Recollections of U.S Racism

 

Today is Martin Luther King Day, the same date in 1968 King was asasinated standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. I lived in Memphis for several years in the 50s and 60s, know where the Lorraine motel is, and know how racism must have been festering in the South on that date. It still is, and isn't just in that part of the country. But now, because Covid-19 origiginated in China, the bigots are afrer Asians. 

It would be nice if we could celebrate some progress today, but, unfortunately, it has gotten much worse, thanks in part to Donald Trump.s four years in the White House. My post of August in 1999 dociments the antics of some of the worst offenders: "Racism at its worst in the U.S.today documented." I called these incidents, "Horrifying examples of racism in the United States." I am appalled at the face of one woman and the finger of the other.

Here's one I posted in 2012, commenting on racism in the state of Mississippi, "At best, Mississippi is an apologetic racist state." I spent time in the state, once lived there, but mostly in the late 50s and 60s in a sales position and remember blatant use of the "N" word. Here's an excerpt from that post...

To say that racism is no longer prevalent in the South is pure bunk. But this problem isn’t confined to the Southeast region. I now live in Arizona and can attest to the fact that this state is one the most racist I have ever been in. The modern take on racism has moved into the 21st Century to include Hispanics, and racial fanatics like former Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce who authored anti-immigration bill SB-1070, signed by his partner in prejudice, Gov. Jan Brewer.

I live in Arizona and can verify regular bigotry still exists here. Just recently the

pro-basketable team Phoenix Suns were accused of racism targering the owner Bob Sarver and his wife. Another 2019 post is a "Welcome to rampant racism for the ages," which covers the global aspects of this discrimination. Here's a passage from that post...

The U.S. doesn't have an exclusive on racism; it is worldwide, says the site Global Issues. It also suggests an interesting concept that racism is a "misunderstanding of Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution." It goes on...

Since the above is pretty lengthy, please read it in the blog. And another on 2017, "Donald Trump-Jeff Sessions share history of racism." I recall here a quote used repeatedly by Trump while still in office, "[I'm] the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered?" You know what happened between Trump and Sessions. And here is another post where I ask, "Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?" The answer is an unequivocal YES! Hre's how I start the post...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

As a very young man, I once watched a Klan lynching, hidden behind bushes since I knew I cold be next if they saw me. I was with two other kids my age, friends until I witnessed them chortling to themselves in support of what was going on. It is my feeling that this illegal racist execution is what solidified my hatred of racism. It has never changed. These are a few of my blog posts on racism, but you can see all of them here.

 

 

Wrapping up the worst of.racism documented

August 23, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES, Where Liberals Walk

More on today's racism fostered by Donald Trump  

Racism" NOT

This is a continuation of my post yesterday with 10 examples of flagrant racism that occurs daily in this free nation. I say free because with bigots abounding and becoming more unabashed with each incident, those people of color could be on the way to something similar to neo-slavery, only with racism as its common denominator. So, it is time to focus on the source of the problem. And that would be Donald Trump. Here's more shameless racism...

"Explosion totally destroys interracial family’s home in what appears to be a shocking racist attack." An interracial couple’s northeast Ohio home was blown up and vandalized with swastikas in an apparent hate crime.

"Texas Cops Paraded a Black Man Through the Streets by a Rope." Texas once again has renewed its bid for Most Racist State in the U.S. after a pair of Galveston, TX, police officers on horseback arrested a black man and walked him through the town to the station by a rope. The department’s officers, identified only as P. Brosch and A. Smith, were not disciplined.

It can be done

Some of my posts on racism...

"Arkansas jailer’s wife pulls gun and detains four black children going door-to-door for school fundraiser." A jail administrator’s wife in Arkansas was arrested this week after she allegedly pulled a gun and detained four black students who were going door-to-door for a school fundraiser. Kelly was arrested “on four counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor.” Sweet justice!

"WATCH: Michigan police stop black man for ‘looking suspiciously’ at white woman." Police in Royal Oak, Michigan were caught on video stopping a black man for allegedly “looking suspiciously” at a white woman.

"Mother and daughter arrested after ‘insane’ racist rampage leaves several people injured at Indiana beach." A mother and daughter are facing a wide array of charges after the pair were arrested for initiating a brawl that police say was racially motivated.

"Tennessee priest bans black housekeeper from his property — then blames his ‘racist dog’" According to a report from WHBQ, a Collierville, [Memphis] Tennessee priest is under fire for banning a black housekeeper in the employ of the diocese from entering his church-provided home because he claims his dog is racist.

