Cow

            The announcement caused a stir in all echelons of the United States population: Billionaire philanthropist and chairman of the NAACP Michael Stern would be opening up a series of gated communities for the urban black population in order to, in his words, “facilitate a long-term migration of the black community from the worst neighborhoods of the major US metropolitan areas to the more affluent neighborhoods in which there is typically a dearth of people of color.”

            Stern denied allegations that he was starting a cult and claimed that the move would be temporary. “People always talk about ways of righting the wrongs of the past, of giving the black population the same opportunities that the white population has, and there has undeniably been some success, but it’s not enough, and the biggest obstacle to equality are the neighborhoods. Most African-Americans live in communities where violence is the norm and being successful means of old age instead of by drugs or violence. We need to set the bar higher than that. What I’m proposing is a temporary move to guarded gated communities, where families could send their children to school and go to work without worrying about their safety. The long-term goal is for the children of these men and women to receive secondary education and then to build high –quality lives for themselves outside the communities.”

            When asked why he was aiming his efforts at specifically helping African-Americans and not all poor American citizens, Stern replied, “Whether we like to admit it or not, racism is still a problem in the United States. People cross to the other side of the street when they see a young black man taking a leisurely walk. Cabbies routinely pass up African American passengers at a higher rate than everyone else. The perception of African Americans as a crime-causing race has to stop. Sure, we can continue to educate the population on the flaws in racial ideology and promote policies that will encourage more interaction between the black community and the rest of the population, but the truth is that as long as the majority of the city slums are populated by impoverished African Americans, the mental image of the mean-looking black gangster with a pistol in hand will continue to be the sub-conscious basis by which all interactions with the black community will take place. Yes there are poor members of every race, but none are as universally stigmatized as the black population.”

            In regards to the methods by which the communities would sustain themselves, Stern explained, “The communities will have their own power grid, their own agriculture, and their own factories. The blacks living in impoverished areas right now have menial jobs. In these communities, their jobs would have a defined purpose. They will be serving the communities while at the same time being able to provide for their families. The profit gained from selling the goods that they produce produce will go directly toward funding education for the children at private schools. All students that are admitted to universities will receive full or partial scholarships as well.”

            To questions regarding the communities’ interactions with federal and state governments, Stern seemed somewhat annoyed. “These communities will be no different than the gated neighborhoods that already exist all around the country. We will comply with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations.”

            While many people praised Stern’s initiative, many public figures urged caution. “While Mr. Stern’s commitment to the betterment of the conditions of the urban poor is commendable, we must exercise caution before embracing his plan. Historically the isolation of any group, and even more so of a minority population, has rarely led to goodwill among the general public".

            TV political pundits were much less subtle in expressing their views. “He wants to integrate them by isolating them?! That’s dumber than fucking for abstinence! You want to know who else tried to solve problems by isolating a group of people from the general population? Hitler, that’s who, and we all know how well that turned out.”

            Despite the range of opinions on the issue, Stern’s initiative went forward as as planned. Near every major city, several large gated compounds sprung up, guarded by armed men, electric fences, and barbed wire. From the outside, they looked less like homely neighborhoods and more like military bases or even prisons. On the the inside, however, Stern’s promise of a better life for the residents seemed to be fulfilled.  The round-the-clock security meant there was no crime, the carefully planned construction of the communities meant that no home was ever very far from a medical facility, shopping center, or school.
            The residences were four-story buildings filled with small two bedroom apartments, with minimalist furniture and appliances. It wasn’t much, but with utilities and rent included as part of the work benefits package, it was far better than most of the residents were used to.

            While the emigrants to these communities benefited, the areas they left behind fell apart. Sections of the city were abandoned, becoming ghost towns, with businesses that relied on the influx of the poor costumers abandoning their plots of land instead of trying to sell them. Not too many people noticed, though. Everyone who avoided the poor neighborhoods kept on avoiding them, and besides the noticeable fall in the number of people outside during the day, not much changed.

            After only a year from their initial founding, Stern’s gated communities became accepted as the new norm, and they faded from the public eye, as he kept his promises not only to the residents of these communal neighborhoods, but to the general public as well. The stream of taxes coming from the ‘Sternvilles’, as they were called, increased each year as production of products, crops, and power became more efficient, and there were more and more college applications being submitted to universities and colleges around the country. The applicants were of such high caliber that many of these institutions secretly gave priority acceptance to applicants from Sternvilles. It seemed all was good.

