RACISM ALIVE AND WELL IN OUR LEGISLATURES

by Ruth Sheets

As a teacher, I am appalled at what scared white people will do to keep folks, particularly their kids from knowing the truth about what white people have done pretty consistently to Black Americans for 400 years. State legislators should feel shame that they have benefited and are still benefiting from the abuses of power white Americans have perpetrated against Black persons and other people of color. Unfortunately, sometimes with privilege comes the sense that one’s privilege and entitlement are deserved and that the others (fill in the blank) also deserve what has happened to them: poverty, a messed-up criminal justice system and excessive incarceration, deplorable housing, poorly resourced schools, low-quality healthcare, low-paying jobs, you get the idea.

Every white legislator in this nation should read At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray to get an idea of how pervasive and horrific the abuse of Black Americans has been since slavery and how people are still living with the consequences, both white and Black.

So, you Republican/conservative whites don't want anyone to teach about race. Does that mean you want to hide out in the lie that "I wasn't alive then, so it wasn't my fault and I shouldn't be blamed. I have no responsibility for what is happening to Black people today. That’s on them. It has been more than 150 years and . . . . " That’s it? You didn’t enslave people or lynch anyone yourself so you have no responsibility? You might want to remember that white ancestors did the deeds and also rejoiced in the lynchings, the destruction of Greenwood- Tulsa, OK, Rosewood, FL, destruction of the biracial government in Wilmington, NC, the bus riots in Boston in the 1970’s, the incarceration of Black men at far higher rates than would be expected with their numbers in the population, and sooooo much more. Remember that not so long ago, white parents and grandparents participated in redlining and not holding police accountable for abuse of Black citizens. They denied Black people the vote and you, white legislators are working to continue and expand their efforts at voter suppression in states all over the country.

If racism were truly past, you all wouldn’t feel the need to deny any citizen their rights and yet you are working hard to do just that. You would not be pushing over 360 bills in state legislatures to limit voting or make it far more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote. You wouldn’t fight so hard to keep from raising the minimum wage which impacts by percent, Black Americans far more than white Americans.

White people of the American South are desperate to defend the presence of monuments to literal traitors to the United States claiming they are part of their heritage, but slavery isn’t? It seems that rubbing Black people’s faces in Confederate monuments is totally acceptable while teaching about the racism that led to the war that led to those monuments is not acceptable.

So, tell me again why is it you white Republican racist legislators don't want race to be discussed in classrooms and you want to deny free speech to teachers? Is it you want taught only the “whitewashed” history you all have created over time that keeps white Americans at the center of everything, while relegating Black and other Americans of color to positions of either inferiority or invisibility? Your ancestors came here “the right way” while Black persons just showed up here as slaves on the plantations of loving masters and mistresses.

I suspect you know the truth and are trying hard to hide it, or bury it so deep in the footnotes students will be too overwhelmed to investigate. What I really want to know is, to what end? What do white legislators get from keeping students, particularly white students from knowing the truth? Black students already know a lot of the truth because they live it daily. They just don’t get to learn the specifics.

Then you want to go after teachers, teachers who do what, tell the truth? What about freedom of speech, is that no longer in operation in your white Republican/conservative world? Are you frightened that you may have had ancestors who participated in some of the horrors Mr. Dray speaks about in his book? You just told us that you aren’t responsible for what they may have done. Maybe it’s time you let go of your fear of the truth and start to embrace it instead. You don’t need to propose a Nazi or Soviet style silencing effort to subvert the truth if you just accept it, make working with people of color to improve their situation and ultimately the situation of the entire nation your priority, or at least support efforts being put forward by Black people and organizations.

Stop the bullying, the voter suppression, the blaming, the forgetting, the pretending that being in power with no ideas and no concern for the people is acceptable for any American running for public office.

White men and women, Republicans/conservatives in power, racism is real. The acts you are proposing regarding voting are racist. Agreeing to a federal holiday for Juneteenth is not enough, though it is a start. Cutting off unemployment because Black people aren’t jumping in to take those low-paying jobs they once took 2 or 3 of just to survive is racist. Standing against bills in legislatures that propose to improve conditions for poor people, which often means people of color is racist. Telling us you don’t have a racist bone in your body is racist because of course you do, you’re white and all white people have at least a few racist bones in our bodies having been raised in such a deeply racist society. And, ignorance is no excuse. If you just look around, you can notice what is happening, and maybe you can choose to ditch your pre-conceived notions about racism.

