What has become one of the most disturbing statements uttered by Americans is, “This is not who we are.” No, actually, this is disgustingly who we are. This collective act of self-delusion is not new; it has been a part of the American ethos since our nation’s inception. Our country’s existence has always depended on the victimization of groups defined as the other or as impediments to the accumulation of power and wealth. Native Americans, steal their land, Africans and African Americans, enslave them, and immigrants, demonize them.
Too many Americans have cloaked themselves in America’s amazing Dreamcoat of whiteness. This allows those people to ignore or accept criminality, corruption, and the persecution of others when they wear that cloak (for all intents and purposes, membership in the club has been closed since the 1970s). They believe it somehow makes them immune to persecution.
The horrific murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by ICE agents have temporarily dispelled many white Americans’ belief that their whiteness protects them from the horror inflicted on others by government officials and administrations. Watching the videos of Good and Pretti being murdered, and the lies being spewed to cover up these crimes by defaming the victims are infuriating. My sympathies, condolences, and support go out to the families of Good and Pretti. This should not be happening.
I watched many of these videos and felt like I had drunk a potent cocktail of anger, empathy, and sympathy. It is the exact same feeling I experienced when Eric Garner was choked to death, Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy playing with a toy gun who was shot, Philandro Castille who was murdered in front of his partner and child, Breonna Taylor who was shot 6 times by Louisville police, and George Floyd who was executed by a Minneapolis police officer that had a knee on his neck for more than 9 minutes. Disgracefully, there are too many to name in this article
The problem is that in America, anger, empathy, and sympathy are color-coded. Notwithstanding the reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the reaction to the murder of Blacks in America by law enforcement ranges from blaming the victim for their victimization, muted disapproval, to indifference.
Those of us who acknowledge the disparity of treatment between white victims and Black victims are often described as race baiters, or we are defensively told that we are always making it about race. Actually, many of us are just acknowledging that history and race-based policies determine outcomes in America. It’s attitudes like this that laid the groundwork for what is happening in Minnesota today.
The rise of tyranny relies on a system successfully demonizing distinct groups of human beings and convincing enough citizens that these groups are responsible for their problems and hardships. Authoritarians and fascists have a hierarchy of targets. It usually begins with race, then followed by ethnicity, religion, political opinion, economic status, and sex. The particular order depends on the authoritarian’s particular hatreds, but they eventually have their boots on the necks of all these groups. This is why it is so dangerous to rank-order your reactions to victimization.
The people of Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago have been courageous and are developing an effective strategy and roadmap to fight tyranny. Trump is personally bastardizing John F. Kennedy’s clarion call that Americans focus on what they can do for their country and not what their country can do for them. Trump is the antithesis of that sentiment. What makes it even worse is that he not only wants to rob America, but he is also content to burn it down and deny you the liberties that too many Americans take for granted.
From the time when the first enslaved African set foot on the soil that would become the United States, Black people have had to fight for everything. We had to fight to be free, fight to own property instead of being property, fight to be educated, fight to not be lynched, fight to play sports, fight to fight (military), fight to vote. The fight and struggle still continue. One thing that Black people understand is the true meaning and dynamics of fighting for progress. It is usually a very deliberate, drawn-out process to achieve meaningful change. Almost all change is incremental.
It is also true that any progress achieved will be attacked by those who want to maintain the status quo. Black folks have a term that describes whenever there is strong opposition to anything that represents progress for Black people. We call it “Blacklash.” It never fails. Reconstruction begat Jim Crow, Brown vs Board of Education resulted in white flight from public schools, and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act led to racist Democratic politicians and voters becoming Republicans. Those were the forces dedicated to reversing those advances.
To maintain progress, movements need to be at least as persistent and focused as those who want to undermine it. It took more than 50 years, but the Right eventually struck down Roe. They dismantled Roe and Affirmative Action over a 50-year period, never letting their anti-democratic foot off the pedal. That is the kind of energy needed to defeat these demonic forces today.
I recently watched a hearing in which a young woman named Miramar Martinez testified before a Senate Committee. She was part of a panel that consisted of victims of ICE and Border Patrol violence. She was a miracle. She was shot five times by a coward who bragged about shooting her 5 times and creating 7 bullet holes. She was a Latina American, and she mentioned other victims in her presentation. Other fatal victims mentioned were Silverio Vega Gonzalez (an Immigrant), Keith Porter (a Black American), Renee Good (a white American woman), and Alex Pretti (a white American man). This represents most of America. Do you still feel safe?
Throughout our history as a nation, the foundation of our country, contrary to declarations by many well-meaning people, has been division and not diversity. Diversity as a goal or a virtue has always had to struggle against the powerful forces of division, division by race, division by sex, by ethnicity, and by income. At a minimum, it is incumbent on each of us who gives a shit to acknowledge how we contribute to this division. My fellow Americans, this is not a time for platitudes and self-congratulatory statements. Rather than shooting for a “more perfect union”, how about working towards “a better union”
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