            The problems didn’t start until about twenty years after the Sternvilles had been settled. A lot had changed during those years. The working class population that first moved in had slowly been replaced by their children who were better educated, and as a result, unwilling to work the tedious and repetitive jobs that for their parents had been a blessing. Slowly but surely, no one was left to work the factories, farms, and power plants that were the primary source of income for the Sternvilles. Not having enough workers, the industry in the Sternvilles slowly shut down, and roughly thirty five years after the start of the initiative, the last gated community founded by Michael Stern had closed.

            This isn't to say the initiative was a failure. The children of the first settlers did indeed have a much better quality of life than their parents, and many of them did end up moving to the more affluent neighborhoods of various metropolitan areas in the USA. Consequently, the rate of incarceration of African-Americans for violent crimes decreased dramatically.

            Yet, the initiative wasn't a success either. The many years of separation from the rest of the country had taken a toll on ability of the Sternvilles’ former residents to integrate with the rest of the population, and nowhere was this more apparent than in their interaction with the white population. Instead of creating a bond between the white and black communities now that they were on equal footing, the new-found wealth of the black citizens of the USA created a feeling of disgust towards the white population. Now knowing what they were capable of, the blacks felt cheated; they reasoned that if they had had the opportunity earlier to recover from their years of oppression, they could have avoided years of suffering in abject poverty.

            This revived sense of victimization brought about unpleasant changes in the social landscape of the USA. Black business owners, leaning on a somewhat bent sense of justice, were reluctant to hire white workers, preparing to give them a taste of the poverty they had imposed since the day the USA had declared independence from Britain. Protests began, first, sparsely, then in large numbers all around the country. An attempt was made to pass legislation that would make it harder for black business owners to continue their anger-driven business practices, but alas, due to the demographic shift in congress, no legislation ever got through, with the exception of a few hiring laws that were all but useless at effecting any major change.

            The nation's white population became frustrated, and true to the old adage about history repeating itself, South Carolina threatened to secede from the USA, and not a year after the threat was made, it carried through with it. More states followed shortly after.

            The federal government, just like in the late 1800's before the civil war, did nothing to stop them, and in fact, despite officially decrying the action, seemed to support it, doing nothing to stop the secession, nor encouraging already seceded states to rejoin the union. After the torrent of seceding states had calmed, twenty seven states were left in the United States of America, with the seceding states forming the United States Republic. The United States Republic was a republic, much like the United States of America. Besides being white-dominated and black-dominated, respectively, the only significant difference between the two nations was that the USA ended up having most of the major cities, while the USR had almost of the farmland.

            An unintended side-effect of this split was that life became more difficult for non-whites non-blacks. Given the nature of the conflict, non-whites in the USR and non-blacks in the USR became essentially powerless, not being able to obtain any government roles, nor high level position in any major companies, despite each side trying to woo them over to their respective nation to demonstrate their own progressiveness.

            Soon, a mass exodus began, with non-whites and non-blacks trying to find a nation that would take them. The disintegration of the United States was laughed at by the international community, but with one hand covering their mouths, many different nations took up the responsibility of accepting the refugees. Most refugees fled to Europe where the Western lifestyle and culture would most closely matched the one they were used to in the United States. A minority of them, however, took the exodus as an opportunity to return to the countries of their ancestry. Japanese-Americans fled to Japan, Chinese-Americans to China, Arab-Americans to Saudi Arabia, Jews to Israel, etc.

            The early days of the the newly divided nation were difficult. Families were torn apart, friendships broken, and riots erupted in areas where stubborn misplaced minorities (whites in the USA and blacks in the USR) refused to give up their homes and move. To their credit, each government did their best to stop the rioting, mobilizing the police force, offering aid to displaced minorities, and providing safe passage out of their nations to those who wished it. Nothing helped. Many people stayed in their homes on principle, and the police, often composed of the same people that objected to the holdouts, weren't eager to stop the rioting. Many people died.

            Despite the bleak situation, once everyone had accepted that the there was no hope of reconciliation, things got better. The presidents of the two nations met on neutral ground in Toronto, Canada, and signed a trade agreement; The USR would provide the USA with agricultural goods, while the USA would supply the USR with technological goods and services. This specialization led to both nations prospering, and politicians of the time agreed that the split, however unfortunate, was beneficial.

            Tensions were still high between the whites and the blacks and would remain that way for quite some time, but at least the US had finally become what everyone seemed to have wanted all along: separate but equal.