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 159.
😔 😟 😠 😡
Day 6 (DDRD 3,023) February 10, 2026
Read to page 192. To reiterate: I'm not a fan of Starkey's writing style. He continues to write grammatically incorrect sentences (including sentence fragments), intrusive authorial addresses to the reader (e.g., "Come now and we'll take a look at _____ ), and annoying euphemisms ("The Trinity" for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Ammendments, "We thePeople" for the Constitution). These subject matter, however, is riveting (and horrifying). And so I soldier on. 672 - 190 = 482 pages to go, ÷ 30 = 16 days. I can do that.
Day 7 (DDRD 3,024) February 11, 2026
Read to page 223. (15 🍺 🧱....)
"People work hard and follow the rules if they believe they can win." (201)
Which is kind of the whole story? And look at the converse: if you believe that you can't win, if you believe that the game is rigged, then you will not work hard and you will not follow the rules. Why would you? To do so would be stupid.
Day 8 (DDRD 3,025) February 12, 2026
Read to page 254.
A white Southerner meets Booker T Washington and tells him, "Say, you are a great man. You are the greatest man in this country!" Booker. T. downplayed the praise, but the man shook his head and reiterated, "Yes, sir, the greatest man in this country." Roosevelt, Booker T. responded, deserved that honor. "Huh! Roosevelt?" he replied. "I used to think that Roosevelt was a great man until he ate dinner with you. That settled him for me." (228)
Ummm...what?
"Laziness and shiftlessness, these, and above all, vice and criminality of every kind, are evils more potent for harm to the black race than all acts of oppression of white men put together...." (241) That's beloved President Theodore Roosevelt speaking. For fuck's sake.
Day 9 (DDRD 3,026) February 13, 2026
Read to page 287. So many racist white men in our history.... 😔
I'm thinking that I should read a biography of Lyndon Johnson. What made him sign the Civil Rights law?
This
looks like it might do the job. The library has an e-book, but I'm thinking I want a real book.
Day 10 (DDRD 3,027) February 14, 2026
Read to page 320.
Day 11 (DDRD 3,028) February 15, 2026
Read to 350. A big book. An important book. But it's getting kind of boring, I'm sorry to say. Part if it is Starkey's writing style, which is wearing me out. Does be have to give physical descriptions of every character as s/he walks onto the scene? (Does it natter if a lawyer is fat, has a pointy beard, and brown eyes?) Sheesh.
Day 12 (DDRD 3,029) February 16, 2026
Read to page 380. This book has mentioned both Louisville and Baltimore (my hometown) several times.
I had friends who went to Catonsville High School. Glad to say that it was about four decades later, so hopefully things had changed by then. Still check this out:
Black students who wanted to continue their education after the 7th grade had to take a test...which over 70% failed...in order to go to high school. No test for the White kids, though.
Shameful.
Day 13 (DDRD 3,030) February 17, 2026
Read to page 405.
I am amazed at how many times I read things in this book that show how far back this country's racist policies go. For instance, "the Reagan administration acts as if the white male is the minority...." (385) Sound familiar? Apparently Reagan was doing his best to destroy DEI initiatives--possibly before that term was even in use. Why do the people of this country have such hatred for people of color? It baffles me.
"Reynolds and like-minded Reagan administration officials taught the conservative movement, which included Supreme Court justices, that it should convert the Fourteenth Amendment into a tool to protect White racial advantages and showed how to accomplish the feat while wearing men like Howard, Harlan, Marshall, and King as masks, appreciating that this presented an avenue to promote their constitutional vision with the public." (392) Again...sound familiar? (Looking at you, Tim Scott.)
Day 14 (DDRD 3,031) February 18, 2026
Read to page 440.
Day 15 (DDRD 3,032) February 19, 2026
Read to page 470. So 202 pages to go, which means 7 days (more or less). It's been an interesting and often upsetting read, but I'm ready for it to be over. Might try to pick up the pace a bit to finish it in, say, 5 days. 😒
Day 16 (DDRD 3,033) February 20, 2026
Read to page 500.
Tried to read extra. Couldn't do it. Read Return of the Black Widowers instead. No puns, please.
Read this at 4:17 am. What a way to wake up.
Why does this nation hate Black people so much? Maybe it's at least in part because White people realize how unjustifiably awful they've been and are being, so the only way they can live with themselves is to demonize Black people. Like a wife who demonizes her husband so that she can feel justified in divorcing him, even though he's done nothing wrong. (Close to the bone, that one.) It all makes me sick.
Day 17 (DDRD 3,034) February 21, 2026
Read to page 531.
Stop me if you've heard this one: "Alabama's disenfranchisement scheme achieved the desired result. Of the more than 180,000 previously eligible Black voters. in 1900, only about 3,000 registered under the new provisions." (516)
Same old thing in brand new drag. (Bowie)
Day 18 (DDRD 3,035) February 22, 2026
Read to 550. Can't get past 30 per day.
Day 19 (DDRD 3,036) February 23, 2026
Read to page 590.
In 1969, Richmond's Mayor Bagley attempted to expand the city's boundaries by annexing part of neighboring Chesterfield County. Why? "...we don't want the city to go to the niggers. We need 44,000 bodies." (564)
Here's how The Washington Post remembered dear Mayor Bagley in their 1996 obituary:
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| https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/10/29/philip-j-bagley-dies-at-92/41479f3b-ddc3-4733-ae47-03b33466a2ec/ |
And is anyone else hearing "I just want to find 11,780 votes"?
Same old same old. Speakimg of...
People of color make up nearly a third of eligible US voters but cast only 22% of ballots, analysis says
Day 20 (DDRD 3,037) February 24, 2026
Read to page 624.
In North Carolina...in 2013 (!!!)..." The legislature...passed a bill that cut a week of early voting, stopped out-of-precinct voting, and required voters to show certain forms of photo ID to vote. Republicans chose these restrictions after learning they would disproportionately curtail Black voting." (593)
2013!
I've finished the text of the book and am now laboring my way through the Notes. I wish I had read them as I went, but, to be honest, I was several hundred pages in before I even noticed there were notes in the back, as there were no notations in the text itself. I thought about skipping them, but I really want credit for these pages, so I martial on. I am about halfway through them now, and am pretty sure that they're not necessary for you to read, but I will update in about twenty pages. Doing it so you don't have to, brahs and tahs.
Day 21 (DDRD 3,038) February 25, 2026
Read to page 672, The End. All Notes and Index today, which wasn't a thrill, but did confirm that there is no need for you to read these pages. No, no, thank YOU.
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