Keep talking
I'm not sure what this means; I'm not Steve Kornacki. But this poll by Civiqs says that 53 percent of respondents support Black Lives Matter.
In the 1960s there was a civil rights movement that resulted in major federal legislation, which Lyndon Johnson passed by calling in every marker he had, hitting the "tribute to the martyred Kennedy" note and writing off the South for Democrats for at least a generation. Most white people acquiesced politely, or sullenly, or with a sense of relief: "Well, no more sit-ins, no more marches." And then took their kids out of public schools and moved into gated communities, if they could.
This moment feels different. It's undeniable that racism is still de facto if not de jure (to use a couple of Sixties terms). Eight years of Obama did not bring us to the promised land, but less than four years of Trump have unquestionably shown us the abyss, complete with Nazis. (There were Nazis in the 1960s but they were marginal. No respectable human called them "very fine people" when they paraded through Skokie because many of its residents were Holocaust survivors. The ACLU shed members for defending them, and they became a joke in The Blues Brothers.) For driving these elements out into the daylight, we probably owe Trump some kind of gratitude. But this week he surpassed himself.
Retweeting an idiotic conspiracy theory with gusto, Trump drew attention to the police assault on Martin Gugino in Buffalo. Many white people had been arrested and beaten, some with serious injuries, but the case of Gugino, 75 and suffering from cancer, got most of the attention. It got still more today when Kayleigh McEnany went on Fox & Friends to justify the beat-down because Gugino wrote "some profanity-laden tweets about police officers." (They said, "Hey, aren't you the guy who tweets shit about us? Get on the ground, old man." Yeah.) And of course, reporters asked a bunch of Republican senators if they stood by Trump's Antifa theory, and they courageously ducked out of the room. I think Lisa Murkowski rolled her eyes a little. And wouldn't you know it, the author of the original tweet used to work for the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik.
Millions of white people saw the video and realized, maybe for the first time, that being white (and old) would not protect them from the Blue Shirts. They got a whiff, like distant tear gas, of what black people live with every day. That could be my father, my grandfather. That could be me. In other words, as Chaucer puts it, Shytte y-gotten real.
George Floyd was buried, but this will not end. Statues are toppling, police departments are under more scrutiny than they ever expected, laws are being drafted, knees are being taken and Republicans sense disaster. And all because Trump doesn't know when, or how, to shut up. He passed along without comment a Candace Owens tweet calling George Floyd a "thug," despite having previously pictured him "looking down" with delight at the wonderful economic recovery, but this OANN stuff really rang his bell, and we owe him thanks. Tell us more about how Martin Gugino is an enemy of the people.
Keep talking, Donnie.
In the 1960s there was a civil rights movement that resulted in major federal legislation, which Lyndon Johnson passed by calling in every marker he had, hitting the "tribute to the martyred Kennedy" note and writing off the South for Democrats for at least a generation. Most white people acquiesced politely, or sullenly, or with a sense of relief: "Well, no more sit-ins, no more marches." And then took their kids out of public schools and moved into gated communities, if they could.
This moment feels different. It's undeniable that racism is still de facto if not de jure (to use a couple of Sixties terms). Eight years of Obama did not bring us to the promised land, but less than four years of Trump have unquestionably shown us the abyss, complete with Nazis. (There were Nazis in the 1960s but they were marginal. No respectable human called them "very fine people" when they paraded through Skokie because many of its residents were Holocaust survivors. The ACLU shed members for defending them, and they became a joke in The Blues Brothers.) For driving these elements out into the daylight, we probably owe Trump some kind of gratitude. But this week he surpassed himself.
Retweeting an idiotic conspiracy theory with gusto, Trump drew attention to the police assault on Martin Gugino in Buffalo. Many white people had been arrested and beaten, some with serious injuries, but the case of Gugino, 75 and suffering from cancer, got most of the attention. It got still more today when Kayleigh McEnany went on Fox & Friends to justify the beat-down because Gugino wrote "some profanity-laden tweets about police officers." (They said, "Hey, aren't you the guy who tweets shit about us? Get on the ground, old man." Yeah.) And of course, reporters asked a bunch of Republican senators if they stood by Trump's Antifa theory, and they courageously ducked out of the room. I think Lisa Murkowski rolled her eyes a little. And wouldn't you know it, the author of the original tweet used to work for the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik.
Millions of white people saw the video and realized, maybe for the first time, that being white (and old) would not protect them from the Blue Shirts. They got a whiff, like distant tear gas, of what black people live with every day. That could be my father, my grandfather. That could be me. In other words, as Chaucer puts it, Shytte y-gotten real.
George Floyd was buried, but this will not end. Statues are toppling, police departments are under more scrutiny than they ever expected, laws are being drafted, knees are being taken and Republicans sense disaster. And all because Trump doesn't know when, or how, to shut up. He passed along without comment a Candace Owens tweet calling George Floyd a "thug," despite having previously pictured him "looking down" with delight at the wonderful economic recovery, but this OANN stuff really rang his bell, and we owe him thanks. Tell us more about how Martin Gugino is an enemy of the people.
Keep talking, Donnie.
posted by Buttermilk Sky at 11:45 AM
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