Go Back to Africa?

Dr. Ranney B. Jackson Sr. Ph.D.

Description

“Go Back to Africa?” is about the repatriation of African Americans to Africa in 1822, U.S and Liberian civil wars, forms of government, January 6th insurrection, and Liberian coup d’état.
The title of this book, “Go back to Africa?” is a statement offensive to African Americans. African Americans feel offended because despite all they have endured and done for the United States in terms of slave labor, defending the United States in two world wars and civil war, protecting whites against the indigenous, there are still Americans who feel that they do not belong in the United States. Despite the U.S. Government’s acceptance of African Americans through the constitution, the 13th and 14th amendments, the emancipation proclamation, and other documents, African Americans feel discriminated against. This feeling began from 1790 to 1800 when Whites felt that African Americans should be relocated to Africa due to their increased population. The American Colonization Society was formed in 1816 and relocated African Americans to Liberia. Those who relocated to Africa encountered similar struggles with the indigenous as the Europeans when they settled in the Americas. The Americo-Liberians, as they are called, established a similar government as the United States. In 1980 a Master Sergeant, Samuel Doe staged a blooded coup d’état against the Americo-Liberian government. Doe caused President Tolbert’s assassination and ordered the execution of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Chief Justice among others. On January 6th, some Americans staged an insurrection, which many classified as a coup d’état. The author argues that the insurrection was not a coup and calls on his readers to compare Liberia’s 1980 coup to the January 6th insurrection. In 1990, Liberia encountered a 14-year civil war similar to the American Civil war of 1861. The author admonishes Americans about the consequences and implications of coup d’états and civil wars and asks Americans to avoid either.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665556422
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Go Back To Africa?
 
 
 
 
 
DR. RANNEY B. JACKSON SR., PH.D.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2022 Dr. Ranney B. Jackson Sr., Ph.D. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 07/11/2022
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-5643-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-5641-5 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-5642-2 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022906286
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1   The Discovery of America
Chapter 2   Arrival and Establishment of the English
Chapter 3   The America Revolution
Chapter 4   The Slave Trade
Chapter 5   Atrocities against African Americans in the United States
Chapter 6   Rebellions and Uprising Between the
Chapter 7   The Civil War
Chapter 8   Creation of the American Colonization Society
Chapter 9   African Americans Resettlement in Africa
Chapter 10   Types of Governments Formed
Chapter 11   Coup in Liberia and Insurrection in the United States
Chapter 12   Conclusion and Lessons Learned
References
Introduction
I n recent times in the United States, precisely, between 2016 through 2020, we saw many resentments towards people of color. We visited on TV names and pictures of African Americans who had been killed at the hands of the Police. Few of those prominently featured killed were George Floyd (46), Breonna Taylor (26), Alton Sterling (37), Elijah McClain (23), Philando Castile (32), Rayshard Brooks (27), Daunte Wright (20), to name a few. According to Statista Research Department, there were 223 African Americans killed by police in 2017, 209 in 2018, 235 in 2019, 241 in 2020, and 263 in 2021. A slogan that continued to ring in the minds of African Americans during that period and even as I write this book was, “Go Back to Africa.” The slogan used against African American protesters simply means, go back home to Africa from where your ancestors came.
Many Americans thought over the years that the horrors of such statements in the United States had vanished, especially publicly, but they were all wrong. Before coming up with the title of this book, I assumed that many people had not heard this statement on TV, but I was wrong. In researching the slogan, “Go Back to Africa,” I came across two articles that indicated I was not the only one hearing this slogan on TV. The first article was written by Batty, F (2016) of the Washington Post entitled “How to Understand the complicated history of “go back to Africa. The second article was written by Dicker, R (2016) entitled “Man at Trump Rally Yells “Go Back to Africa” at Black Woman. Batty states that the statement was made at a Trump canceled rally on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago on March 11, 2016, against a protester who did not like the statement being used on them. Many African American protesters asked themselves, “Go back to Africa?”
The title of this book came from that question, “Go back to Africa?” How do we go back to Africa? Our ancestors came to this country more than 400 years ago, and even historians are now saying that Africans were in America before this period. We know nowhere else as our home but the United States, so how can we go anywhere else? But the fact is that many people making this statement do not know or understand the implications. One of the purposes of this book is to understand how African Americans got to America, their contributions to the development and protection of America, and their defense of Whites against the Indians that were met here.
What can also be said about some of the people who use this slogan is that either they have no historical knowledge about the background of African Americans in the United States, or they are not aware that the process of relocating African Americans to Africa was tried more than 200 years ago and failed. So, if resettling African Americans to Africa 200 years ago failed when Africa was just a vast land without established countries, how possible will it be today to relocate African Americans to Africa where you now have established countries? It is like the Indians telling whites to go back to Britain. How is that possible?
It would also seem that those who conveniently tell an African American to go back to Africa do not know the American constitution. The American Constitution states, “A person is an American citizen if born anywhere in the United States or its territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” The Constitution also states that a person can become a United States citizen if the person was born in another country and then naturalized in the United States. Also, African Americans’ rights to citizenship are stated in the 14 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 14 th Amendment was ratified in 1868, granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people, and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”
The 14 th Amendment was passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for African Americans. Therefore, with this clarity, one can see why an African American will feel that a person making such a statement is not knowledgeable about the U.S. Constitution. Worldwide, there have been several settlements of people. For example, the settlement of the Jews in Israel and their struggle against those met there. However, this book concentrates only on the settlement of formerly enslaved people to Liberia, West Africa, and the settlement of Europeans to the Americas, now the United States. The book shows the similarities these two countries share, such as where some of their presidents were born, the similarity of their flags, their civil wars, and their historical connection.
The book discusses the contributions of African Americans to the development and survival of the United States. It highlights the sufferings of African Americans through slave labor, lynchings, and discrimination. The question is, why hasn’t all this made a positive impact in the hearts of those who tell African Americans to go back to Africa?
The book provides information on the role of the American Colonization Society (ACS) in settlement of Freed African Americans in Liberia, giving a timeline of their settlement, their struggle, and their form of government. The materials used in this book are taken from records of the Library of Congress and ACS documents given to the Library of Congress dating back from 1792 to 1964. The book provides some similarities to the settlement of Europeans in the Americas. This book also explains why many Liberians feel that the relationship between the United States and Liberia should be more than a token relationship.
The book provides an understanding that what Abraham Lincoln said decades ago had not fully happened when he said, “Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” has not come to reality. Thomas Jefferson in The Declaration of Independence also wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As the United States has progressed since the days of Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, is it now time for all Americans to reach the level where race is no longer an issue of divisiveness but to follow the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?” I am sure if the statements made by these great Americans are considered part of the American ideals, America would continue to look forward instead of behind; because as John Lewis said, “We will not go back, We’ve come too far, and We are not going to give up now.” I believe, if these words are allowed to manifest in the hearts of all Americans, the United States could continue to be an even greater nation than it is today.
Many Americans said that the insurrection at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, was a coup. This book compares the January 6, 2021 insurrection with the coup in Liberia in 1980 and leaves it to Americans’ judgment to decide if the insurrection was a coup. Understanding Liberia’s coup would tell Americans that preventing a coup is better than experiencing one.

Chapter 1 The Discovery of America
Dr. Robert Royal’s Acc ount
T he story of the discovery of the Americas cannot be told without mentioning Christopher Columbus. In Dr. Robert Royal’s book, “Columbus and the Crisis of the West,” he describes Christopher Columbus as an explorer who landed on American soil on October 12, 1492. Royal says that when Columbus set foot in the Americas, he claimed the land for Spain