1/ This is a comparison more people should be making. In 1898, a couple thousand white supremacists successfully overturned an election in North Carolina, destroying a powerful, anti-capitalist coalition of poor white and recently emancipated Black farmers (the Fusionists).
3/ Two days after the election, 500 whites armed with rifles and a Gatling gun set fire to a prominent Black-owned newspaper, attacking Black ppl throughout the city. The mayor, aldermen, and police chief resigned at gun point and were replaced by members of the mob.
4/ In the aftermath natl media blamed Black ppl for instigating the massacre and praised the white usurpers, who went on to ensure decades of Jim Crow statewide. The coup drove 1000s of Black ppl from their homes and broke the multiracial coalition that challenged NC elites.
5/ To learn more about this coup that successfully reshaped American politics, reverberating in this week's events, check out David Zucchino's "Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy." Out in paperback 1/19! https://firestorm.coop/products/15844-wilmingtons-lie.html
@firestorm I didn't read about this until last year. Somebody shared it since it was the anniversary of that awful shit in Tulsa, OK.
@firestorm very interesting but missing the similarities with bidden + co
2/ The Wilmington insurrection began with members of the paramilitary Red Shirts blocking roads to the polls and attacking suspected leftist & Black voters. Nevertheless multiracial Fusionist candidates prevailed. White business leaders demanded the overturn of the results.