Tag: Racism

Opinion

Those who would rather shatter it than share it

Poet Amanda Gorman spoke of people who would rather shatter our republic than share it. The description sounds completely appropriate in light of the MAGA crowd and Republicans threatening the vote for 2020 and beyond. Republican legislators around the country are working to make voting harder, in a country that already has low percentages of the eligible population participating. The United States increasingly seems a country where a percentage of the population views the rest as targets for submission, not fellow citizens. The main tools in the conflict to control America are lies, threats, gerrymandering, and terrorism from Republicans; Democrats counter with demographic trends leading to political dominance because the other side offers nothing for working people. The Republican issue is failing to believe in conservative theory leading to policies and solutions the majority of Americans will vote for; so they lie. Our politics can be fixed if we can get Republicans to get back to practical solutions to problems rather than just knee-jerk anti-spending and anti-socialism. Capitalism is the engine of our society, but is not the best solution for every problem. Do you want police officers paid by the number of tickets they issue? America and Republicans can easily do better by rejecting Reagan’s idea that government is the problem. Real life is more complex than zero-sum thinking allows for. Sharing is far better than a broken country for all of us.

Opinion

Book review: Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Stony the Road (Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow) by Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a history text. The book is dry and factual; not exciting. If you want to know the various ways that Black Americans were attacked and used as the antithesis of White; this book is a top resource. Today many of us know that people believe what they want to believe, but illiterate former slaves had to deal with an array of forces working to humiliate and diminish them. White was ultimately defined as everyone with European origins viewing and working to keep Black people inferior. Doctors, scientists, journalists, etc. were all in on a conspiracy to feed White egos and marginalize Black ones. Details are a strength of this book; the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and his White supremacist policies, racist movies like “Birth of a Nation” (1915), Whites feeling anxious about Black troops coming back from World War I leading to the terrorist Red Summer of 1919. The book starts with Reconstruction after the Civil War and follows the hellish reality the Black Americans lived with through the 1920s. If you want to understand more about the history of White Supremacy in America put this book on your list.

Opinion

Feeling Hopeful

President Joe Biden is showing Americans what leadership looks like. He is talking and acting like a person of character and conviction about COVID19, climate change, racism, infrastructure, and making work pay. President Biden cannot do everything he wants without the help of Congress, but by using executive orders he is not sitting around waiting for them to act. The Biden/Harris administration is sending the signal that citizens matter by exhibiting transparency and answering the questions of the press. Our government is not supposed to solve all of our problems, but it is supposed to set the stage for the success of our efforts. With numerous challenges for America we now have adults in charge who know that leadership in government matters for the future and success of hard working citizens. When Biden talks he is optimistic and focused on our issues; not talking about himself and lying about bizarre issues like inauguration crowd size. I do not believe everything will be perfect now, but we have good reason for hope. Let’s keep paying attention and sorting out truth from fiction because the ultimate decision makers are us.

Opinion

Moving forward

The Democratic controlled House of Representatives and Senate is where the action is for rebuilding the base of the republic. Joe Biden has told us what he wants to do, but he needs congress to make it a reality. Trump has been impeached but now should be convicted and banned from ever holding office again; unless we want to see more like him in the future. The COVID19 pandemic threatens to morph into a new threat with variants overtaking vaccines if we do not act quickly to finance the fight against it. Assistance for people financially damaged by the pandemic and the rest of the economy is needed sooner to prevent more damage later. Civil rights for all Americans to be treated with dignity is urgent as our society battles extremism and hate. Climate change has it’s own timer and does not care if we respond or not, but if we care for future generations the time is now. Democrats have been given control and now must show supporters that they really care about the issues important to voters. I am hopeful that we will see boldness from congress and the Biden administration. Stay focused and be ready to provide feedback and support to your representatives and the administration.

Opinion

The Fear of God

Republicans like Ted Cruz continuously lie with impunity about the Paris Climate Agreement and other issues. Cruz implied that Joe Biden cared more about what the citizens of Paris cared about than the citizens of Pittsburg (borrowing a line from Trump). The idiocy of the line could not be resisted and a Democratic representative asked if the Geneva Conventions were about what the citizens of Geneva cared about. Republicans like Cruz and Hawley do not care about the truth because they do not respect the voters in a system where the conservative media supports lies to support an evil agenda. Evolutionary Biologists say that when events occur that are ruthless and amoral they are not an accident. The events are attempts to maintain an advantage for future generations and the perpetrators. There is no consequence for Republicans lying because there is less fear of God than the prime motivation of maintaining an advantage. The old saying is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Trying to create advantages for progeny is as old as humanity, but it easily turns into evil (we used to have royalty that claimed their inherited advantages came from God). Every respectable American must be focused on their soul and character before party. Too many Republicans have sold our in the pursuit of power and the rot threatens to destroy the country. More information about the degeneracy and corruption of the Trump administration will be coming out. Make sure that you hold the line and ask your representatives to do the same and not allow the truth to be a casualty of the pursuit of power. Stand up for the truth and the soul of our nation. Make sure that criminality does not go unpunished, or worse rewarded and invited to return in the name of white power.

