Racism comes out of the closet
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
In 1981 Lee Atwater, the famed Republican political operative, explained to an interviewer how his party had learned to exploit racial antagonism using dog whistles. “You start out in 1954 by saying ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’” But by the late 1960s, “that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, ‘forced busing,’ ‘states’ rights,’ and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.”
Well, the dog whistle days are over. Republicans are pretty much back to saying “Nigger, nigger, nigger.”
As everyone knows, on Sunday Donald Trump attacked four progressive members of Congress, saying that they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” As it happens, three of the four were born in the US, and the fourth is a duly naturalized citizen. All are, however, women of colour.
Sorry, there’s no way to both sides this, or claim that Trump didn’t say what he said. This is racism, plain and simple — nothing abstract about it. And Trump obviously isn’t worried that it will backfire.
This should be a moment of truth for anyone who describes Trump as a “populist” or asserts that his support is based on “economic anxiety.” He’s not a populist, he’s a white supremacist. His support rests not on economic anxiety, but on racism.
And since we’re having this moment of clarity, there are several other points we should address.
First, this isn’t just about Trump; it’s about his whole party.
I don’t just mean the almost complete absence of condemnation of Trump’s racism on the part of prominent Republicans, although this cowardice was utterly predictable. I mean that Trump isn’t alone in deciding that this is a good time to bring raw racism out of the closet.
Last week Bill Lee, the Republican governor of Tennessee, signed a proclamation ordering a day to honour the Confederate Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest, whom he described as a “recognised military figure.” Indeed, Forrest was a talented military commander. He was also a traitor, a war criminal who massacred African-American prisoners, and a terrorist who helped found the Ku Klux Klan.
Put it this way: The Nazis had some very good generals, too. But the world would be horrified if Germany announced plans to start celebrating Erich von Manstein Day. There are, no doubt, some Germans who would like to honor Nazi heroes. But they aren’t in positions of power; their American counterparts are.
Second, although most of the commentary focuses on Trump’s demand that native-born Americans “go back” to their home countries, his description of their imaginary homelands as “crime infested” deserves some attention, too. For his fixation on crime is another manifestation of his racism.
I’m not sure how many people remember Trump’s inaugural address, which was all about “American carnage” — an alleged epidemic of violent crime sweeping our nation’s cities. He didn’t explicitly say, but clearly implied, that this supposed crime wave was being perpetrated by people with dark skins. And, of course, both Trump and the Trumpist media go on all the time about immigrant criminality.
In reality, violent crime in America’s big cities is near historical lows, and all the available evidence suggests that immigrants are, if anything, less likely than the native-born to commit crimes. But the association between nonwhites and crime is a deeply held tenet among white racists, and no amount of evidence will shake their belief.
Oh, and the real “American carnage” is the surge in “deaths of despair” from drugs, suicide and alcohol among less-educated whites. But this doesn’t fit the racist narrative.
Finally, the GOP’s new comfort level with open racism should serve as a wake-up call to Democrats, both centrists and progressives, who sometimes seem to forget who and what they’re confronting.
On one side, Joe Biden’s celebration of the good relations he used to have with segregationist senators sounds even more tone-deaf than it did a month ago. Biden clearly isn’t a racist, but he needs to get a clue about how important it is to confront the racism sweeping the GOP.
On the other side, Democrats need to be very careful about doing anything that even hints at playing the race card against their own party. I understand progressive frustration over Nancy Pelosi’s caution and exasperation at moderate Democrats who may be causing that caution; many of us share their frustration. But there’s no equivalence between even the most foot-dragging Democrats and the GOP’s raw racial incitement, and anyone who suggests otherwise is acting destructively.
It’s tempting to say that Republican claims to support racial equality were always hypocritical; it’s even tempting to welcome the move from dog whistles to open racism. But if hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue, what we’re seeing now is a party that no longer feels the need to pay that tribute. And that’s deeply frightening.
Initial image: U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during his ‘Made In America’ product showcase at the White House July 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Trump talked with American business owners during the 3rd annual showcase, one day after Tweeting that four Democratic congresswomen of color should go back to their own countries. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Nathan Beford Forrest was a Democrat.
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a White Supremacist terrorist.
If you think his being an 1850s Democrat is significant in 2019, that surely says more about you than about him.
I think his being a White Supremacist terrorist is far more significant.
I think that honoring a White Supremacist terrorist is very significant.
Do you honor Nathan Bedford Forrest?
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Democrat. How you define Democrats is your choice.
Yes, and so was Cleisthenes back in 507 bc. Both have about as much to do with the modern Democrat party as they have to do with each other. The groups they belonged to at their time in history used the word "Democrat" or "Demokrat" as Cleisthenes did when he first introduced "rule by the people".
I'm more concerned with which party today is defending the monuments to vile racists like Nathan Bedford Forest and who signed into law the Nathan Bedford Forest holiday. That would be a far greater indication as to which party embraces the racist confederate bigotry of our nations past.
Oh, and since he was a Southern Democrat, shouldn't the majority party in Tennessee (the Republicans) be against making him a State holiday?
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Democrat. Hiding Nathan Bedford Forrest in the closet won't change the history of the Democratic Party.
No Democrat is asking to "hide" this confederate bigot, they simply see no reason to have a bust of him in front of their capital and they think a Nathan Bedford Forrest holiday is shameful and disgusting. Only those who secretly embrace those same confederate ideas of bigotry and treason would suggest, support, propose and honor such an obviously racist worthless human being and making a holiday to celebrate him. No matter how many times you repeat the sad ignorant trope about him being a Democrat in a pointless attempt to smear the current Democrat party, no one with more than half a brain will be fooled by who the real racist party is today.
