In Tulsa, 1921, the cover story was “an uprising.” White mobs, backed by police, burned down Greenwood and dropped fire from the sky. The truth never had to be proven; the accusation was enough to authorize a massacre.
In Philadelphia, 1985, the excuse was “public nuisance.” Police dropped a bomb on the MOVE house, killed 11 people—including five children—and burned out 61 Black families who had nothing to do with MOVE. Firefighters were told to let it burn. No one was held accountable.
This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
And in Chicago, 2025, the story is “immigration enforcement.” ICE says Tren de Aragua gang members were hiding in a South Shore apartment. Helicopters circled, flashbangs and chemicals filled the air, children were zip-tied. This time the justification is immigration, but the script hasn’t changed. The government will never have to prove a thing.
Tulsa, 1921 — The First Aerial Bombing on U.S. Soil
- Location: Greenwood, “Black Wall Street,” Tulsa, OK
- White mobs and police destroyed 35+ blocks
- Estimates: ~300 killed, 1,200 homes burned
- Airplanes dropped incendiary devices on Black businesses and homes
- Legacy: Covered up for decades, survivors silenced, no accountability
The Old Playbook: Separation and Terror
The slave trade itself was built on division. Enslavers deliberately mixed captives from different ethnic groups to break language ties and kinship bonds. They knew unity was power. They knew rebellion needed shared trust.
Then came terror—public whippings, mutilations, executions—to make submission seem like the only option. It took that level of violence to force a people who outnumbered their captors to stop fighting.
And still we resisted. Denmark Vesey. Nat Turner. Scores of uprisings etched into memory. But may soon be erased from history.
Across the water, one rebellion changed the world: the Haitian Revolution. In 1791, enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue rose up and defeated the most powerful armies of France, Spain, and Britain. By 1804, Haiti stood as the first free Black republic in the Western Hemisphere.
That victory terrified white America. Overnight, Southern slaveholders passed harsher slave codes, banned literacy, restricted movement, and monitored Black gatherings. They built the first slave patrols—the direct ancestors of American policing. The message was clear: the one thing they feared most was our collective power.
Haiti, 1791–1804 — Freedom That Terrified America
- Enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue rose up in 1791
- Defeated France, Spain, and Britain — the world’s strongest armies
- Declared independence in 1804 → first free Black republic
- U.S. response: tightened slave codes, banned literacy, restricted gatherings
- Fear: That collective Black resistance could spread
The Covert War: COINTELPRO
By the 1960s, bombs and mobs gave way to subtler tools. The FBI’s COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) ran from 1956 to 1971, specifically designed to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” Black leaders and organizations.
They infiltrated the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Black Panther Party. They spread false rumors, forged letters, stoked rivalries, and painted leaders as criminals or radicals to the public.
They wiretapped Martin Luther King Jr., sent him blackmail letters urging suicide, and labeled the Panthers a “terrorist threat” while systematically dismantling their free breakfast programs. They assassinated Fred Hampton in his sleep with the help of an informant.
It wasn’t tanks rolling through Harlem—it was files and falsehoods, brothers turned against brothers, sisters against sisters. The strategy was simple: if brute force failed to silence us, psychological warfare would.
History does not repeat — it rhymes.
COINTELPRO, 1956–1971 — The Silent War
- FBI program to “expose, disrupt, and neutralize” Black leaders
- Surveilled MLK, sent blackmail letters urging suicide
- Infiltrated SNCC, SCLC, Black Panthers
- Spread false letters/rumors to sow division
- Assisted in the assassination of Fred Hampton in Chicago
The New Memorandum
Now, as of October 2025, Donald Trump has signed a presidential memorandum to initiate a new strategy against so-called “domestic terrorism and organized political violence.” On paper, it claims to protect the nation. In practice, it directs federal agencies to “investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations” deemed responsible for political violence.
The catch? Who decides what counts as violence. Critics argue—and history suggest it won’t be white nationalist militias that feel the weight of this order. It will be the movements that don’t align with Trump’s agenda: Black resistance, immigrant solidarity, labor uprisings, environmental protests, and anyone who dares to dissent.
We’re watching the merger of two strands of state power: the open militarization we saw in Tulsa, MOVE, and South Shore, and the covert dismantling of dissent perfected under COINTELPRO.
MOVE, 1985 — A Bomb on Osage Avenue
- Black liberation group MOVE targeted in Philadelphia
- Police dropped a bomb from a helicopter on their home
- 11 killed (5 children), 61 homes burned, 250+ displaced
- Firefighters ordered to let the blaze spread
- No officials held accountable
The Present Playbook
Look at what’s already happening:
- A protester in Broadview shot, with the story that she carried a semi-automatic weapon and assaulted ICE officers. Whether true or not will never matter, the accusation alone is the verdict.
- 300 federal troops on their way to Chicago, to “protect ICE officers while they are doing their job.”
- Trump openly saying the military may run “warfighter” training in American cities.
South Shore was a rehearsal. Broadview was a test. Blackhawk helicopters overhead are not about one gang; they are about normalizing a battlefield posture in Black neighborhoods. The “accidental” shootings will come next. Dogs in the streets will follow. And then, the quiet but crushing demand for “papers” just to exist.
What’s at Stake
If we don’t focus on the power of collective resistance, we are in trouble. Not marches alone, not hashtags, not symbolic statements—but a rediscovery of what solidarity means when the sirens are this loud.
The enslavers made sure we would never fully trust our own people. That psychological conditioning has a 400-year head start. But it doesn’t have to have the last word. What we need is collective therapy, collective truth-telling, collective planning, a Black group session where we confront how deeply those divisions run and how urgently we need to heal them.
Because history tells us that when the government escalates, it does so expecting us to fracture. They are betting on distrust. They are betting on silence. They are betting on isolation.
Haiti showed what happens when those bets fail. When Black unity breaks the chains. That’s why America has worked so hard to erase that history, to paint Haiti as cursed rather than victorious, to ensure we don’t believe in our own collective strength.
The Siren Warning
Tulsa. MOVE. Haiti. COINTELPRO. South Shore. The names change, the justifications shift, but the logic is the same. Black presence framed as Black threat. Black communities treated as enemy territory. Black life made expendable in the name of “order.”
The sirens are already sounding. The smoke is already rising. The dogs are straining against leashes.
The question is not whether history will repeat. It is whether we will finally resist in a way that history has not yet seen (Well there was Haiti)—not fragmented, not suspicious of one another, but together.
Because if we don’t, we already know what comes next.