Unless you actually do something in support of Black Americans, you are supporting a racist platform designed to keep white men on top, everyone else down, with Black people and some other people of color as far down as the law and the courts will permit, and both permit a lot of down.

We’re watching to see where you go from here and what you do along the way. Will you stand for what is right or just for what is white?

REPUBLICANS LEGISLATE FOR THEIR OWN COMFORT

I am amazed at the ways Republicans claim extreme patriotism.  I suppose if they claim it loudly enough their fans will keep believing it despite all evidence to the contrary.  Patriotism really does require more than parades and giant military budgets.

What is true?  The evidence seems to point to an understanding that Republicans believe in themselves alone.  They stand for what makes them feel good, important, powerful, comfortable.  And, they have very clever ad men and a few women who can craft ads and statements that make this self-centered approach to government seem right.  The problem with this form of governing is that a lot of people have gotten and are getting hurt.  Republican lack of true patriotism is blatant and painful to see.

- IF Republicans (and conservatives) don't want to wear a mask to protect others from COVID-19, well, then, you shouldn’t have to.  Demanding that you wear one is against your rights and no one else’s rights not to get sick count.

-   If you don't like the idea of abortion, or rather don’t like the independence the right to choose gives women, well, then, no woman should be able to have an abortion (unless, of course, the Republican woman (or wife or girlfriend of a Republican official needs one). 

- You Republicans don't want to pay taxes, no problem, pass a giant tax cut for yourselves and your rich friends and do it after midnight so it will be done before anyone or anyone who matters notices. 

- You want straight white men to rule everything like they used to in the "good ol' days,” no problem, pack the Supreme Court and other federal courts with judges who will work really hard to see that rich straight white men and their corporations win the most important cases (not all of them, though, because people might notice and stop them). 

- Christian Republicans don't want their religious beliefs to be challenged, no problem, get the Congress and courts to let conservative Christian groups get all kinds of privileges that let them look holy and righteous, following “God’s will.”  You don’t want to bake a cake for a gay wedding, well, you don’t have to because such a simple act will defy God (or some other nonsense, as though God is so easily offended.  Hey, if you don’t want women to have access to birth control, claim God hates birth control – easy as pie when you have the courts packed and standing behind you.  And, more important, those religious claims only work for conservative Christians and perhaps some Jews, not Muslims,  Buddhists, Hindus, or atheists, of course.

- Republicans really don't want to be acknowledged for the racists they often actually are.  No problem here either, when asked about Black Lives Matter, you talk about the “looting and violence perpetrated in the cities” (often caused by police and whites trying to incite trouble).  You deny the actions of white supremacists, claim they are “fine people” and essentially ignore their threats as so much less than what those NTIFA people are doing.  You are even given words to defend whites who were plotting to kidnap a governor, and you speak them aloud.  Very patriotic! 

- You are OK with the way Donald Trump and his crew have handled COVID-19 because you are not on the front lines.  You do not live in the neighborhoods where the heavy pollution infests everything every day.  Your kids don’t attend schools that are poorly maintained due to lack of funds, so there is no effective ventilation.  You do not experience the stress of race and poverty every day of your life so your body is changed, making you more susceptible to the disease.      Therefore, you cry out that your kids NEED to be back in school.  Every store, restaurant, bar, salon, sports venue, etc. that you want to patronize should be open waiting for you, no matter the risk to the others in your community. 

- You have good healthcare, so anyone who doesn’t, it’s their own fault for not working as hard as you work.  You say nothing when your president and your attorney general bring a case through the courts to destroy the health program that is sustaining more than 20 million of your fellow citizens.  How is this patriotism?  Remind me!

