Thomas Jefferson Father of White Supremacy ~~ Kermit O

http://kermito.com/blog/thomas-jefferson-father-of-white-supremacy/

Part:

When you hear the name Thomas Jefferson, it is likely followed by “founding father”, “hero”, “patriot”, and other such reverent terms. Amongst the mildly critical—or anyone not in complete denial—you’ll hear it acknowledged that he was also a slaver, and that there were some inherent contradictions between this and the idea that “All men are created equal”. The more critical still may point out that he was also a rapist, in that his relationship with Sally Hemmings was a matter of obligation for her, as she was his “property”.

Those truly willing to look at the man, that is the reality versus the myth, will point out that Jefferson was not even exceptional amongst his peers, for his time, or for what he purportedly accomplished. The Zinn Education Project, for example, points out how the Declaration of Independence was not some landmark achievement by Jefferson, but a sort of amalgam of pre-existing statements being made throughout the colonies. And not just a few. Historian Ray Raphael notes:

"In 1997, Pauline Maier published American Scripture, where she

uncovered 90 state and local “declarations of independence” that

preceded the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The consequence of

this historical tidbit is profound: Jefferson was not a lonely genius

conjuring his notions from the ether; he was part of a nationwide political

upheaval. Again, textbook writers have watered down the legend while

missing the main point. Many now state that Jefferson was part of a

five-man congressional committee, but they include no word of those

90 documents produced in less-famous chambers."

However, something few critics seem to note is how Thomas Jefferson

should also be considered one of the Founding Fathers of white supremacy.

Obviously he was a white supremacist in that he claimed enslaved Africans

as property, but it goes beyond that. White supremacy is a multifaceted

ideology that pervades every sector of Western culture and society – in the

US, Europe, and the present and former colonies of both. It encompasses

many ideas, all to do with the explicit or implicit claim that white people

are superior to others in all domains, from beauty to intelligence to

reasoning to creativity, and that this superiority is inherent, biological,

immutable. And, all of these ideas, insofar as they have been put into print,

may find their origins in a book published by Thomas Jefferson in 1785,

called Notes on the State of Virginia.

While we’re discussing Jefferson’s singular achievements, we should take

note that Notes was the only full-length book that Jefferson ever published

in his lifetime. The book discusses a number of topics, but of interest here

is Query XIV: Laws, wherein Jefferson discusses slavery, and in particular,

the inferior nature of black people. I will excerpt the chapter in chunks and

comment on each one, in part just to translate his antiquated English into a

more modern vernacular.

I also aim to demonstrate that nearly every white supremacist idea, claim,

or rationale, can be found in this one chapter, in this one book, again the

only book that Jefferson ever published. While the things that Jefferson

wrote are extremely—I mean truly, mind-blowingly—offensive, I find Notes

almost humorous in how explicit, thorough, and in his mind “scientific”,

he is in his reasoning. For what it illuminates about US history, and what

it suggests about the ideological foundations of the country, I think Notes

might be one of the most important books ever written.

........"