“That Conversation about Race” category archive
The Digital Deride 0
Josh Marshall muses on the effects of major internet platforms’ (Twitter, a number of hosting providers, Facebook, and the like) yanking the accounts of various Neo-Nazi white supremacist actors, or, to put it another way, returning the trolls to their rightful place–under the bridge.
After noting that the irony that much of contemporary American political discourse takes place via privately-held, monolithic, for-profit platforms, he makes this trenchant observation (emphasis added):
Do please read the rest.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Mike Pence and monumental stupidity:
Over the Threshold 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall notes that white persons in the United States have higher thresholds for–that is, are less able to identify–racism and racist behavior than are others. He offers several reasons that could account for that. Here’s one:
- An example of an historical fact is, “The F.B.I. has employed illegal techniques (e.g., hidden microphones in motels) in an attempt to discredit African American political leaders during the civil rights movement”.
- An example of a false statement is, “African American Paul Ferguson was shot outside of his Alabama home for trying to integrate professional football”.
- An example of racism from the test is, “Several people walk into a restaurant at the same time. The server attends to all the White customers first. The last customer served happens to be the only person of color”.
Follow the link for the remainder of the reasons.
From the “Party of Lincoln” to the “Party of Stinkin'” 0
As I’ve noted several times, today’s Republican Party is the creation and the legacy of Richard Nixon. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy,” his decision to woo bigots and racists during his second campaign drew them into the party and they have no commandeered it.
Leonard Pitts, Jr., sums it up; here’s a bit:
(snip)
Its machinations have delivered to the GOP the presidency and both houses of Congress. Yet seldom has a party controlled so much and looked so bad doing it. Republicans find themselves saddled with an incompetent president elected on an implicit promise to make America white again. Under him, they are able to accomplish exactly nothing. They cringe as he suggests moral equivalence between bigots and those who protest them. As if all that were not bad enough, a newly revived hate movement now arrives, looking to cash in its chits.
Target Audience 0
The son of the founder of the white nationalist website, Stormfront, who has renounced his father’s views, tells what America’s Neo-Nazi, white supremacist movement looked like from the inside and why he finds it dangerous. Here’s how he starts out (emphasis added):
Much more at the link.
Afterthought:
Natch, “I’m not racist, but” means “I’m a racist, and.”
It’s a corollary to what I learned back when I did management training in communications skills:
“Yes, but” always means “No.”
Southern Twistory, Reprise 0
Werner Herzog’s Bear takes down the talking point that removing memorials to American traitors is somehow “destroying history.” (History can be misinterpreted, reinterpreted, explored, even forgotten, but it cannot be destroyed, for its fruits are all around us.) Here’s a nugget (emphasis in the original):
“Look in the Mirror, Boy” 0
In an editorial, Der Spiegel takes a look at Donald Trump.
It is not flattering.
Here’s an excerpt:
Follow the link for the complete article.
Southern Heritage and Southern Hypocrisy 0
My local rag looks at a monumental concomitance (more at the link):
Up to 25 people were auctioned at a time. The Norfolk crowd was usually a small group of traders with offices down the street, looking to buy slaves they could ship down to New Orleans at a big mark-up.
Once in a line, their clothes were stripped off so they could be inspected. Families were often split up.
These slave auctions were held steps away from where the city’s Confederate monument now stands, and a stone’s throw from jails where slaves were kept, historians say.
It’s largely the same story for two other prominent Confederate monuments in South Hampton Roads, although experts say the extent of the region’s role in the slave trade has been largely forgotten.
Shush.
Listen very carefully.
You won’t hear the folks who glorify gracious living in the Old South talk about this, even though it was the foundation thereof.
Recruiting Posers 0
Addendum:
As of today, there are conflicting reports as to the web location of The Daily Stormer. TPM reports that it has moved to the Dark Web. My attempt to connect to several variants of its name at a dot-ru address yielded a 404.
As I said earlier, I wouldn’t explore the Dark Web on a bet. It’s not that the Dark Web is all bad–it isn’t–but it’s not worth it to me to learn what’s safe and what’s not.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
This is your country on Trump.
“It was just something stupid that we thought would be funny, but it didn’t turn out to be funny at all,” the boy told Fox 13 Memphis. “It wasn’t supposed to be racist.”
Limitations of Statues 0
Thom talks with a caller who asks, if Confederate statues come down, is Mt. Rushmore next. Listen to Thom’s response.
Playing to Base Desires, One More Time 0
Alfred Doblin savages Donald Trump’s response to events in Charlottesville, Virginia, noting that he demonstrated that he values his rabid, bigoted base more than his country. Here’s a bit:
No mention of white supremacists. Later, during a press conference held at his golf club in Bedminster, the president said, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.”
Many sides? There aren’t many sides to hatred, bigotry and violence, only one side: the wrong one.
Afterthought:
It appears that the resurgent racist right is receiving a reaction that it did not expect.
They are certainly not gaining new followers, and I suspect the push-back has taken them aback. If not for them, Confederate monuments that have been or are being removed in many cities the past week would likely still be standing and still be relatively uncontroversial, by which I mean, images in the background of day-to-day life, not issues in the foreground.
This is in no way to downplay racist right’s danger to the polity. Stupid, hate-full, angry men (and it’s mostly men) with guns (and nuclear codes) are inherently dangerous. Rather, it is to point out a tiny little ray of sunshine peeking through the thunderclouds.
Whether the clouds will break is a whole nother issue. So long as the Southern Strategy Republican Party maintains dominance via voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other dirty tricks, optimism escapes me.
The Inherent Violence of Supremacist Ideology 0
In the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Chris Johnson argues forcefully that the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, traces back directly to the influence of white Southern culture and the racism in which is was conceived and which still undergirds far too much of it. Indeed, he goes so far as to posit that white supremacy (and, by extension, any ideology of supremacy), is inherently violent. Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
Such an ideology is inherently violent, because someone who thinks that way is not going to tolerate “just getting along” with those he views as inferior if they are granted equal treatment under the law. Supremacists view that as a source of grave injustice. And a sense of injustice has always been a motivator for violent acts.
How Stuff Works, Sense of Supremacy Dept. 0
In The Roanoke Times, mental health professional Maurice Fisher offers a clinical profile of a white supremacist, stressing in the beginning that it is a theoretical exercise and not a case study of any particular individual.
Here’s one item; follow the link for the rest (emphasis in the original):
Aside:
Sound like anyone who is constantly in the news?
Tongue-Tied 0
In The Roanoke Times, Dan Casey imagines Donald Trump’s inner struggle to denounce racists. A snippet:
THERAPIST: Sir, do you mean you’re morally incapable of fingering the forces promoting racism, bigotry and hate?
TRUMP: Not exactly. A lot of those marchers in Charlottesville admire Hitler, and it’s easy for me to denounce him. But I can’t seem to condemn them. It’s no coincidence that 100 percent of ’em voted for me. My mouth won’t work when I try to denounce my own supporters. My tongue gets tied.
None Dare Call It Treason . . . 0
. . . but it was.