This is a big book...672 pages.
Day 1 (DDRD 3,018) February 5, 2026
Read to page 30.
In 1784, Thomas Jefferson said, "I advance it...as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances, are inferior to whites both in body and mind...." (11)
Thomas Jefferson! What the actual fuck!
Day 2 (DDRD 3,019) February 6, 2026
Read to page 64.
The subject matter of this book is compelling and horrifying, and I'm pretty sure that I will continue to forge my way through it, but Starkey is not a good writer. He tries to make his narrative more immediate by placing the reader into it, which is a bit forced. He also relies upon repeated phrases such as "We the People" far too much. I am currently on page 46, and I would estimate that he has used that phrase at least 100 times (no hyperbole*). He also has a very bizarre way of wording some thoughts. For instance, "Some thought Black men need not the ballot."(47) That is some strange syntax.
In fact, I found his writing so bad that I looked up a video to see how he spoke. I found several short ones, which seemed fine, so I thought I would check out a longer one. I found this one, with a rather startling picture at the front, of Supreme Court justices in Ku Klux Klan roNow.
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| https://youtu.be/cZT6kkf6_fA?si=VmvYHnBHDjaLru0m |
It's actually an image I've had in my mind since I picked this book up and was planning to photoshop, but I suppose, I don't have to now.
Starkey also regularly (and by that I mean far too often) refers to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Ammendments to the Constitution as "the Trinity," which I find (1) too cute by half and (2) inappropriate in that the religious connotations of the word are inescapable.
* He uses the phrase 5 times on page 46, for instance.
Day 3 (DDRD 3,020) February 7, 2026
Read to page 100.
William Woods Holden called the Ku Klux Klan the "terrorist arm of the Democratic Party" and said that they "had caused the defeats of Republican candidates through voter intimidation and brownbeat [sic] state officials into discharging their duties in ways the Klan demanded." (65) Oh, how doth the 🪱 turn.
Another turn of the 🪱: "The states' rights party lacked feasible means to attract southern black voters, and reducing them to nonvoters would help." (70)
All of this talk about Republicans being the good guys fighting for Black rights, especially voting rights, led me to check current political party demographics. Here's what I found:
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| https://www.google.com/search?q=racial+demographics+of+political+party&oq=racial+demographics+of+polit&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYFhgeMg0IAhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoF0gEKMjA1NjZqMGoyOagCALACAQ&client=ms-android-verizon-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#lfId=ChxjMe |
Day 4 (DDRD 3,021) February 8, 2026
Read to page 137.
After the confusing election of 1876, on February 8th 1877, a consortium of 15 gave the election to Rutherford B. Hayes. As a result, Federal troops (sent to defend Black folks) were removed from the South: "Republicans had concluded that claiming the mantle of Black rights hamstrung their political ambitions." (111)
Nothing new under the fuckin' 🌞, is there?
Day 5 (DDRD 3,022) February 9, 2026
Read to page
😔 😟 😠 😡
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