Did our Civil War ever end?
That seemingly unrelated question is key to understanding the social mayhem we see erupting 155 years after armed hostilities ceased between the Union and the Confederacy.
We are taught the Civil War ended when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. But that ended only the military conflict, not the war.
We will not understand our post-Minneapolis predicament until we adopt a new frame of reference for the Civil War's ending—one that is constitutional rather than martial.
Boldly stated, America’s civil war won't end until African Americans are fully and reliably accorded the protection of the 14th Amendment’s Privileges and Immunities, Due Process, and Equal Protection Clauses.
The sincerely held belief of many of our fellow citizens is that we still have a long way to go to reach that goal.
The framers of the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868) sought to address post-war racial injustice.
Slaves were emancipated and granted citizenship but still not free from government-sponsored oppression in the form of so-called black codes.
Blacks simultaneously received no protection from race-based terrorists like the Ku Klux Klan.
The constitutional clauses added in 1868 only began coming into meaningful existence for most black Americans a staggering 100 years later, when the Civil Rights movement spawned accompanying legislation in the 1960s.
Today, many argue that the constitutional promise of equitable treatment emanating from the 14th Amendment was never realized.
They view George Floyd's plight as just the latest shocking evidence demonstrating constitutional protections are a dead letter for African Americans.
Therein lies the “why” behind the fact that atrocious acts of commission and omission by four police officers in Minneapolis can result in nationwide civil violence more than a century and a half after fielded armies from slave and non-slave states stopped shooting at one another.
The solution resides within the Constitution—its text, its principles, and its fair and impartial enforcement.
Although Convention of States Action does not directly address the 14th Amendment, it is all about enabling citizens of all races, ethnicities, faiths, creeds, and beliefs to seize the cornerstone of their liberty: the right to determine the content of the Constitution they live under.
COS Action is also about citizens holding accountable those they entrust with the fearsome power to employ lawful force. An impartial investigation is needed to determine whether George Floyd’s mistreatment resulted from racial animus.
But in any case, sworn agents of his government failed to come to his aid despite being assigned a duty of care for all citizens, suspected lawbreaker or otherwise.
COS Action shares with the framers of the 14th Amendment a belief that only by amending the Constitution—source code of liberty and fairness for all Americans—can we find solutions as big as our problems.
What we must not do again is sit on our hands for 100 years as fellow Americans are victimized by indifferent officials.
