Thanks for the thread brettdale.

Back in the 1600s when Virginia was first being settled, most of the good farmland was claimed within a few years. Afterward, newcomers were forced into the hills to start their farms where the land was poor and Native Americans were nearby. Farmers' crops failed, or grew very poorly, and there were conflicts with the Natives. At this point, people of color lived freely alongside everyone else (excepting Native Americans for the most part), but unrest was building among those in poor farming communities. To make a long story short, people in power, particularly those in government at the time, needed a way to ease tensions. So what did they do? They pointed to black people and people of color and told white farmers, "Look, you may be poor and struggling, but you're better than them." Of course, the people in power were white themselves so it was an easy message for struggling white farmers to accept. Over time the racial divide grew until, if you were a black person, indentured servitude turned into slavery.

How does that relate to today? It's not hard to see how Trump and the Republican's narrative against undocumented immigrants and people of color in general is strikingly similar to the message that led to slavery in the 1600s. It's the same trick that's been used countless times throughout history, and not just in the United States. Turn one group of people against another so those in power can stay there while the mechanisms that allowed them to gain power in the first place remain intact.

We need systematic change. That means not only do we need to defeat Trump, but we need to restructure the American economy so the next time an authoritarian gets elected it will be harder for that person to divide the country.