TIME: Harris on Where the George Floyd Protests Fit Into American History
...The parallel I make is to Red Summer. You get the Spanish flu in 1918, then in the summer of 1919 you get en masse race rebellions in the North, and it’s for several reasons. There is economic competition—black men have fought in World War I and have migrated from the South to the North partly for job opportunities. They’re not allowed to get jobs, even though they fought for their country. Then the Spanish Flu comes about. Then it’s summer. It’s hot. There are black people in cities who have never been there before, and then there’s white resistance. Part of what’s going on now is a pushback to the eight years of Obama in the White House. With the Red Summer, part of the pushback is, “We’re glad these men fought for us …but don’t come back wearing the military uniform and behaving like you’re American like we are, because you aren’t.”...
