It’s a common trend for ideologues of every stripe to look into the past and bend it to fit their theories or current political needs. Never one to buck trends, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes decided to conclude Wednesday evening’s episode of All InThis misleading comparison is made between the January 6 rioters and the white supremacist militias that attacked state capitals and killed vast swathes innocent black Americans in the Reconstruction Era.
Hayes began by highlighting the element of January 6 which, in his mind, paralleled the violence in the Reconstruction-era South, describing it as “A violent, right-wing mob storming the place of government in an attempt to overthrow it by force and refusing to concede defeat by multi-racial alliance.”
Hayes then leapt into his history lesson.
Following the end of World War II, all southern states fell under federal control. The right to vote was granted to former slaves. The south saw a new multi-racial political system: black, white and fusion elected governments at every level of the South, starting from municipal levels. There was more. They were opposed by the reactionary and white racist old guard.
Hayes then recounted the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874, where a white supremacist militia called The White League attacked the Louisiana state house, killing numerous police officers and deposing Republican officials; Hayes described them as “the Proud Boys of their time.”
He added, “And it happened just a year after the notorious Colfax Massacre — which was also in Louisiana — where the same group, The White League, captured a federal courthouse defended by an all-black militia and murdered dozens of African Americans.”
The third example was Hayes’ most dramatic, “You know, they actually succeeded in 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina. This one is — uh, less famous, less well-known. However, the mob went out on the streets killing untold amounts of black people. . .and they put unelected white men into place in the city government instead.”
Hayes concluded by placing these terrible events within his political preferred context.
Remember, those tactics, the armed violence and the coups, the attempt to overturn elected government like in Wilmington, in Wilming — it worked over time. It worked. And the free black people in the south, many of those jurisdictions, didn’t see their freedom, their true democratic rights again for another 80 years. These are the issues. That’s what happens if the mob is allowed to rule without repercussions.
Hayes is correct when describing the deplorable events that happened in New Orleans, Colfax, and Wilmington, but what makes his argument so ridiculous is the equivocation — never said out loud but always heavily implied — of white supremacists with today’s GOP.
In Hayes’s view of history, January 6 was the doing of today’s “reactionary white racist old guard” who couldn’t stand losing to the Democratic Party’s “multi-racial coalition.” For Hayes, the crowd on January 6, a portion of which later stormed the Capitol even though told by Trump to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” and an even smaller portion of which were armed, are the modern successors to white supremacist paramilitaries with enough organization and firepower to kill federal troops and successfully occupy government buildings.
January 6 was not a day for Trump and his supporters to be proud of, but to tar everyone who was there as racist terrorists trying to return America to the Jim Crow era is ridiculous, scurrilous, and further deepens the same feelings of alienation and anger that led to the storming of the Capitol in the first place.
Do better, Chris.
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MSNBC’s All in with Chris Hayes
06/29/22
8.55 PM ETCHRIS HAYES – We think of January 6th as an unprecedented event because it was in so many ways. We’d never seen the Capitol ransacked by insurrectionists. We’d never had a coup at the federal level. Which is why watching it in real time felt so surreal — like, is this actually happening?
But as we learn more about what it was, essentially a violent right-wing mob refusing to accept defeat at the ballot box by a multi-racial coalition and storming the seat of government to take it over by force, it’s clear this is actually a pre-existing script in American political life. It’s not one we’re taught in school, but this blueprint has existed in this very way, particularly in the south in the years after the Civil War.
The federal government took over southern states immediately after the war was ended. The right to vote was granted to former slaves. These places were the first to experience a new type of multi-racial coalition political: black, white and fusion elected governments across the entire south. This was at the local level as well. These governments were opposed to by the old reactionary and white racist dead guard.
And what happened in those years, again, and again and again, is the multi racial party — at that time the Republican Party — with white and black voters, they were in power, and the Democrats of the era would say elections were stolen. There was fraud. They would then form armed mobs and march against local governments to seize control of the government.
And it was fully understood at the time that’s what happened. And one newspaper, 1874, read, quote, “the condition of the south is by no means reassuring,” this of course from a Republican paper, “there is an evident determination shown in several of the states to intimidate black voters and by the process of intimidation to secure a monopoly of political power of the whites.
The story comes two days after the most famous example. The Battle of Liberty Place was a battle that took place in New Orleans on 1874. This is the prime Reconstruction. Federal occupation is continuing in the south. The details, they’re going to sound familiar. There was an election. The reactionary white party made accusations of voter fraud. They then called for street actions.
This is one example of such a call. The local newspaper reprinted it. It called on people to amass in the streets saying quote, “you have been the silent but indignant sufferers of outrage after outrage heaped upon you by a usurping government.”
A white supremacist militia group responded to the call and gathered to take down the state government. And the New Orleans metropolitan police were put on a war footing because quote, “it was believed that the White League clubs meant business and no mistake. It was known that these clubs were pretty well armed, and determined to make a stand.” These were the Proud Boys of their time.
And the police of New Orleans were right to be worried because, lo and behold, later that day, quote, “the various companies of the White League Armed with all types of weapons [emphasis Hayes’s]The men took positions in different parts of the city and appeared on the streets. Multiple police officers were also attacked by the gang.
The old Republican Party officials were deposed the next day. The Democrat — the, um, multi-racial party, they had been deposed, and the state house seized by the white supremacist party. The pro-coup papers celebrated victory with language that, again, will sound familiar. Noting the quote, “dozen gallant lives sacrificed on the altar of liberty; the blood of gentleman and patriots,” that had been shed in that, quote, “Louisiana throughout its borders today is free.”
Although it did take federal troops to restore normalcy as was so often the case, it was still a significant accomplishment at that time. It was all chronicles and newspapers that ran from Louisiana to New York.
And it happened just a year after the notorious Colfax Massacre — which was also in Louisiana — where the same group, The White League, captured a federal courthouse defended by an all-black militia and murdered dozens of African Americans.
And atrocities like that one kept happening, armed white supremacists, mobs, trying to overtow — throw democratically elected local governments all the way through the latter half of the 19th century.
It’s true, they did win in Wilmington in North Carolina, 1898. This one is — uh, less famous, less well-known. However, the mob attacked the streets killing and shooting untold amounts of black people. Their goal was to physically take over the local government. They expelled black politicians and put in place unelected white men.
And you go back to those moments in American history — Liberty Place, Colfax, and Wilmington — and it really helps to clarify what we saw on January 6. American history is full of seditious traditions. The very real signs that something was happening were documented and seen by those around the time.
And remember, those tactics, the armed violence and the coups, the attempt to overturn elected government like in Wilmington, in Wilming — it worked overtime. It worked. And the free black people in the south, many of those jurisdictions, didn’t see their freedom, their true democratic rights again for another 80 years.
These are the high stakes. That’s what happens if the mob is allowed to rule without repercussions.
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