"GOP lawmaker cut the mic on black woman’s facts — but let white men spew ‘lunacy and lies.’" The Republican chair of a Tennessee legislative committee is under fire for cutting off the microphone while a woman of color was speaking — but allowing white men to spew “lunacy.”

Some of my posts on Donald Trump racism...

Racism of yesteryear is back

"Black woman reveals how Trump is ruining her marriage: ‘My white Republican husband is starting to hate me.’" A black woman revealed over the weekend how President Donald Trump and right-wing media are straining her marriage. “My white Republican husband is starting to hate me because the longer we live through this administration the ‘BLACKER’ I become,” she revealed. Now, that is true bigotry.

"‘Go back to Harlem!’: Florida woman has n-word laced meltdown after bumping black woman’s shopping cart." On Saturday, the Atlanta Black Star reported an incident in Florida, in which a white woman screamed racial slurs at a black woman at a Publix supermarket in Miami after their shopping carts jostled each other. After the woman allegedly banged into Nicki Johnson’s cart, she refused to apologize, saying, “I didn’t hit you with my cart, and f**k you, you f**king n****r.”

"WATCH: Gang of white people release dog to viciously attack black man during fistfight." A black man in Roseville, Michigan is recovering from multiple injuries after what appeared to be a gang of white men ordered a dog to attack him last Wednesday. The 32-year-old William Lafave admitted to fighting the 20-year-old victim. The fight escalated when Lafave’s stepson released a dog to attack the victim who they alleged had a knife.

And that's the latest on nationwide racism and the miscreants who foster their hate on anyone who isn't like them. I am like them in color only, because I would not want to be compared with the scum of the earth. Racists. But can you even envision what it's like to be the target of these people who must certainly be at the bottom of the IQ scale. Hopefully this and my earlier post will open a few eyes and watch me for future coverage of racism.

Racism incidents accelerating: REPORT

September 4, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

This sign says it all

Latest wrap up on racist incidents  

There have been 7 more racism incident in less than two weeks after my last report on August 23rd. That's close to one a day, and I am sure my research does not reveal the full extent of this problem. What the hell is wrong with these people? They must have little or no self-esteem, certainly a double-digit IQ, and are extremely insecure. Probably don't really like themselves, and rightfully so since they must be the dregs of humanity. Hard not to rant on but here are the events.

"Texas governor busted sending racist call-to-arms a day before El Paso attack." AFTER: "Promised to work to reduce violence in his state, in the wake of the shooting in El Paso that left 22 dead and dozens more injured." BEFORE: "Sent out a letter peppered with racist attacks on Hispanic immigrants — and a menacing, violent suggestion that Texans “take matters into our own hands.” Just how pathetic can these Republicans get?

"A white Florida man cited ‘stand your ground’ for shooting a black man. A jury found him guilty." Didn't work this time - Take that Marion Hammer and your NRA. Michael Drejka, 49, was convicted of manslaughter based on his shooting of Markeis McGlockton, after McGlockton pushed Drejka. Jury decided McGlockton's action did not justify his death. Watch it on the video.

Stephen Colbert on Trump racism and The Squad...

"‘Go back to China’: Racist white woman goes berserk after she allegedly hits ‘chinky’ Asian woman’s car." A racist white woman who was identified as Carla Waldman tells woman to go back to China for parking next to her when it was Waldman's car that was parked incorrectly. Looks like a double-digit IQ case for sure. And this was in Canada.

"Racist woman gets probation for insane and relentless campaign of harassment against neighbors." This has been going on for years. Roberta Madison finally admitted to one count of violating a harassment restraining order and was sentenced to one year of probation. "Neighbors have complained for years that Madison has subjected them to various and bizarre forms of harassment."

MSNBC does Donald Trump racism...

"‘I can’t breathe’: Officers caught on video applying chokehold to black man while they Taser him." There has to be a better way of taking a suspect down and the police had better find it fast. This has become much too common, especially with blacks. This happened in DeKalb County, Illinois where police officers were caught on camera using a Taser to shock a black man before putting him in what appeared to be a choke hold.

And, finally, this one takes the cake. "American Airlines booted allergic black man from plane so dog could fly first class: lawsuit." This reminds me of signs in yards in Norfolk, VA, during the Korean War: Sailors and dogs, keep off the grass. The black man was complaining he was allergic to the dog sitting close by, and it was a support dog. You decide.

Once again you are updated on the rampant racism going on in our country, but just hang around, there will be plenty more.