Opinion

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” “Why America may go too hell.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On this MLK holiday every American needs to reflect on current events and where we go from here. The two quotes in the title of this post are great words to ponder. I don’t want my country to go to hell, but we seem to be drifting in that direction. Our culture has become toxic to the decency and dignity of the average citizen. America has media empires built on consistently lying to advance a viewpoint that some people are better than others, and democratic government is a problem. We are far away from believing that all men are created equal, or that the truth will set us free. Evil and selfish people believe that they should control other people while getting a pass for themselves because they are part of an entitled group. We used to believe that some people were royalty and they had special entitlements, now we are fighting the racist lie with the same foundation. There is nothing that says we will make it to a better future for all humanity. Dr. King and great leaders have tried to save us from our worst impulses, but we live in a world where people are fine with supporting evil. The rationales for supporting treachery, corruption, and authoritarian creatures like Trump are increasingly absurd, but Republican majorities of citizens continue to do it. The level of degeneration in our country is dangerous, it will take every decent person to protect our democracy and hope for a better future. Dr. King said that we will get to the promised land; I pray he is right. Be ready to support American institutions, the dignity of your fellow citizens, hold evil accountable, and protect our republic.

Opinion

Accountability

The American legal system has to capture and punish the terrorists and criminals who assaulted and sacked the US Capitol. The mere fact that this must be stated is an indictment of systemic white supremacy in America. Many Americans think the Capitol assault was not a big deal, and a few people got out of control. The same people would be ready to declare war and invade another country if the same assault had been staged by Iranians or Chinese. If the attack had been staged by Black Americans the death toll would have been tremendous. America has an issue with racism, and it threatens to become a lot worse if white supremacist terrorism is not dealt with appropriately. The focus of the attack was to take the defeat of Donald Trump and create victory by deleting unwanted votes (both minority and white votes). The plan was a repeat of what took place in 1876 to end Reconstruction, beginning the Jim Crow era of racial marginalization and segregation. The lies about the election being stolen were not challenged by most Republicans or the conservative media echo chamber. Truth and justice were not even speed bumps in the pursuit of a reinforced system of white supremacy. Whether people claimed to be evangelicals, QAnon, proud boys, or Klu Klux Klan, the truth was not deemed to be worthy of consideration to keep a lying Trump in office for four more years. Four more years of corruption, abuse, and lies to create a revised America that no longer respected the Constitution. For America to move forward in strength we must believe and act as if ‘knowing the truth will set us free’ to paraphrase Jesus.

Opinion

Article review: The American Abyss by Timothy Snyder

If you want to read a scholarly analysis of what has taken place at the Capitol and in our country The American Abyss by Timothy Snyder is at the top of the list. Timothy Snyder is a Yale professor of history and expert on fascism. Professor Snyder wrote Bloodlands an intense history of Stalin and Hitler’s mass murders in Eastern Europe which I previously reviewed. The American Abyss gets to the heart of long term issues that led us to the assault on the Capitol and the divisions in our society, but Snyder also identifies what we must look out for going forward. A key finding in the article is the complicity of the Republican Party in using racism to get votes while channeling power and resources to the wealthy. Snyder identifies two types of current Republican politicians; gamers who use Trump and racism for election and power, breakers who like having a white authoritarian in power and could care less about democracy. Armed with the insight and information of this article citizens can both understand the history that led us to near disaster, and correctly analyze what needs to happen in the coming years. Snyder identifies truth as a necessity for democracy and all parties having agreement on basic facts. I strongly recommend that every literate concerned citizen read or listen to The American Abyss by Timothy Snyder at the New York Times website.

Opinion

American vigilance

The sacking of Capitol by seditious domestic terrorists should have the attention of every American. The terrorists have different belief systems according to reporting. A good deal of the terrorists are white supremacists who want a violent civil war to achieve their goals. Another portion of the terrorists are Qannon conspiracy believers who have lost touch with any known reality, and believe the country is run by evil pedophiles (No one can explain why these people support Trump who hung around with an accused pedophile). Another portion of the terrorists are reported to be religious fundamentalists who believe our society of individual freedom should not exist, and a dictatorship controlling all behavior is preferable to a democracy. The remainder of the terrorists are apparently lost souls who believe that Trump is somehow their savior. The reality for Americans who love our republic is that we face a real and committed threat to our way of life. The common focus of the terrorists is to bring about an authoritarian government that can exert more control over personal freedom. All authoritarians promise their followers special status that others do not enjoy as long as they follow orders (See Timothy Snyder). Right now the terrorists are focused on terrorizing Democrats and our government leaders, once they win that struggle they will come after us. The land of the free and the home of the brave must be just that right now. Be ready to support President Biden, his administration, and our elected lawmakers at the federal and local level because patriotism has never been more important.

Opinion

Why Trump chose to be a Republican

After watching the Capitol building being sacked and looted by fools who were lied into a mindless frenzy; I had to pause to reflect on how we became so lost as a country. Trump’s criminal rampage was fed by the political party he joined to run for president based on the consistent use of racism to turn out white voters. The Southern Strategy (designed to appeal to white grievance) was successful for Nixon in 1968, and continued to be successful for Republicans going forward. Trump had to make a calculation that he could use the Republican’s sea of lies and subtext of racism against them, and he did. He sold himself as the angriest and most genuine white supremacist candidate for 2016, while labeling the other Republicans as the real con-artists. Republican voters bought it despite never examining Trump’s own lies because they wanted fighter who would bring white supremacy beyond the wink and a nod, to a focused mainstream. Trump is undisciplined, but he knew that he was a match for the desire of his voters and gave them what they wanted. We are now dealing with the fallout of our democracy allowing this racist demagogue to run our great nation into a ditch, because hatred and laziness do not make good leaders. People of goodwill should be vigilant and elect leaders who work towards liberty and justice for all.