RACISM IS STILL HERE, WHITE PEOPLE

Ruth A. Sheets

So, racism is no longer a problem in the United States of America.  John Roberts told us so back in 2013 when he and the conservatives on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act that had been passed again in 2006 by a vast majority of Congress.  Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina  repeated the lie in his response to President Biden’s speech ON the 100th day of his presidency.  Roberts is a privileged white guy who can’t seem to connect with ordinary Americans from his Supreme Court position.  Scott is a Black Republican from South Carolina.  They have an understanding of racism in common.

Republicans right now are mostly white people and either are or wannabe rich.  White folks have had so many privileges for so long it is hard for them to even imagine that these are privileges only white people have.  When a plan comes forward to give some assistance to anyone else, white people are encouraged to believe they will lose something in the process.  Republicans have bought into the lie that if someone gets something others lose something.  That is not the way the world has to work, but it is a POWERFUL device for keeping people in fear and getting working people to believe Republicans have their interests at heart.  In reality, most of the Republicans who really cared about working people's welfare died before most living Americans were born. 

The lie works, though because if things are said loud enough and repeated often enough and by men, people who are vulnerable may believe.  This pumping out of the zero sum game theory of life is racist, particularly when those who profess it are white, rich, and Republican.  Even Black Republicans like Sen. Scott and fellow Republican Clarence Thomas of Supreme Court fame bow to white supremacy because it allows them to be big fish in a little pool.  They have manage to be successful and can both claim this is due to their own efforts and therefore, this is not a racist nation.  The country is  racist, of course, but these men have been rewarded handsomely for their lies and submission, so why should they change.  

We as a nation should be able to do better.  Racism is at the center of nearly everything we do, however, so pretending it is no longer a problem will not work to heal our nation.  This is why I am pretty sure Republicans don't want to heal anything.  They benefit more from disunion, blaming, fearmongering, racism, and all the rest.  Their lies get broadcast all over right-wing media and the other media feel compelled to pick it up and keep covering it too, far beyond what any particular person’s or group’s actions deserve. 

It is even better if white Republicans/conservatives can show Black people and other people of color protesting because it fits the Republican mantra that only they care about this nation, only they love this country and are patriotic.  Those protesters aren’t really Americans, so protesters’ honest concerns can easily be dismissed as irrelevant and destructive.  Abuse by police, poorly resourced education, limited political representation, voter suppression, inadequate housing availability, etc., are not real problems. 

The Democratic Party needs to do better in messaging.  The party must show that Dems actually do care about working people and always have, perhaps not as much lately as they should, but far more than Republicans have in decades.  Republicans don't want workers of color to have unions or hold out for higher wages, living wages because it is easier to control people when they are suffering, in massive debt, and desperate.  White supremacy informs white people that others don’t deserve anything through the voting booth or on the job.  We learn that the vote must be kept “pure” from a Texas legislator, code for “white.”  Republicans don’t even cringe anymore when clearly racist statements are made and racist bills proposed.  It’s just another day at the office for them. 

Republican defense of such statements and proposed laws  are that these are really to protect the votes of Black and other voters.  They have created elaborate lies, explanations for their “base” to show their immense altruism, not racism.  Of course it’s racism, but for white people who don’t want to believe they and their party are racist, the deception works.

Congress, without any Republican support threw a monetary lifeline to Americans trying to survive the pandemic physically and economically.  Republican governors and legislators noticed that people aren’t rushing back to the low-paying jobs as businesses start to reopen and demand their return.  Instead of looking at why people aren’t returning in droves, Republican governors and legislators have decided it’s because the financial assistance is too much so people don’t want to work.  They are forcing people back into those crappy jobs by cutting support funding.  People must be forced back to work even if the wages are insufficient to cover expenses, let alone child care.  White privilege tells these governors and legislators (Mississippi being one), that people don't want to work and would rather be on the dole.  More lies, but their white privilege keeps the lies coming and feeds their supporters’ anger at those people.  It also feeds the politicians’ desire for more prestige among scared white voters.  Gotta MAKE those lazy people work for the  companies that will bring the economy back, mostly rich, white men who won't pay workers a living wage.  Yep, that’s racism.  Poor white workers are caught up in this too which is where classism and racism intersect.