My last two posts on racism:

Racism at its worst in the U.S.today documented

Wrapping up the worst of.racism documented

Sarah Palin the racist…according to a dedicated group of African Americans



Sarah Palin racism caricature



Stephen Colbert dismissed Sarah Palin as not worth our time following the January 2011, Tucson massacre that left 6 dead and 19 injured including Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords from Arizona.  Palin had posted Giffords’ district on her PAC website with rifle scope crosshairs and the caption “Don’t Retreat!  Reload!”  Palin’s reaction was to blame the media.  I mention this to illustrate what a loose cannon this imbecile posing as a human being is.

It is still hard to understand how John McCain could have picked her as a running mate.  He still doesn’t have a clue.

The ThyBlackMan.com site takes Palin to task likening her to a “corrupt evangelist” with connections to the Tea Party.  There you go.  That’s all the TPers need; a huge tent to showcase all the wackos that make up this group of fanatics.  ThyBlackMan is an organization formed to”…unite black men, not to separate and divide.”  And that’s where we lose Sarah Palin.  It is clearly her intent to leave this country a much worse place than she found it in 2008.

There is no doubt that racism is still too prevalent in America, based on several recent incidents that have occurred.  One, during the NCAA March Madness tournaments between Kansas State University and Southern Mississippi.  Based on Mississippi’s history, many would say this is typical, but the state has cleaned up its act in recent years.  And even though this latest episode wasn’t addressed at blacks, it still reeks of racism.



Racism has many faces



Apparently Mississippians have redirected their bigotry to Hispanics because in a derogatory chant the So. Mississippi band yelled “where’s your green card” to a Latino Kansas State player.  The latter team won the game by 6 points.  The school apologized but the damage was already done, captured on nationwide TV.

Then TBM talks of how Palin continues to misinform the media about “Obamacare” seeking to resurrect old prejudices from 2008.  She was in her prime on the Sean Hannity Show with a bizarre claim that former Harvard professor Derrick Bell’s call for greater diversity on the Ivy League campus was racist. 

She completely ignored the work Bell had done at Harvard on race relations, directing her appeal to extreme right wing conservatives by leading them to believe that in Obama’s connection to Bell, he was guilty of racism.  “The ignorance is baffling” says TBM, particularly for those who are unable to understand her true intentions.

Rick Santorum on racism in the video below:

And in another incident that is leaning toward racism, a 17-year-old African American in Florida, Trayvon Martin, was shot by a self-appointed white Community Watch Captain with a gun.  28-year-old George Zimmerman thought Martin looked “suspicious” and called police.  They told him not to follow the kid but he did, and confronted him with his gun.  When Martin attempted to defend himself, Zimmerman, who outweighed him by 100 pounds, shot him.  Zimmerman claimed self defense.

The Christian Post asked the question: Since Zimmerman was not administered a Breathalyzer or toxicology screen, even though it is the protocol for shootings, is it possible that he was drunk?  “Rod Wheeler, a law enforcement expert, told ABC News that Zimmerman sounded intoxicated in the 911 calls.  "When I listened to the 911 tape, the first thing that came to my mind is 'this guy sounds intoxicated.' Notice how he's slurring his words.”



Sarah Palin, with notes



ThyBlackMan comments that the Palin type of tactics have been used successfully by the GOP for years, claiming that the Republican Party has a “resentment of America’s changing demographics and the African American president currently occupying the Oval Office. 

If they think what’s happened so far is bad, what the hell will the GOP do this November when the Hispanics exert their new-found voting power in the upcoming election?

Racism at its worst in the U.S.today documented

August 22, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Horrifying examples of racism in the United States  

Since early July, I have been documenting all Internet articles that deal with blatant racism. My total inventory as of today is a shocking 22. Shocking, because this country is supposed to have progressed far beyond inequality of the races, at a minimum with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I grew up in the South in the 1940s/1950s and witnessed my share of Ku Klux Klan atrocities, and it was then that I developed my devout hatred of racism. Here's what is still going on...

Woman splashed by black man

"White woman threatens to call cops on black man after he splashes her car with water during rainstorm:" It was raining, the black person couldn't help what happened. Location not identified.

"Store manager ruins special moment by accusing black dad of stealing basketball he bought for baby son:" This surprisingly happened in California.

"Black couple’s marriage proposal party interrupted multiple times by white security guards accusing them of theft:" A black couple who drove to a park where the man intended to propose when they were harassed three times by security guards who accused them of stealing a T-shirt at a gift shop. Dateline Rochester, NY.