Nathan Beford Forrest was a Democrat. The current Democratic Party has a 200 year history and Nathan Bedford Forrest is part of that long history.
Democrats do not want people to understand that history is not on the side of the Democratic Party.
Forty six years ago, Southern Democrats in Tennessee did do just what you say. What of today? Why do you keep deflecting from which party is proposing and signing into law the Nathan Bedford Forrest Day? All you're doing is confirming the fact that as the Democrat party died out in the South over the last forty years, it was replaced by those same bigots who didn't move out of the state, they just changed parties and pretended their racist confederate loving past was all those Democrats who had mysteriously disappeared around their parts, even though none moved away... And now the Republican party is saying "Hey, it was those racist Democrats who put this racist bust up in front of the capital, but we have to do the right thing and leave it there in a place of honor and respect, so no one forgets. And on top of that, let's have a day to celebrate that racist confederate Democrat, so no one forgets...". It would be funny if that wasn't the actual line of defense I'm hearing.
The guy who suggested the bust, Tennessee Senator Douglas Henry, died on March 5, 2017, at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam called him "a powerhouse intellect, courteous, kind, genuine and a statesman" and added "I will miss knowing that his wisdom and perspective are only a phone call away".
Trying to blame TODAYS Democrats for what happened 100 or 150 years ago is probably the stupidest thing Ive ever seen.
" Since 1931, every governor in Tennessee has been required by law to sign a proclamation honoring the controversial Confederate general."
" As of 2019, Nathan Bedford Forrest Day is still observed in Tennessee, though some Democrats in the state have attempted to change the law which requires Tennessee's governor to sign a proclamation honoring the holiday"
I know you don't want to listen and keep deflecting from what the Republican party has become, but the facts are there staring everyone in the face and they won't ever go away, so deflect and distract all you want, it won't change a thing.
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Democrat. George Washington owned slaves, as did Thomas Jefferson. The Democratic Party was established to preserve slavery and expand slavery into parts of country where the founders prohibited slavery. If the founders are tainted by the history of slavery, Democrats are far more than tainted. History is not on the side of the Democratic Party.
Because the Republican party is now the majority party in Tennessee with double digit leads over Democrats (48% Republican to 36% Democrat) and has been for over two decades. The last time they voted for a Democrat President was 1996.
But that's not the real issue is it, Republicans aren't upset at supposedly having to "clean up Democrats mess" because those same Republicans who now who refuse to remove the bust and refuse to change the holiday law were, or their ancestors were, those same Democrats who put the bust there and created the law.
The racist hate and those who celebrate confederate treason and long for the "South to Rise Again" didn't move out of Tennessee or any of the old confederate States, they're still there and most of them now support Donald Trump and the Republican party regardless of how much smokescreen religious conservatives try and put up to hide it.
History is written by the victors. In Mandarin.
Are you a fan of Nathan Bedford Forrest?
Why won't you answer a straightforward question?
Are you a fan of Nathan Bedford Forrest?
Yes?
No?
Are you truly saying that belonging to 1850s Democrats is more significant to you than founding the KKK?
Seriously?
Of course. I wanted to give you lots of opportunities to condemn White Supremacist terrorism.
You avoided doing so, as we all knew you would. That was my point.
See how this works?
You just had another opportunity to condemn White Supremacist terrorism. You avoided it. Your silence is eloquent.
I will continue to give you opportunities to condemn White Supremacist terrorism. Will you continue to duck and dodge?
No, MUVA, it is not a strawman because I have invited Tex to prove me wrong. Over and over.
So... each time... he shows the world who he really is.
There is a straight line that goes through all this. When Barack Obama became president it dawned on millions of white Americans that the U.S. was demographically changing. Opposition to Obama such as the infamous "birther" movement was an overt manifestation of the so called "fear of a black (and brown) planet" which is a theme representing the truth that white birthrates declined faster than birthrates of people of color, and most immigrants to the US are non white, and so the US would one day no longer be considered a "white" nation. This is of course a tragic disaster for people whose race matters to them. They dont want to be in a country that is no longer "white".
This is the back story to everything that happens today related to racial issues.
Oh, one more thing - Trump became the king birther.
"Trump became the king birther."
In your eyes John - only in your eyes. Of course, you DON'T remember when Trump stated that Obama, the half-white/half-black President, was, indeed, born in the U.S. 'Course not - you have to maintain your umbrage against Trump or anyone who "hinted" that Obama, being HALF-WHITE/HALF-BLACK, wasn't born in the U.S.
Get out of the rut John -
He "stated" that 5 years later when he though the birtherism might hurt his election campaign. Trump promoted a racist conspiracy theory in 2011 because he thought it would help him create a political base. It is well known and it is all there is to it.
I'm pretty sure I know more on this topic than you do because I'm not sure you know anything about it.
1st, John...
Obama is not the topic. Birtherism is only a teeny-tiny sliver of the topic: Trump and the entire Republican Party are now unabashedly racist.
How little you know of me John.
I'm sure that's true, but you've never shown that you understand birtherism, or Trump's role in it at all.
You have continuously said that Hillary Clinton or her campaign started birtherism. EVEN IF THAT WERE TRUE, and it's not, it still would not explain or excuse what Trump did 3 or 4 years later.
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Really? Not sure how this large section of the wikipedia article slipped past your eagle eye, but it did.
We should clean up red meat crap like this from angry partisans that now dominates the FP. Get rid of it. It has no value, so if would not be a loss.