The Buck Breaking of Dr. John Marshall

During slavery, inhumane white supremacist owners commonly engaged in “buck breaking” – the practice of identifying stronger, troublesome male slaves and bringing them to heel. These men were often publicly punished in various barbaric ways. The point of it all was to instill fear in other slaves who might dare to resist. Dr. John Marshall is one of those troublesome Black men . . .

Dr. John Marshall

In his 1965 classic Dark Ghetto, Dr. Kenneth Clark argued that Blacks in America exist as a largely powerless “subject people” who are victims of greed, cruelty, and racial insensitivity. Most importantly, they fear their former masters. Such is still the case in white supremacist-controlled Kentucky.

Blacks in the Bluegrass State certainly have good reason to be fearful because their men, women, and children are constantly under threat in an increasingly racially hostile state. Troublingly, their persecutors are becoming even more callous and brazen. A recent example occurred when Dr. John Marshall, the chief equity officer of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, dared to deliver an opinion on the condition of Black people in Kentucky.

Marshall wrote on his personal social media account, “A few young(er) Black professionals and students called me this morning and asked, “What's a strategy moving forward?" My response, “REGARDLESS of the rooms, meetings, classes, etc., you're in, know THE MAJORITY of whites couldn’t care less about you and have no issues harming you or yours. Strategy. Count the number in your presence and divide by at least half. That's where you start.”

During slavery, inhumane white supremacist owners commonly engaged in “buck breaking” – the practice of identifying stronger, troublesome male slaves and bringing them to heel. These men were often publicly punished in various barbaric ways. They were beaten, placed in stocks, hobbled or even killed and gibbeted. The point of it all was to instill fear in other slaves who might dare to resist.

Dr. John Marshall is one of those troublesome Black men and a number of Kentucky legislators quickly mobilized to punish him. Because Marshall dared to speak, they issued an official statement saying, “this is an outrageously inflammatory public statement for anyone in a civilized society to make.” They demanded that Marshall resign or be fired.

Mark their names and remember them well: State Representatives Jarod Bauman, Kevin Bratcher, Emily Callaway, Ken Fleming, John Hodgson, and Susan Tyler Witten. State Senators Julie Raque-Adams, Lindsey Tichenor, Matthew Deneen, Michael Nemes, Adrienne Southworth, and Senator-Elect Aaron Reed. All republicans. All modern buck breakers.

In 1857, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney opined in Dred Scott v Sanford that negroes were “beings of an inferior order” and “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” This is what these Kentucky legislators still seem to believe. To hell with the 13^th Amendment that freed John Marshall and people who look like him in 1865. To hell with the 14^th Amendment that gave them citizenship in 1868. To hell with Marshall’s 1^st Amendment right to freedom of speech (even though the buck breakers wrongfully argued it shouldn’t apply in this case).

Not only does Marshall have the right to free speech, he spoke the truth. People like these legislators prove a good percentage of whites in Kentucky care little to nothing about Black people. In fact, Black people are under attack in Kentucky and many of these politicians are leading the way. They mask their racism in anti-diversity, anti-CRT, and anti-DEI babble, but it all comes down to the same thing – the maintenance of white supremacy. And unlike Marshall, they lie – incessantly. Now that a Black man stands up and tells the truth about who and what they are, they seek to destroy him. Typical of their ilk.

So, yes. We know what this is. We’ve seen it throughout American history (which the buck breakers don’t want taught). White supremacists like these legislators still feel Blacks have no rights they are “bound to respect.” They are committed to relegating Blacks to serving and entertaining. They want to smash Black voices, leadership, and possibilities. Like their ancestors, they target stronger Blacks who do not fear them and try to make public examples of them so other Black folk won’t dare oppose them. This is an attempt at “buck breaking,” plain and simple.

If he holds true to form, Dr. John Marshall won’t be broken. He has a long history of bravely fighting for equality. He’s a man we should all be proud of and support. Kentucky’s white supremacist legislators should know we will not leave him out in the cold on his own. He is loved and will be defended. Like Frederick Douglass, Marshall is a man who does not fear his former masters. He is a warrior. He isn’t going to run, hide, or resign, and neither should he. But each and every one of the backwards, buck breaking politicians who signed onto that reprehensible letter attacking him should.

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Dr. Ricky L. Jones is the Baldwin-King Scholar-in-Residence at the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and Professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and X.