Family kicked out of community pool because they were black: A mere 15 minutes after arriving, a lifeguard interrupted and told her she had too many guests. “He said ‘Well, who are these guys in front of me right here?’ recalled Thomas. “I said ‘I don’t know who they are,’ mind you, they were black, but they were not with me.” Soon after, a Texas City police officer came and asked them to leave. Dateline Houston, Texas.

Racism is U.S. vs. racism in U.K.

"Woman goes into racist meltdown when she’s busted for leaving baby in running car to drink shots in bar:" A Texas woman this week was arrested after she left her infant daughter in a running car and then went into a nearby bar to drink. She grew belligerent saying, “You will not take my child and place her with a f*cking n*gger!” Dateline Bryan &College Station, Texas.

"Trump voters increasingly think it’s OK to use the N-word:" In a [Washington Post] post titled, “Republicans don’t think Trump’s tweets are racist. That fits a long American history of denying racism,” the Post notes, “Even under Jim Crow, most whites thought that blacks were treated fairly.” You can read what I had to say about this in my blog post, "Republicans do like the N-word more and more."

"Nashville cop resigns in disgrace after being caught slamming black woman into a car over expired tags:" A police officer from Nashville, Tennessee this week resigned in disgrace after being caught on camera slamming a black woman into a car because she had expired tags.

"Traffic stop turns violent after officer pulls weapon on black man for ‘speeding.’" In a video shared by Twitter activist @_SJPeace_ on Tuesday, an officer, who appears to be Mississippi law enforcement, tells the driver that he is being “detained.” Confusing whether this is Texas or Mississippi...still racist.

"Michigan police officer suspended after black visitors discovered KKK memorabilia in his home." A Muskegon police officer has been placed on administrative leave the department investigates why he has Ku Klux Klan memorabilia in his home, including a framed application to the white nationalist group. So, it's not only in the South.

Woman flips off Muslim mother and kids

"‘Go back to where you came from’: White woman shoves and flips off Muslim woman at water park — in front of kids." Here's "an incident that took place at the Sesame Place Water Park in Middleton Township, Pennsylvania, in which a white woman pushed around Zafirah Moore, a Muslim woman, and flipped her off in front of children."

These are only ten of the frightening number of racist incident that occur in the United States each day. Apparently it has always been lying dormant, just beneath the surface, and with Donald Trump's racist attitude, supported by his extreme white supremacist tendencies, it is now a full-blown epidemic, with the American public joining in his bigotry. If for no other reason than this alone, it is clear that this ego maniac must be removed from office.

Gun rights fanatics and some moderates say gun control is racist

Ladd Everitt Director of Communications for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has written an article on racism as a concept to explain gun control.  You might laugh at the thought that the gun nuts would come up with this ridiculous hypothesis, but in his piece, Ladd quotes author Adam Winkler, who is a UCLA Law Professor, as declaring that “gun control is racist” in his new book, Gunfight. 

According to Everitt, Winkler implies that gun control is defined by extremists who want to take away all guns from owners and establish a system much like the United Kingdom.  I have been writing on gun control for over seven years now and know this is not true as Ladd Everitt confirms.  He even cites others who concur like Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-NY) and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns. 

See Ladd Everitt question Adam Winkler over racism and gun control below:

There are others that add to this misconception like historian and author, Clayton E. Cramer, who says, “The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way.”  He underlines that with, “Throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place," and to quiet the racial fears of whites.”  Shades of Mississippi and Arizona.

Cramer continues in his article with examples like the French Black Code that required Louisiana colonists to stop and if necessary beat blacks carrying any weapon, even a walking cane.  He also talks about the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s, the fear of the first North American English colonies slave revolts, and the 1834 change to the Tennessee Constitution that allowed only “white” men to bear arms in their defense. 

The author sums up the article with the statement, “…gun control has historically been a tool of racism, and associated with racist attitudes about black violence.”  Interesting, but still not proving a real connection between gun control and racism other than the fact that the days of slavery in this country were violent ones.

Everitt says that Winkler “…even acknowledges that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans today support strong, strict gun laws.”  And he adds that “Winkler can cite no example of the contemporary gun control movement being racist.”  This is a modern day comparison unlike the historical one by Cramer. 

And growing up in the South in Mississippi and Tennessee, I was well aware of the killings of the Ku Klux Klan. 



KKK hanging



Once, after I was old enough to drink I said to my father when we were having a beer together in a local Tennessee tavern, that I thought the KKK was a bunch of illiterate barbarian murderers.  He quietly let me know that this wasn’t something you said in this part of the country, particularly in a saloon where everyone had been drinking.  Actually, I grew up in this West Tennessee small town thinking I was the one that was crazy because of my beliefs, but I never gave them up.  I was for gun control then and not once experienced anything racist about it.

