Y’all remember that whole kerfuffle about the white & gold dress that was actually blue & black? (Yes, it was. The store that sold the dress actually had to tell people)
According to the wikipedia, the lighting in the photo was the reason that there was a difference in the color perception. Which is wild, right? Like, how crazy the lighting must be to see blue as white/black as gold. Luckily, the Wikipedia showed what had happened, so I didn’t spend the rest of my life obsessing over it. And I’m sure the people in my life who know me best are ALSO grateful.
TO BE FAIR THOUGH, this is why/how I have so many random fun facts! Like how Dick became a nickname for Richard! The TL;DR version: back in ye olde days people shortened names because they didn’t have predictive text wrote everything by hand AND humans can be whimsical, they liked to rhyme. So, Richard became Ric(k) became Dic(k). Personally, this is not how I choose nicknames – it’s a little more complicated, but a lot more accurate. They’re more like the blue/black dress. If the lighting is right, you can definitely see how I got to white/gold.
I know. Seems weird to be talking about rhyming when these emails are about HISTORY. Here’s the thing! It has been said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it can rhyme. I know that slave patrols à Police à Immigration & Customs Enforcement do not rhyme, but HEAR ME OUT:
Slave Patrols (also known as slave catchers) were armed white men who were tasked with controlling movement of enslaved people by preventing protests rebellions, returning runaways, and enforcing broken windows policing* slave codes by using surveillance and organized terror. It also provided a form of discipline for the enslaved, who were subject to summary justice outside the law. They monitored gatherings like dances and immigration hearings church services, stopped Black people without passes from their enslavers, and administered immediate punishments like whipping. Once returned to their enslavers, more physical and psychological violence ensued, including intentional breakup of families, and deprivation of food and other necessities.
In some areas, enslavers offered incentives like student loan repayment/signing bonuses as incentives. Wait..*checks notes* I meant TAX INCENTIVES AND TOBACCO. ¡Discúlpeme! In others, governments legally compelled white men to form slave patrols to patrol specific areas to pReVenT CrIMes aNd iNsuRRecTiOn by the enslaved against the white community in the antebellum South. Without warrant or permission, slave patrols could enter the home of anyone—Black or white—suspected of sheltering the escaped enslaved (I am breaking the 4th wall to look directly at you, reader). According to the American Bar Association, in modern times (like today, right now in 2026), this would be a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment and constitute an illegal search.
FUN FACT: During the Civil War, some men that were turned away from the army but still wanted to be able to brutalize people ended up taking places within ICE slave patrols.
Anyway. When the south LOST the Civil War, southern whites were still mad at black people for not wanting to be enslaved now “afraid” of Black people due to reconstruction governments being perceived as oppressive to the south (because they were no longer allowed to legally oppress Black people? Maybe it was just the lighting? Who’s to say?). Almost immediately, informal patrols reactivated, reviving patrolling practices that targeted free men. And THOSE informal patrols developed into southern police departments, and so continued the systematic surveillance, and the enforcement of curfews (and the violence against Black people). And because they were inherently racists, they definitely had beliefs on who could become a police officer. Though a small number of African Americans joined the police force in the South during Reconstruction, they met active resistance. Did you know that in 2025, an LA police officer working in the recruiting office secretly recorded conversations in which fellow cops were being racist/homophobic/misogynistic? In case you were thinking this was just the south. AND JUST LAST YEAR LAPD was also using tear gas to disperse protests, which is classified as a chemical weapon under the Geneva Conventions and banned even in warfare.
Are you asking yourself This is not my beautiful house how does ICE fit in? SO GLAD YOU ASKED, because in theory – they shouldn’t! I looked it up! Immigration and Customs Enforcement STATED duties are locating and arresting individuals who are in the u.s. (intentionally lower case) unlawfully or have violated immigration laws, MANAGING detention and processing and repatriating foreign nationals to their home countries. They are supposed to investigate transnational crimes like human trafficking, child exploitation, financial fraud, threats to national security and illegal movement of people or goods AND investigate employers who hire undocumented workers. In fact, MOST ICE arrests are were made under “administrative warrants”. In case you were wondering, and I’m SURE you were: administrative warrants are signed by an immigration official, and only authorizes arrest and requires consent for entry into private spaces like homes; it doesn’t grant search or forced entry rights. You don’t have to open the door for an administrative warrant.
So how did we end up living in a live action simulation of call of duty? How did ICE agents end up using tear gas, sound cannons and murdering protesters on the street (oh my!) instead of administrative warrants**? I dunno. Ask the tangerine tyrant/ y’all’s president.
Actually. Speaking of tyrants, lemme back up just a little bit because I KNOW what y’all are thinking. HOW DID YOU SKIP NAZIS/BROWNSHIRTS? And my answer to you is, DID I THOUGH? Nuremburg Laws were created in 1935, VERY post Jim Crow. While the target was different *ahem* both codified systemic racism and enforced segregation. Nazi lawyers studied american Jim Crow laws for inspiration. Hitler’s Mein Kampf sings the praises of american race laws.
Also wanna point out that brownshirts original purpose was protecting nazi rallies, and EVOLVED into a violent force that used pseudo-military tactics and surveillance and intimidation/organized terror against Jews, unionists and political rivals.
:::looking off into the distance::
Also gonna say real quick that the only real difference between ICE and nazis is that ICE is bringing the gas to the people instead of the other way around. BUT THE INSPIRATION STARTED RIGHT HERE.
::whispers:: not gonna hold your hand as I say this, but plantations got a WHOLE LOT in common with concentration camps got a whole lot of rhyming with detention centers.
White supremacy -> Nazi Germany -> Police Brutality DO Rhyme and are just iterations and escalations of the same concept.
And yes, if you tilt your head just right, that police/ice vest freshly purchased off amazon PROBABLY looks like a brown shirt. But it’s not. It’s definitely a homegrown, white american classic. (okay, yes, it probably wasn’t MADE in america but you know what I mean)
And that’s how I’m kicking off Black History Month! With History. And the reminder that all history is Black History and if people had been listening when Black people told them to we probably wouldn’t be here having it happening to others!
For the new people, Hi Hello It’s me, Wario Briya, your mostly friendly black historian here to tell you all kinds of things about Black people. If it helps, it’s usually a lot less *waves hands wildly*. BUT THIS IS THE 100TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND YOU (the royal you) MOTHERFUCKERS HAVEN’T LEARNED A GODDAMN — you know what. I don’t want to bounce on a bad note, so lemme give you a nice fun fact on my way out the door:
Yesterday on the first day of Black History Month, Compton legend, Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar, aka K.Dot made Grammy History by becoming the most awarded rapper in Grammy history knocking Jay Z outta that spot (honestly for me that was the cherry on top lol)
So there you go. Two facts for the 2nd day of the 2nd month.
See y’all tomorrow! With more history and less yelling! Bye!
*broken windows policing IS modern day “slave” codes. Argue with your mama.
** nobody is illegal on stolen land AND if the us wasn’t always in other countries business destabilizing their governments maybe those people wouldn’t need to flee
Yeah I said it 
