, while white men have been voting in presidential elections since 1788, which is 132 years earlier than women. In addition, unruly policing and redlining occurs many times. Women are grossly underrepresented in leadership and elected positions. Persons represented by the LGBTQ+ community are slain in city parks without justice.
Critical race theory legislation was recently introduced during the 2022 legislative session and could threaten a school’s ability to teach this important history if it is passed and signed into law. My fellow Georgians and Americans, circumstances have led us to 2022 and the evolution of new thought. Compromise is essential because, without it, we may never all get along. Masking history is foolish because you deny yourself, your heritage, your forefathers and the building of our great nation, the United States of America.
Representative Mesha Mainor represents the citizens on District 56, which includes portions of Fulton County. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 and currently serves on the Education, Governmental Affairs and State Planning & Community Affairs committees.
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