If you are interested, I would suggest that you Google “gun control is racist” to see a multitude of sites on the subject.  The gun rights extremists will go to any length to try and prove their point that everyone should be able to own a gun, no matter what their status, and be allowed to take their firearms anywhere in the USA—perhaps even the world—they want to.  But connecting gun control to racism is just wrong.

Dominant factor in 2020 election could be racism

August 29, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

How Donald Trump is suffering for 2020  

Donald Trump's anti-black supporters

Anti-black voters were an important asset to the Donald Trump campaign in 2016, as he encouraged racism, something that has been centerpiece since winning the White House. Without these voters T-rump could be in trouble as a new wave sweeps the U.S. voting public...

"According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 82 percent of people who reject anti-black ideas said they were strongly interested in voting, up from 70 percent in 2016. In comparison, 75 percent of anti-black voters expressed a strong interest in voting in 2020."

Donald Trump is a confirmed racist, which is replayed weekly, sometime on a daily basis. Just recently he was criticized...

"for racist tweets he sent telling four lawmakers of color — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — to 'go back' to the 'corrupt' countries they’re from. Shortly after, his supporters chanted 'send her back' as Trump attacked Omar during a rally in North Carolina."

The racism thing seemed to take a backseat during the Obama administration, but reared its ugly head with a roar when the Oval Office lunatic was elected. And it has made the left think about their vote and certain values for the upcoming election. I did two recent posts documenting the appalling incidents of racism occurring around this country you can see here and here. It is the blatant display of this racism since Trump came along that is so troublesome.

How farmers feel about Donald Trump...

There is another angle on Donald Trump's loss of followers for 2020, the farmers of the U.S. who solidly supported him in 2016, but who are now "reeling from plunging prices and unsold crops during what is now more than a year-long trade war with China." And then most recently T-rump made the decision to allow more oil refiners to skirt biofuel laws and use less corn-based ethanol. At recent campaign stops Joe Biden has said the trade war was “crushing” American farmers.

There's more...

"A round of more bad news for farmers last week, including extra tariffs Beijing announced on soybeans and other key U.S. agricultural exports, gave Democrats a fresh opening to attack Trump. He gave regulators the green light to grant exemptions to more than 30 small refineries so they can use less ethanol, Democratic candidates pounced on it as evidence Trump favors the oil industry."

5 top Democrats would beat Donald Trump today...

Donald dufus appears to be searching seriously for ways to lose the 2020 election with his bizarre actions that seem to be really pissing off American voters. And based on some recent figures, it definitely isn't the time to screw around with voters. Just recently AlterNet accused Trump of lying again about his approval numbers with Republicans. But his is how it really is...

"He says that he has 94 percent approval with them, and at one point, he actually did poll that well. But recent surveys from Monmouth, Zogby Analytics, AP-NORC, and Fox News all show him polling significantly lower than that. It appears that his support has been slipping and is now somewhere in the low-to-mid eighties."

There's more...

"The above might still sound impressive, but his approval with Democrats is in the low single digits, and he’s polling in the thirties-to-low forties with independents. He actually needs to be doing better with his base to compensate for this."

Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast comments...

"If Trump were telling the truth about having 94 percent support from the GOP base, he’d be in reasonable shape, although Romney lost pretty badly at 93 percent."

How many U.S. presidents have actually lied themselves through a reelection? 

Donald Trump starts war with Barack Obama

There is no doubt who started this war, but there is also no doubt who will finish it considering the two levels of mentality in the skirmish. The mentally confused, inarticulate Trump on one side, the educated, sophisticated and eloquent Obama on the other.

It's Joe Biden who is your competitor in the November election, you idiot, not Barack Obama. Obama is the guy who handily won two terms in spite of the dirty politics of Moscow Mitch McConnell. Obama is the guy who ran a class-act presidency in comparison with the lowlife, classless administration you have given us for almost four years. Obama is the guy who will help Joe Biden win back the White House for the left in November.

According to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson this is Trump's reasoning...

"Noting that Trump has been presented with internal polls showing him losing to Biden, Robinson stated that Trump appears to have fallen back on the strategy that helped him win in 2016 — appealing to his follower’s racism. And that means going after Obama instead of Biden who is white."

Robinson, who is black, is not playing the race card since Donald Trump has been well steeped in racist activism during his entire administration. With Biden pretty much guaranteed the black vote in November, and with Trump's latest tirades of racism, he is hoping to get somewhere near Barack Obama's 2008 results where the "black turnout actually exceeded white turnout, 66.6 percent to 64.1 percent."

