HISTORY

Waging War on Black Communities — A Shameful American Pastime

Illustration of explosion striking “Negro Fort” “Bodies stretched upon the plain | WikiCommons

Forget baseball. Waging war on black communities is the ultimate American pastime. Our nation's history exposes this uncomfortable truth. When plantation owners felt threatened by an encampment of free Black people, they planned to destroy their oasis of liberty. While hundreds of Black militiamen, along with thirty Seminole warriors, were poised and ready to defend their community from outside attacks, the event ended in tragedy. With the authority of the Spanish colony, troops led by General Andrew Jackson fired a cannonball that struck the fort's powder magazine, causing an explosion that killed 270 men, women, and children in 1816. History professor Matt Clavin noted, "The Battle of the ‘Negro Fort' marks a critical moment when the federal government took a decisive stance in support of slavery and its expansion." While it's considered the first battle in the Seminole War, it's noteworthy that most of the victims in this conflict were Black.

Ideally, the end of chattel slavery would have marked the end of this kind of racialized attack. However, as the historical record reveals, this pattern persisted. Despite the abolition of slavery and the passage of the nation's first civil rights legislation, black communities continued to be targeted by racist attacks. For example, in 1900, a mob of angry…