- You are afraid you might lose an election and might not be able to stay permanently in power.  Well, you’ve got that sewed up too.  You have a myriad of ways to suppress the votes of people you don’t like and whose vote you want to deny your opponents:  cut the number of polling places, try to stop vote-by-mail or make it really difficult – even during a pandemic, make anyone who has committed a crime pay all kinds of impossible fees and charges before they can vote even though the people of your state voted to give them back the vote, purge the voter rolls of as many people as you can get away with mostly people of color and young people, require voter I.D. even though ID fraud is very rare, make everyone voting by mail use 2 envelopes for their ballot or it will be discarded, work to destroy the post office when more people will vote by mail than ever before, and more.  Voting is the critical aspect of a democracy, so what does voter suppression say about the people who are doing it?

- You don’t like immigrants or fear they are too Democratic for your taste.  OK, just sabotage the census, counting only the people who look and act like you, who share your specific values (whatever those are).  Who cares what the US Constitution says!  You can also take kids away from their parents and toss them in cages to cause the greatest pain possible.  Oh wait!  you can force asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico where they fall prey to abusers.  You can keep believing a wall on the border will do something for you.  How is this patriotic, or do you care?

How is any of the above patriotic.  Patriotism is so much more than parades, flag waving, standing with your hand over your heart for the National Anthem.  Those are the easy things that prove nothing. 

So, ?again I say, I am amazed at the way Republicans/conservatives claim extreme patriotism.  There is nothing patriotic about the direction you Republicans have been driving our nation during the past 40 years or so.  You clearly have good PR, though.   

If you Republicans want to get back a small measure of your patriotism, well, you need to step up and do what you should have done back in May when the House passed the Heroes Act; Stand face to face (socially distanced) with Mitch McConnell and demand  hearings on the bill and vote on it.  Mutiny if you have to.  You need to skip the packing of the Supreme Court.  The people neither want nor need another rights denying Supreme Court justice.  We already have at least 3.  Spend the rest of Donald Trump’s term in office working for the people of this nation.  Pass the stimulus package to help even your constituents. 

I hear some Republicans and Donald Trump say they want to do a little something just before the election, perhaps to try to win over the gullible folks who can easily forget what you have done to them.  These are the ones you expect to believe your lies and ignore your cheating to maintain power.  I suspect those people are already snugly with you Republicans and their Donnie no matter what, no matter how much they are harmed by what you legislators have done.  After all, there’s always someone else to blame, a long-running Republican strategy.  

So, since you can ultimately blame someone else, do the patriotic thing for a change.  I know you've forgotten what that is since you haven't done it for so long, but I suspect if you ask a few Democrats and others who care about this country and its people, you could learn or relearn how to do it. 

REPUBLICANS LEGISLATE FOR THEIR OWN COMFORT

I am amazed at the ways Republicans claim extreme patriotism.  I suppose if they claim it loudly enough their fans will keep believing it despite all evidence to the contrary.  Patriotism really does require more than parades and giant military budgets.

What is true?  The evidence seems to point to an understanding that Republicans believe in themselves alone.  They stand for what makes them feel good, important, powerful, comfortable.  And, they have very clever ad men and a few women who can craft ads and statements that make this self-centered approach to government seem right.  The problem with this form of governing is that a lot of people have gotten and are getting hurt.   

- IF Republicans (and conservatives) don't want to wear a mask to protect others from COVID-19, well, then, you feel you don't have to.  Demanding that you wear one is against your rights and no one else’s rights not to get sick count.

-   If you don't like the idea of abortion, or rather don’t like the independence the right to choose gives women, well, then, no woman should be able to have an abortion (unless, of course, the Republican woman (or wife or girlfriend of a Republican official needs one). 

- You Republicans don't want to pay taxes, no problem, pass a giant tax cut for yourselves and your rich friends and do it after midnight so it will be done before anyone or anyone who matters notices. 

- You want straight white men to rule everything like they used to in the "good ol' days,” no problem, pack the Supreme Court and other federal courts with judges who will work really hard to see that rich straight white men and their corporations win the most important cases (not all of them because people might notice and stop them). 