The Daily Show comedic remarks Trump's racism...

Robinson adds, and it is the most pathetic part, there is nothing tactical about these attacks, they are purely personal. Moving on to more personal immaturity on the part of the Oval Office lunatic, he has now refused to host the unveiling of Barack Obama's portrait in the White House. But the former president has publicly said, he would not appear there anyway as long as Donald Trump is still in the building. AlterNet says...

"The message they (the Obamas) want to send is the opposite. No one should try to play nice with this administration or behave as if things are okay. That will give others the courage to do the same."

Before Donald Trump entered the political scene, this kind of thinking would be unheard of. And as you know from me, the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin always knows the right things to say about Donald Trump, although her less than complimentary comments are from a conservative columnist. How's this for starters?...

"It makes zero sense, you would think, for President Trump to attack his predecessor, since President Barack Obama is the most popular politician around (next to his wife) — someone who instills in Democrats a feeling of solidarity, of nostalgia for decent leadership and of hope. Even those critical of Obama’s presidency regard that era as akin to a Golden Age compared with the Trump calamity that brought us the Great Depression 2.0."

Obama criticizes Trump's handling of COVID-19...

Rubin doesn't think this is just to draw attention from "Trump’s meltdown or from the almost 90,000 deaths resulting from the pandemic." She has two other reasons...

ONE: "Trump has been in a juvenile competition with his predecessor since the day he took office. Trump insisted the economy was stronger under him than under Obama. (That was false then and is now, well, self-evidently ludicrous.) Trump tore up the Iran deal and backed out of the Paris accords in part because Obama was associated with them. " (There's more, read the article.)

TWO: "Trump seeks to make Obama out to be a criminal or unfit. It goes back to the original sin of Trump’s political career — birtherism — and to his campaign, which channeled cultural and racial animosity among whites against elites, nonwhites and immigrants."

And if you think the racism has been bad up until now, Rubin projects...

"Should Biden select an African American vice president (as I think he should), the grotesque racism that will ooze from the right will make birtherism seem innocuous. "

This country is doomed beyond comprehension if we don't get rid of Donald Trump, and soon. 

At best, Mississippi is an apologetic racist state

A minority in the congregation of the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Mississippi forced the minister, Stan Weatherford, to deny the right to Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson to get married in their church.  Charles Wilson said, "Because of the fact that we were black, some of the members of the congregation had got upset and decided that no black couple would ever be married at that church.”  Weatherford performed the ceremony at another church.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson

On a following Sunday, some members of the Crystal Springs Baptist Church reacted with surprise, which is interesting because it means that Pastor Weatherford only communicated with the racist group before denying the Wilsons a wedding at the church.  One member, Bob Mack, commented, "We hope we can straighten them out, you know, get them to understand what Christianity is all about because they have some misconceptions about it."  Too late, Bob.

I have done articles about racism in the South and Mississippi in the past, one resulting in a radio interview a couple years ago with a network of stations from Jackson, Miss.  I was blind-sided by vitriol from the show’s host who was bent on protecting the reputation of his state.  He argued over and over, this sort of thing doesn’t happen in Mississippi anymore.  Not so, according to Ryan Ebersole who wrote about the 2011 killing of James Craig Anderson in Jackson, Mississippi.

Video of Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson:

This pathetic church that shunned the Wilsons decided to apologize, which was no doubt due to the majority of the congregation finally waking up to realize they had a gang of bigots in their midst.  Why Pastor Weatherford didn’t realize this in the beginning is hard to understand.  Nor have I ever been able to understand how any professed Christian can justify being racist, unless, of course, they are just “Backdoor Baptists.”

In the South where I grew up, there were stories about Baptists drinking in a bar until the local minister walked in to see if any of his flock was there.  When he looked around, all the Baptists had left through the back door.  Thus the name “Backdoor Baptists.”  Any way you interpret this, they are simply hypocrites.         

Crystal Springs First Baptist Church

When the Crystal Springs Baptists finally got religion and apologized to the Wilsons, they basically said…shove it.  They called the apology “an insult” and “misleading to the public.”  Charles Wilson commented, “The pastor has not spoken to us since a couple days after the incident.  We have not heard from the pastor or any church official since the incident.”  Actually, at a rally following the incident, Pastor Weatherford purposely avoided the couple.

