By Frank James, Special for the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper
Everyone who has ever seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, movie has heard the term alternative reality. Alternative realities are realities that diverge from the normal time stream. Let’s take a trip into an alternative reality. One where we can observe the answer to the following question. “How would the history of the USA look if white people truly grasped one of the famous lines of the Declaration of Independence?”
The section of the Declaration of Independence referred to is, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…” It is a beautiful piece of writing that the people of the USA have made into a work of fiction. We won’t discuss the hypocrisy of the actions of the people who created the document. What we will look at is a possible reality where the people believed, and lived by the sentence.
We will access the alternative reality in June of 1865. The 13th Amendment was now law. Many will ask why not start in 1776? For one the country was just forming in 1776. The US population needed to get their bearings on what the country was going to be once free from England. By 1865 the country was beginning to go through some changes since the Civil War ended in April of the same year. This is the perfect place to view the possible, or impossible.
In 1865, in our reality, the majority of white people were not ready to accept African Americans as human, much less equals. In the alternative reality, the results of the war had a different effect on the US population. These people saw the devastation the Civil War caused on the land and the people. This made the white citizens, in the alternative reality, finally understand what Thomas Jefferson meant in the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. All white people, even those in the south, understood and embraced the concept of equality of all men. This is where the alternative reality’s history differs greatly from the one we reside in.
As we look at the alternative reality history we see that things didn’t go smoothly at first. In the alternative reality there were some ignorant whites who were racist in all areas of the country. Since these racist whites were few and far between, the hatred these misguided souls spewed and felt towards African Americans didn’t spread. In the alternative reality these few hateful pockets of racist whites people were ostracized, re-educated, or phased out. This timeline didn’t have groups such as the Ku Klux Klan terrorizing African Americans to make themselves feel good about being poor whites. In the alternative reality white people view African American people as valued citizens. African Americans were respected as human beings by the alternative timeline white population in the late 1800’s.
This change in the mindset of the white people, in the alternative reality, in 1865 drastically altered the next 150 plus years of their history. Their US flourished with white and black people working side by side to create a powerful, united country. For example, when the alternative reality USA went to both World Wars. US enemies faced a united fighting force that benefitted from both white and African American ingenuity and physical prowess. A deadly combination that led to swift victory in the alternative reality.
The word integration was utilized in the alternative reality. Not the mental assimilation/exploitation that African American in this reality faced. There were no boycotts and marches on Washington in the alternative reality’s 1960’s. Their timeline accepted that white people and African American people have different cultures. This acceptance kept both races proud of who they were. Not in conflict. What united the two races was the fact that they were all US citizens and held respect for one another.
A beautiful reality that may exist somewhere. We can make this reality beautiful too. Let’s do it.
Frank James IV © 2026
beingfrankwithfrank@gmail.com
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the writer and not of the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper or HT Group, LLC, its staff or management. “Being Frank” is a bi-weekly column exclusive to the Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper.
