Do you know about the Doctrine of Discovery? It was published in 1493 by Pope Nicholas v. And is still considered the basis for White Male Christian supremacy. In that teaching,
the Pope asserts that white Europeans––specifically Spanish and Portuguese Christians––have the right to colonize, convert, and enslave. He called the land on which the brown people lived terra nullis, i.e. nobody’s land. With that began the dominance by white men––my grandfathers––of the planet for about 550 years.
Our white male dominance––women have been dominated since ancient Greece, no Papal authority was needed for that–– continues even today although it is crumbling. My white Euro male tribe is fighting hard to maintain dominance, but it doesn’t look like we’ll win. And we should not, the Doctrine of Discovery deserves to be understood as obscene. But it influences how all of us are treated by American politics in 2021. More tomorrow.