- Christian Republicans don't want their religious beliefs to be challenged, no problem, get the Congress and courts to let conservative Christian groups get all kinds of privileges that let them look holy, following “God’s will.”  You don’t want to bake a cake for a gay wedding, well, you don’t have to because such a simple act will defy God (or some other nonsense, as though God is so easily offended.  Hey, if you don’t want women to have access to birth control, claim God hates birth control – easy as pie when you have the courts packed and standing behind you.  And, more important, those religious claims only work for conservative Christians and perhaps some Jews, not Muslims,  Buddhists, or atheists, of course.

- Republicans really don't want to be acknowledged for the racists they often actually are.  No problem here either, when asked about Black Lives Matter, you talk about the “looting and violence perpetrated in the cities” (often caused by police and whites trying to incite trouble).  You deny the actions of white supremacists, claim they are “fine people” and essentially ignore their threats as so much less than what those NTIFA people are doing.  You are even given words to defend whites who were plotting to kidnap a governor, and you speak them aloud.

- You are OK with the way Donald Trump and his crew have handled COVID-19 because you are not on the front lines.  You do not live in the neighborhoods where the heavy pollution infests everything every day.  Your kids don’t attend schools that are poorly maintained due to lack of funds, so there is no effective ventilation.  You do not experience the stress of race and poverty every day of your life so your body is changed, making you more susceptible to the disease.      Therefore, you cry out that your kids NEED to be back in school.  Every store, restaurant, bar, salon, sports venue, etc. that you want to patronize should be open waiting for you, no matter the risk to the others in your community. 

- You have good healthcare, so anyone who doesn’t, it’s their own fault for not working as hard as you work.  You say nothing when your president and your attorney general bring a case through the courts to destroy the health program that is sustaining more than 20 million of your fellow citizens.

- You are afraid you might lose an election and might not be able to stay permanently in power.  Well, you’ve got that sewed up too.  You have a myriad of ways to suppress the votes of people you don’t like and whose vote you want to deny your opponents:  cut the number of polling places, try to stop vote-by-mail or make it really difficult – even during a pandemic, make anyone who has committed a crime pay all kinds of impossible fees and charges before they can vote even though the people of your state voted to give them back the vote, purge the voter rolls of as many people as you can get away with mostly people of color and young people, require voter I.D. even though ID fraud is very rare, make everyone voting by mail use 2 envelopes for their ballot or it will be discarded, work to destroy the post office when more people will vote by mail than ever before, and more.  

- You don’t like immigrants or fear they are too Democratic for your taste.  OK, just sabotage the census, counting only the people who look and act like you, who share your specific values (whatever those are).  Who cares what the US Constitution says!  You can also take kids away from their parents and toss them in cages to cause the greatest pain possible.  Oh wait!  you can force asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico where they fall prey to abusers.  You can keep believing a wall on the border will do something for you.

How is any of the above patriotic.  Patriotism is so much more than parades, flag waving, standing with your hand over your heart for the National Anthem.  Those are the easy things that prove nothing. 

So, ?again I say, I am amazed at the way Republicans/conservatives claim extreme patriotism.  There is nothing patriotic about the direction you Republicans have been driving our nation during the past 40 years or so.  You clearly have good PR, though.   

If you Republicans want to get back a small measure of your patriotism, well, you need to step up and do what you should have done back in May when the House passed the Heroes Act; Stand face to face (socially distanced) with Mitch McConnell and demand  hearings on the bill and vote on it.  Mutiny if you have to.  You need to skip the packing of the Supreme Court.  The people neither want nor need another rights denying Supreme Court justice.  We already have at least 3.  Spend the rest of Donald Trump’s term in office working for the people of this nation.  Pass the stimulus package to help even your constituents. 

I hear some Republicans and Donald Trump say they want to do a little something just before the election, perhaps to try to win over the gullible folks who can easily forget what you have done to them.  These are the ones you expect to believe your lies and ignore your cheating to maintain power.  I suspect those people are already snugly with you Republicans and their Donnie no matter what and no matter how much they are harmed by what you legislators have done.  After all, there’s always someone else to blame, a current Republican strategy.  

So, since it won't matter to your crowd, do the right thing for a change.  I know you've forgotten what that is since you haven't done it for so long, but I suspect if you ask a few Democrats and others who actually do care about this country and its people, you could learn or relearn how to do it.