To say that racism is no longer prevalent in the South is pure bunk.  But this problem isn’t confined to the Southeast region.  I now live in Arizona and can attest to the fact that this state is one the most racist I have ever been in.  The modern take on racism has moved into the 21^st Century to include Hispanics, and racial fanatics like former Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce who authored anti-immigration bill SB-1070, signed by his partner in prejudice, Gov. Jan Brewer.

Arizona was also home to acknowledged racist J.T. Ready, who was also a neo-Nazi.  That is until he went berserk and killed 5 in his family, including a toddler and himself.

Hate could eventually bring this country down if Americans don’t find some way to get along and live with each other.  Hate is now so ingrained in politics that nothing has been accomplished by Congress in the last two years.  We can thank the Tea Party for its influence on Washington and their ruthless philosophy of abhorrence to anything that doesn’t agree with their beliefs.  And yes, there have been several incidents of racism attributed to the Tea Party.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson are happily married now and probably attending another church.  But wherever they decide to worship, there will always be the stigma from the Crystal Springs First Baptist Church.  And progressives like myself will continue to wonder how the state of Mississippi, and all other states that condone similar incidents, continue to survive in the 21^st Century. 

Read more of my posts on racism here.

Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?

Racism is worse than that old weather saying. People have been talking about it for years, but no one has seriously done anything about it...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

Like the Mafia, the Klan slowly faded away, but as is the case for both, there is still evidence of their activity around. Here's a scenario from NPR...

"For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone."

NPR adds, "The watchdog group blames President Trump, his administration, right-wing media outlets and the ease of spreading hate on social media platforms for the alarming increase." Trump has promoted and encouraged white nationalism since being inaugurated, hiring people like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, of which the latter is still on his staff. Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project said...

"The numbers tell a striking story — that this president is not simply a polarizing figure but a radicalizing one."

Excellent video on the Trump-Miller relationship...

This added...

"Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement. "Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it — with both his rhetoric and his policies. In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts."

"Worst instincts," resulting from that rogue gene that wallows in racism. And here's more on Stephen Miller from the Daily Beast...

"Stephen Miller, the highly influential advisor to President Donald Trump, is the end result of a shadowy network made up of racist organizations and PAC’s designed to push a white nationalist worldview from the fringes into deep inside the White House."

The Confederate battle flag

Now there are even rumbles that Steve Bannon is attempting to work his way back into the White House. The combination of Miller and Bannon, especially should there be a Trump second term, God forbid, and with the White House maniac at his highest level of mental instability since entering office, could turn this country into a national Confederate States of America. What would a new flag look like? Would future elections even be allowed?

Miller was a close ally of John Tanton, an Ophthalmologist from Michigan, founder of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and considered by SPLC the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. Stephen Miller, practicing Tanton's ideology, is considered the architect of Donald Trump's immigration policies. The Beast's Mark Potok reports...

"Miller is both a promoter and, to some extent, a product of a much wider racist network aimed at preventing non-white immigration into the United States.”

He also thinks there is little chance of Miller leaving the administration, able to now influence, as I stated earlier, a much more mentally unstable Donald Trump, who is already making the worst of bad decisions. I would surmise when the black community sees this rampant racism originate from the highest office in the land, they feel there is just no hope. And they may very well be right as long as Trump occupies the White House and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate.

Welcome to rampant racism for the ages

U of GA Tau Kappa Epsilon racism

The U.S. doesn't have an exclusive on racism; it is worldwide, says the site Global Issues. It also suggests an interesting concept that racism is a "misunderstanding of Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution." It goes on...

"Some took Darwin’s theories to imply that since some races were more civilized, there must be a biological basis for the difference. At the same time they appealed to biological theories of moral and intellectual traits to justify racial oppression. There is a great deal of controversy about race and intelligence, in part because the concepts of both race and IQ are themselves controversial."

I do not believe the xenophobic red necks who hate anyone who is different than them are smart enough to figure out the above, thus, it is most likely attributed to their double-digit IQs. In other words, they can't rationalize the difference between a white and a black person so the black must be bad. And then there are those with a slightly higher IQ like the University of Georgia fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon.

I am originally from the South and experienced the worst kind of racial hatred, including KKK lynchings. And then along came the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and many of us believed we had solved the problem. Not so, and my gut tells me that today it is worse than those earlier times and for much of this we can thank Donald Trump.

Morgan Freeman attack of racism on Tea Party does raise some skeletons

Morgan Freeman was interviewed on the Piers Morgan TV Talk Show calling the Tea Party movement “a racist thing.”  He added, “Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term.  What underlines that?  Screw the country. We're going to {do} whatever we can to get this black man outta here.”  In the Huff Post he commented on how this group has illustrated there is still hate remaining in America.

