The lesson from Charlottesville is not how dangerous the neo-Nazis are. It is the unmasking of the Republican party leadership.
By Russ Feingold
The Guardian (8/19/17)
It takes approximately 30 seconds to send a tweet. A half hour to draft and release a statement. And the shelf life of both is only marginally longer. We should not commend Republican party elected officials who claim outrage on social media at Trump’s remarks, often without daring to mention his name. The phony claimed outrage becomes dangerous if it convinces anyone that there is a distinction between Trump’s abhorrent comments and the Republican Party agenda.
The lesson from Charlottesville is not how dangerous the neo-Nazis are. It is the unmasking of the Republican party leadership. In the wake of last weekend’s horror and tragedy, let us finally, finally rip off the veneer that Trump’s affinity for white supremacy is distinct from the Republican agenda of voter suppression, renewed mass incarceration and the expulsion of immigrants.
There is a direct link between Trump’s comments this week and those policies, so where is the outrage about the latter? Where are the Republican leaders denouncing voter suppression as racist, un-American and dangerous? Where are the Republican leaders who are willing to call out the wink (and the direct endorsement) from President Trump to the white supremacists and acknowledge their own party’s record and stance on issues important to people of color as the real problem for our country?
Even if the white supremacists are condemned, even if the entire Republican party rises up in self-professed outrage at white supremacists, if voter suppression and other such racist policies survive, the white supremacists are winning.
Words mean nothing if the Republican agenda doesn’t change. Governors and state legislatures were so quick to embrace people of color in order to avoid the impression, they too share Trump’s supreme affinity for the white race. But if they don’t stand up for them they are not indirectly, but directly enabling the agenda of those same racists that Republican members were so quick to condemn via Twitter.
Gerrymandering, strict voter ID laws, felon disenfranchisement are all aimed at one outcome: a voting class that is predominantly white, and in turn majority Republican. …
(Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source and free to use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )
- Arizona Republican Skips Work After Being Caught Declaring ‘white pride’ After Charlottesville March & Killing – Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller refused to attend Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting in Arizona after she was caught declaring her “white pride” on Facebook after the Charlottesville, Virginia violence. Miller sent an email to county officials at 6:13 a.m. saying that she would be “unable” to attend the meeting, but didn’t give a reason, the Arizona Daily Star reported. “I am sending this to notify you that I will be unable to cal [sic] in to today’s board meeting: August 21, 2017,” Miller wrote in an email. “Please notify the Chair.” A large number of people spoke out against Miller’s comments at the meeting, which included hecklers from both supporters and opponents of Miller. “I’m sick and tired of being hit for being white,” she wrote on Facebook hours after the Charlottesville violence. “It is all about making us feel like we need to apologize. I am WHITE — and proud of it! No apologies necessary.” … Read the Rest