Republicans are so busy defending election lies, bad-mouthing the 1619 Project (which tries to honestly look at American racism), and dismissing any curricula that propose teaching about race in America that they don’t see just how racist their words and actions are.  I suspect they feel that if they keep the smoke screen up, their followers will continue to console themselves that they aren’t racist while they support a political party that promotes all kinds of racist actions, the most critical now, voter suppression specifically targeted at Black voters, claiming they are not racist, you know. 

The racism is clear to everyone who takes time to notice and consider the impact of the new laws in Florida and Georgia, for example.  It would be a mistake to think that initiating more than 360 bills in 47 states to restrict voting, all by Republican legislators is not racist.  Of course, it is racist and was intended to limit participation in elections by people of color in particular and non-Republicans in general.  I just heard a journalist claim Republicans are suggesting these laws because of their focus on voter integrity and security.  That is another Big Lie, their smoke and mirrors explanation for their racist acts, but none of it is true.  There is so little voter fraud in the many cases Republicans brought to challenge the 2020 election, they couldn’t produce any instances. 

The voter suppression push is about keeping non-white groups from gaining power.  If we care about diversity and our democracy, we need to stand up to this encroachment on our rights and democratic values. 

Republicans corralled by Mitch McConnell in the Senate have declared they will vote for nothing that will  help standardize voting or insure the right to vote to all citizens.  Republicans will continue to lean on jerrymandering, voter suppression laws, and challenges to election results to maintain power they don’t deserve and keep the lies and racism coming.  They can’t even support one of their own, an anti-almost everything that would help people kind of Republican, but who speaks the truth about the 2020 election.  Liz Cheyney was ousted from her nothing job today.  All the media just had to over-cover it even though it is as Republican as things get.  When a party thrives on lies, truth can’t survive even in the mouth of someone who parrots every other regressive idea recent Republicans have championed. 

Be prepared.  Republicans have nothing positive to offer.  They have no ideas,  lies rule, and their racism is on display everywhere and is pretty potent. 

Don’t lose heart, though because Republicans are the minority even if they don’t think so.  Democrats will need to use their current majority position to make essential changes.  It will be really bad if Dems blow this opportunity.  Manchin and Sinema, you had better get on board.  If you don’t, Republicans will serve you up for lunch and laugh through the entire meal, while they somehow make you look racist.  That’s how Republicans operate these days in their efforts to take our democracy down. 

FEAR, THE “GIFT” THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

By Ruth A. Sheets

Fear is an amazing thing.  It may be the most powerful motivator of humanity.  Positively, it can move people to stand up to stop destructive actions against themselves and others and fight for change to improve living conditions against natural and manmade dangers.  Negatively, fear of the other is insidious because it takes so many forms and can be wielded with a minimum of effort. 

Many of our phobias are tied to fear:  fear of the dark or night since those others can harm us then; homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia all pinpointing specific others to fear; fear of young people who are, of course, dangerous, right?

Racism and sexism are all about fear that the other might get some of the privilege the racists or misogynists can’t admit they have.  Ageists and ableists fear they are mortal and don’t want older or disabled people around to remind them.  And so it goes on and on.  Fearmongering is easy because humans evolved to be hyper aware of danger, real or manufactured and it is often hard to tell the difference. 

Parents use fear to keep their children from dangerous situations and sometimes to control their behavior, to keep them in line, perhaps so parents won’t be embarrassed by them.

Schools train students early to be sensitive to fear:  fear of failure, fear of bullies, fear of being left out (which may or may not be a “natural” fear but becomes well sculpted year by year and is related to fear of not fitting in), FEAR OF BEING AWKWARD, and probably more.  

Religious leaders can be strong fearmongers reminding their congregants that they must fear God, fear sinners, fear progress, fear eternal punishment/Hell, fear people not like them because those people will take them down the wrong path and so on, week after week.

However, some of the most proficient users and abusers of fear are political entities.  This goes far beyond candidates and those who serve in elected office.  It includes advertisers, people who operate and donate to Political Action Committees (PACs) and other election finance groups, non-profits with political ambitions, media moguls, and social media users and influencers. 

