Hacker News Reader

They also instituted black codes to ensure that the freedmen couldn’t enjoy the same freedoms as their white counterparts, and give their former slavers the same leverages they had previously. The post war institutions were just slavery with a better veneer.

View on HN

They also created the KKK to accomplish with terrorism what the legal system and social norms couldn’t rig for them. That really persisted unabated into the late 50’s, and to an extent still exists. The violence has been reduced, but the economic devastation remains. There’s a reason that you can use zip code as a proxy for race in America.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com