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The Assassins: The First Black President and the Return of White Supremacy — Part 2
This is the fourth in a series of weekly posts, describing 45 attempts to assassinate a current or former American president. Since the initial attempt to kill Andrew Jackson, in 1835, seven presidents have been shot. Four succumbed, while three survived and recovered. At least nine of the assassination attempts were motivated, in part, by the would-be assassin’s belief in white supremacy. Four of those attempts occurred during the Civil War era, but the other five took place much more recently, and targeted our nation’s only Black president. They are discussed below.
The stench of white supremacy lingers across America, 248 years after our nation was founded, 159 years after the Civil War cannons fell silent, and 60 years after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The latter ostensibly ended racial segregation and prohibited discrimination on the basis of skin color. Today, many opt to ignore the racial privilege and resentment that still persists. Some may sincerely believe that shining a light on the issue will only aggravate it.
Others, quite frankly, have never fully accepted that fundamental principle affirmed by our Founders, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable…