Wielding fear usually goes along with misinformation and/or selective information.  There are certainly things in life to worry about, but to bring those worries to a higher pitch, fearmongers toss in just enough misinformation, misdirection, even lies to get notice from their targets to promote worry. 

The “Willie Horton ad” used in George H.W., Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign  illustrates this well.  The news media had amplified the increase of violence and the drug war, so people were primed to expect to be victims at some point, and Black men would be the perpetrators.  Willie Horton was a Black criminal who  had been released early, then killed two people.  The ad informed the people of the United States that candidate Mike Dukakis would free all those Black criminals to attack them, the defenseless white people, the true Americans.  Crimes had been committed by White men released early too, while most Black and White early releases led to no crimes.  None of that mattered.  In this case there was insufficient information.  As one can imagine, it was pretty powerful in stirring up fear of African-American men to such a pitch that Bush won handily.  Republicans seemed offended when they were reminded their ad was racist.  It was. 

When the trial for 5 Black teens accused of attacking a woman in Central Park occurred shortly afterward, the young men were all convicted even though they hadn’t been near the site of the crime.  Donald Trump still insists the young men should all have been electrocuted.  I guess he thinks that those young men must have done something worth being executed for.  They were just so scary, you know.

The Republican party continues to be the party of fear.  It has embraced fear as its moral mission.  Racism and misogyny are both at their center, although they have been trotting out White women (in some Governors’ seats, the  House, and Senate) to claim they have the full rights of men.  Black men(in the Senate and Supreme Court) whine that this nation is not racist.  They think these tokens can make up for male fear of women that leads to many anti-abortion and anti-reproductive rights actions throughout the country.  It does not negate White fear of Black men and people of color that has caused the imbalance of Black people caught up in the criminal justice system.

Donald Trump is the poster boy for the fearmongering of Republicans.  We must be afraid of the hoards coming across the Southern border.  Be very afraid of Muslims, no matter where they are from and how much they have helped this country.  Tremble in your shoes at the thought of all those immigrants living in your neighborhood, wanting to take your job, worshipping in a way different from you.  Watch out for those LGBT (or whatever those letters are) people who will be hitting on or “turning” you or your kids. 

Then, there is soooo much voter fraud that we have to stop it.  Those people are going to steal your vote just like they stole the election in 2020 – no evidence for any of it, of course.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has invigorated the Republican fear machine’s.  Fear the vaccine because it will give you COVID.  Fear wearing masks because they will give you COVID.  Don’t be afraid of COVID because it isn’t so bad.  Most people survive it (implied, most White people survive it).  Fear and do harm to Asian-Americans because, well there must be a reason because Trump called COVID “China virus.”  Any pandemic is scary, but there are many who just love to use the uncertainty to move their questionable agenda forward.

In short, the current Republican Party is pleased to see their followers afraid of many things.  Fear makes its victims vulnerable to messages like “I’m the only one who can fix this for you.”  There is also a vulnerability to conspiracy theories that are beyond outrageous, to the point of stupidity.  The creators of those conspiracies, if not actually suffering from delusions, are weaponizing fear to keep followers following and to keep the “enemies” list current.  Electing several of the devotees to Congress insures the stupidity will continue because the media just must put their ravings and complete lies out there as though they have merit.  They don’t. 

The only conspiracies we as a nation should worry about, even fear, are those related to the current Republican Party sloshing around in its own manure, trying to spread its fear onto all of us.  Vigilance and calling the fearmongers out on their fearmongering are ways we who don’t want fear to rule any longer, can stop the insanity. 

We need to stand up and demand that media stop the false equivalencies and call lies and fearmongering what they truly are.  We must tell our legislators we are sick of the voter fraud claims when the only cases rare as they are, in decades have been Republican fraud.  We need to tell our nation we are tired of being told to be afraid of Black men when White men commit more crimes including most mass murders in this country.  We need to proclaim that we are tired of being afraid that the Supreme Court with its conservative allies will take away more of our rights.  Let’s get more people to understand the value of labor unions (except maybe for police) so we won’t fear our jobs or losing them.  We need health care for all so we don’t need to be fearmongered into taking drugs or using services that could harm us.  Get vaccinated so we don’t have to fear COVID as much.  

In short, let’s stand with each other against fear in all its forms so we won’t be victims of the fearmongers any longer.  Let’s put them out of business.