Viewpoint: Some Indiana Black history facts you may not know

Although the South Bend Tribune and other publications have been honoring Black History Month, the irony is that Black history is in danger of being erased or diluted in schools across the nation, allegedly because it causes “discomfort”— a somewhat strange concern given that African Americans have suffered the discomfort of systemic racism in this nation for centuries.

So, I believe it is time to disclose facts about Black history that many legislators and governors do not want you to know.

Let’s start with the Declaration of Independence. If you ask people what is memorable about this document, most will recite the phrase, “all men are created equal.”

However, besides the fact that this openly omits women and slaves, if you read deeper you will also find another passage listed in the grievances against the British Monarchy: “He [King George III] has . . . endeavoured [sic] to bring on the inhabitants of the frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.”

And what about the Constitution upon which America’s government was founded? Article I, Section 2 once stated that, for purposes of determining the number of Congressional representatives a state shall have, slaves were to be counted as “three-fifths” of a human being. In addition, Article IV, Section 2 contained a Fugitive Slave Clause ordering that escaped slaves who are captured shall not be “discharged from such Service or Labor [sic],” but instead “shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour [sic] may be due.”

Sadly, even the three “Civil War Amendments” did little to improve the plight of African Americans: The much heralded 13th that abolished slavery did not ban this practice if it was “a punishment for crime,” which meant that African Americans were often arrested on fabricated or minor charges (such as vagrancy), then sentenced to forced labor on chain gangs; the 14th that promised “equal protection of the laws,” was soon transformed by the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson into the spurious and discriminatory doctrine of “separate but equal”; and the 15th, that proclaimed the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged” on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” soon succumbed to racially biased “tests” that were routinely used to deny African Americans the ability to even register to vote.

Looking closer to home, the 1851 Indiana Constitution stated that no African Americans “shall come into or settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.”

While this proclamation helped establish Indiana’s dubious reputation as the northernmost Southern state (although in today’s political climate there are numerous other states eagerly competing for this title), this reputation was cemented in the 1920s by the rise of Ku Klux Klan leader D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson brought the Klan wider appeal by advocating restraints on alcohol consumption and by appealing to his followers to protect the virtue of women.

He ultimately controlled the Republican political apparatus in Indiana, and it was estimated that almost a third of all white males in the state belonged to the Klan during his reign.

The most powerful man in Indiana: Rape, poison and the KKK

On the local level, in a sometimes forgotten part of history, in 1924 students at Notre Dame, including members of its football team, fought with Stephenson’s followers when they tried to hold a rally in South Bend.

Stephenson’s ultimate downfall came roughly a year later when, in a display of unabashed hypocrisy that far too many with political power demonstrate (even today), he abducted, forcibly intoxicated and then sexually assaulted a schoolteacher named Madge Oberholtzer. Her death by suicide was attributed to Stephenson’s refusal to get her medical care, and, despite his declarations that he was “the law in Indiana,” he was convicted of second-degree murder.

Those opposed to the term “systemic racism” often argue that racism is an individual choice, not an entrenched organism inherent in American law, government, education and culture. But this ignores the fact that such individuals can also be business owners, police officers, prosecutors, judges, journalists and politicians on the local, state and federal levels.

And they are the system.

David R. Hoffman is a retired civil rights and constitutional law attorney.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Black history is in danger of being erased, diluted in U.S. schools.