Book review: Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power, by Jefferson R. Cowie
The title lays bare the real issue: Parse the expression, and then consider the paradox of whether Freedom and Dominion can truly co-exist. In this book Jefferson Cowie illustrates—across centuries of historical fact—that use of the word freedom as meaning the right to dominate others was (and is) applied without irony by those who would influence society for their sole profit. Although centered on the local history of Eufaula, AL, Cowie demonstrates the relevance of this community to the US nation as a whole. In many ways this book exposes the sordid soul of white supremacy throughout America.
Cowie traces the history through the initially illegal white settlements in Native American territory, through the introduction of slaves once the Indians were removed, through the suppression of the non-slave holder class (both black and white) before and after the Civil War. The inconsistent federal efforts to expel the white settlers, through faltering Union control during Reconstruction, through hamstrung federal attempts in the New Deal era, were all inadequate to dampen the ultimate control of the elite class whose status and wealth (before and after the war) were based on white dominance and the associated attitudes necessary to maintain their position. Those attitudes incorporated a religious justification of white supremacy conveniently crafted two centuries before Europeans settled in the region around what became Eufaula—since then, African Americans have turned that erroneous impetus on its head, and expressed a Christianity more aligned with the Gospels. A key thread throughout this entire historical narrative is the notion that concerns of white persons—in this case, people of European extraction—supersede any concerns of anyone not of that racial stock. It was (and remains) a effective method to artificially maintain wealth and status.
Another key thread is the manipulative ethos of white supremacy culture—the efforts of whites who are not on board with white supremacy are by themselves insufficient to alter the course of that culture. This is rarely the fault of the individual white people who attempt to be on the right side of history. A major factor is those with wealth often have acquired their wealth through white supremacy—they prefer the status quo and they take extreme measures to keep their ill-gotten profits. These measures include provoking poor and less educated whites to hate their neighbors (and would-be allies) of color. A close cousin to white supremacy culture is the laissez-faire mantra that gained mainstream traction in the late 20th Century. There are significant similarities between neoliberal economics and the white supremacist culture that lives on today—this book illustrates the natural relationship between the two. It’s been a proven strategy spanning centuries, and shows no signs of slacking off as it continues to work so well.
As Cowie demonstrates throughout this book, the only effective solution to white supremacy and its associated false freedom to dominate others is conclusive federal intervention. The removal of freedom to dominate is not the removal of essential Constitutional freedoms—it’s the only way to ensure these essential freedoms are truly there, as long as the impulse (by anyone) to dominate remains active. Fortunately there are signs that the public is becoming more aware of the need for federal intervention in several areas—and these increasingly aware people are voting accordingly.