By Joseph Bass

Most Americans only know about the “glorious” parts of our history. But societies repeat their ancestors’ mistakes when they are ignorant of history. In America, we are in the process of repeating transgressions from the Jim Crow era by pursuing gun control.

Once I asked a professor in American history why there are so few books on the Jim Crow years following the Civil War. She said academic recognition comes from writing about positive periods in history. “No one wants to be associated with writing about anything bad,” she explained.

Few Americans know about the gutting of the Civil War amendments dealing with slavery, equality and the right to vote. Before the war, only white people enjoyed the privileges and immunities recognized by the Bill of Rights. The intent of the Civil War amendments was to ensure that all citizens enjoy the same rights.

Few Americans know about the Colfax Louisiana Massacre and the resulting U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Cruikshank (1876). During the Grant presidency, the federal government attempted to enforce the Civil War amendments. Blacks, often in the majority, voted for black candidates and white Republicans who supported abolitionist views. This did not sit well with white Democrats and the Klan.

On Easter Sunday, 1873, a mob of Klansmen, former Confederate veterans, killed more than 100 black freedmen attempting to prevent Democrats from illegally taking over the Grant Parish courthouse. Several members of the white mob were convicted in federal court of depriving freedmen of their constitutional rights to free assembly and the right to keep and bear arms.

The U.S. Supreme Court got around the 14th Amendment by ruling that it applied only to state governments — it was OK for a white mob to deny free assembly and violation of freedmen’s right to bear arms. This was only the beginning of a series of Supreme Court actions overturning the intent of the Civil War amendments.

When I was a child, it was normal for the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to be ignored by courts. Laws were passed and enforced in the North and South that established double standards for blacks and whites.

The Second Amendment recognizes the right of citizens to own and carry private arms. The right is based on the natural right of self defense and an armed citizenry that is meant to keep tyrannical government in check. But United States v. Cruikshank deprived blacks of these rights, leaving them defenseless for generations against repressive government.

In recent years, the Supreme Court started recognizing this important right, but only in limited ways. There continues to be a national movement to seriously restrict, even prohibit, private ownership of firearms by citizens.

If this effort is successful, all Americans will be reduced to the same dependent status that blacks were placed in during Jim Crow. And we would repeat the history that few Americans know about.

Joseph L. Bass is the executive director of ABetterSociety.Info Inc., a nonprofit organization in Hobson. Email him at ABetterSociety1@aol.com.