The world now knows about police brutality, what we American Negroes* have experienced as a matter of course since the slave patrols. The “peace officers” that purportedly swore to uphold and defend the Constitution by serving and protecting citizens like George Floyd, murdered him. Maybe “peace officer” seems absurd. The term evokes the Orwellian phrase “war is peace.”

But it makes sense if we deconstruct “peace.” The Pax Romana (“Roman Peace”) denoted Roman Empire; the king’s peace spans British dominion. Both suggest that peace reflects sovereignty. Antebellum slave patrols and state police powers have made the U.S.’s Aryan peace since the 1600s.

American historian Ira Berlin described colonial Virginia and other colonies as “societies with slaves” during the first few decades, when Negroes were as likely indentured servants as slaves. By “society with slaves,” he meant that slavery was marginal to GDP and was one form of labor among many. But King Charles II founded the Royal African Company to monopolize the slave trade in 1660 and thus sanctioned the “slave society” that emerged during the 1660s. In this type of society slavery was central to GDP and the master-slave relationship modeled all relationships.