To be fair, the racism aspect should only be attributed to a low-life faction of the Tea Party.  God knows, the group is already a bunch of certifiable wackos without adding the racial mix.  But it was apparently bad enough that the NAACP voted to repudiate the racist element of theparty in July of 2010.  They said, “We take no issue with the Tea Party movement. We believe in freedom of assembly and people raising their voices in a democracy. What we take issue with is the Tea Party’s continued tolerance for bigotry and bigoted statements…”

I did some research on signs carried by Tea Party racists in their demonstrations and it clearly fits the charge made by Morgan Freeman.  Slogans like, “Cap Congress and trade Obama back to Kenya,” “The zoo has an African and the White House has a lyin African,” and a picture of three monkeys, papa and mama with Obama’s face superimposed over the baby monkey.  I thought I had left this behind when I exited the South over four decades ago.

Ron Schiller, former executive with Nat’l Public Radio joined the melee against the Tea Party.  He was caught on ahidden camera by James O’Keefe, who brought down ACORN, saying the TPers were “scary” and “seriously racist.”  Schiller also called the GOP anti-intellectual saying, “…that America did not have enough "educated, so-called elite" citizens…”  Schiller added about tea partyers, "I mean, basically they ... believe in sort of white, middle-America, gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."

No Tea Party article would be complete without a mention of Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce who is up for recall next month.  It seems that accused scam candidate Olivia Cortes, who was recruited and backed by Arizona TPers to run against Pearce just to dilute the vote against the other candidate, Jerry Lewis, and who was completely discredited under oath in court recently, is in trouble. 

According to a column by LaurieRoberts in the Arizona Republic, Cortes “doesn't know who's behind the "Sí, se puede!" campaign signs - the new slogan, apparently, of conservative Republicans everywhere.”  “She doesn't know who paid for the petition circulators who obtained most of the nominating signatures needed to get her onto the ballot.”  “She doesn't know who designed her website, the one that went up the day the lawsuit challenging her candidacy was filed.”  “She'd never seen one of her two news releases - the "racism is alive" piece, written by a tea-party activist and quoting Cortes as saying Latinos should be outraged at those who question the legitimacy of her campaign.”

There’s more you can read on the Roberts site, above.

The racism comment is completely laughable considering the source, but the whole Cortes affair just shows how far the Tea Party will go to fulfill their mission of bringing down the United States.  Pearce is, of course, an avid tea partyer, and dirty politics are something he thrives on.  Hopefully, Arizona will be getting rid of him in November.  Too bad we can’t do the same with the Tea Party.

Donald Trump revives racism in South

The United States is a racist and sexist country, has been, is, and, perhaps, always will be. Bigotry has lain almost hidden for several years, starting in the late 1960s, after civil rights laws were passed. Before that I lived in the South and it was rampant, right out in the open for all to see. And it was accepted. Tragically by both whites and blacks. I grew up in it but never accepted it, thus, leaving that part of the country for more tolerant places. They exist on the outside, but deep down there is always that feeling, at least for some, that you are better than someone else.

We saw racism rear its ugly head here in Arizona with the state's immigration bill, SB1070, which was eventually stripped of its major parts and no longer has any influence. Arizona former disgraced Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, tried his best to continue the harassment of Mexican illegals but was finally stopped by the Federal government, was then voted out of office, and is the focus of several lawsuits. The "N" word is less prevalent than it used to be, but a recent comment on my blog proves it is still in use. It was in response to a post of how Trump's election might hurt the country...

What a joke, the market is breaking records every day since we elected a real President, your buckwheat nigger "president" was and is the biggest failure of all time

I also did another post earlier on how North Carolina has maintained a steady parade of racist laws:
"North Carolina continues its racist mandate." The state seems hell-bent on proving that racism is not dead, but is thriving in that state. Immediately following Donald Trump's election the Ku Klux Klan was displaying its robes for all to see, crying out its support for Trump. Confederate flags were being flown everywhere, an accepted symbol today for racism. Former KKK leader, David Duke told Time magazine, "He and Donald Trump have the same message." CNN has this observation...

"At first glance, comparing some Trump supporters to ex-Confederates may seem absurd, even insulting. But historians say both groups developed an uncanny ability to obscure the role race played in transformative events and to persuade millions of Americans to go along with the charade."

More...

"Trump's victory may mark the resurgence of the Old South in another more sinister way: The return of 'racial amnesia.'"

And all it took was a raving maniac.