The Citadel
There was scathing
criticism of Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse for his reference to both
"Kristallnacht" and Southern lynch mobs and their harvest of
"strange Fruit" swinging in the summer breeze (w/video of Billy Holiday) not a year after President Obama's inauguration as the first African American President.
The Senator warned of the GOP moving toward historical incidences of mob violence.
In Whitehouse’s words,
“Too many colleagues are embarked on a desperate, no-holds-barred mission of propaganda, obstruction and fear. History cautions us of the excesses to which these malignant, vindictive passions can ultimately lead. Tumbrils have rolled through taunting crowds. Broken glass has sparkled in darkened streets. Strange fruit has hung from Southern trees.”
They were wrong. Senator Whitehouse was prescient in his address from the well of the Senate during the Healthcare "debates". In December 2009, Whitehouse called out the "birthers," "fanatics," and "people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups".
Senator White house was calling out the GOP; the republican.
It was a deeper concern beyond that of PPACA. It was a direct challenge to the racism inherent, arguably foundational to a major U.S. political party. A party representing the corporate interests above all else yet chained to a platform of white supremacy as its powerbase.
Years of effort have gone into re-framing this racism out of the picture; pretending it's anything but what it is.
There have been deeply researched historical accounts of the many deaths caused by the racist white supremacy movement and its close ties to the "conservative" movement recently published; many here @ Daily Kos by people with long years of study to draw from.
The recent murders of AA's committed by domestic terrorists of this confederacy of rwnj's covered here @ Daily Kos goes back to the 1800's when, during reconstruction, the slavers, unwilling to let go of their preferred way of living lives as slave owners, began their attack and secession from a Citadel on Calhoun street with their guns in range of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. A church with a long rich history fighting slavery and championing equal rights for AA's and all Americans.
That beautiful church was recently attacked; members including the Pastor, murdered in an increasingly less uncommon act of domestic terrorism by a young racist claiming that old confederate claim in a slightly modernized version;
"You rape our women, and you're taking over our country"
This reactionary claim reminded me of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's' speech of 6 years ago. I'd always believed that speech was about much more than the new Health care Bill PPACA | H.R. 3590 being obstructed by a confederacy of malignant republicans who disparagingly labeled it 'Obamacare'. A label soon adopted by its advocates as and for its success. Marking yet another propaganda failure by the republican.
As it turns out these years later, it was a warning far too many brushed aside, some even admonishing Senator Whitehouse for "going there"
Imagine the Senators speech in a broader context, and maybe you'll see it in the same light I did. Hope so, because I've become convinced that the GOP is little more than the propaganda wing of corporate America; developing social wedge issues to rope in their constituents, many based on racial exploitation to foment hatred and division in order to obscure while propelling their unacceptable agenda. Seeing it in this larger view would mean that Senator Whitehouse's angry detractors will have lost another false accusation to manipulate into a wedge issue
One less accusation means one less weapon in the GOP's arsenal of injury.
Just image for a moment that the issue is not Health care, but many if not any issue the republican has put their usual propaganda to work on. It becomes very clear that it does not matter what the topic. The malignant vindictive treatment of Americans that do not conform to the "conservative" republican "ideals"; that do not share the rwnj version of religion and knuckle under to their demands; refusing to allow the myth of white supremacy in all of it many forms, to become their master are then made to be demons. The others. The "nonwhite" un-Americans
c-span transcript: http://www.c-span.org/...
Here is a full transcript with links to quotes, and sources cited by Senator Whitehouse:
GOP on Desperate Mission of Propaganda, Obstruction and Fear
Since the recent murder of 9 good people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church I've heard the same calls we've heard from the "conservatives" in several cities around the country every time AA's have been gunned down: "it wouldn't have happened if more people had guns." or "The shooter had to re-load" so as Fox "News" and paste eater Steve Doocy claims; "people could have protected themselves if only they weren't in a "gun-free zone" The same "gun-free zone" shilling for the NRA lie - blame the victim.
This crap from Fox and friend Doocy, blaming those that were gunned down while praying in their church:
"If somebody was there, they would have had the opportunity to pull out their weapon and take [the shooter] out ... If somebody in there had a gun." Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed, calling it a "great point."
On top of that is the immediate media frame that AA's are going to get violent and riots will ensue. Filth, straight out of a Frank Luntz or right wing think tank specializing in bullshit spin. And in nearly every cop killing of an African American it is the
murderer who is then portrayed as the "victim"
Which then prompts those very concerned citizens to insist that AA's behave themselves as, of course any decent white person does. The double standard is obscene, and too many people fall for it
'Be calm'. 'Don't get angry'. 'Keep off the streets' (Sundown Towns), 'Don't fight back'. 'We need to come together as a nation to "heal" '.
Especially two-faced (putting it nicely) is the ol' republican NRA/GOA; "Now is not the time to talk about gun control" couched in accusations from the rwnj's that talking about gun safety regulations is "political pandering" and "exploiting the loved ones of those recently lost..." blah blah blah and fuck that.
These victims were murdered by a racist domestic terrorist, spurred on by a political party that for over a half a century, at least, has been nurturing a culture of hate all the while 'hinting' that murdering "blah people" may be the only way to "stand their ground" from minorities assaulting their "religious freedom". A justification by the rwnj's to any means in order to "Get THEIR America Back!" - and so far, Grand jury after jury have let murderers walk
This is more like what is needed:
Please Stop Telling Me When I Need to Heal
..a lot more - imo
Because the party of oppression is not fooling anyone anymore if my voice, tiny as it may be, is joined by millions of others that have had it.
The victims killed shortly after their last prayer meeting in church:
• Cynthia Hurd, 54
• Susie Jackson, 87
• Ethel Lance, 70
• Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
• Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41
• Tywanza Sanders, 26
• Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74
• Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45
• Myra Thompson, 59
With one last question: Since the greater problem with the GOP that has been clearly identified is not the "Lone wolf" or "mentally unstable" as claimed by the rwnj politicians in fear of pissing-off their gun manufacturer lobbyist donors they shill for; a problem that is as intractable as it is malignant, isn't it way past time to at least disarm the republican base of racial domestic terrorists?
Three keys for background checks round two: Simple, fair and universal by MB April of 2013
note: If I've goofed up a timeline of history it is my mistake alone, not Senator Whitehouse or anyone else. I hope that his words and the numerous and excellent Daily Kos member written diaries linked to are the focus here
- It feels late so I'm going to turn in early - Thank you for stopping by and putting up with another rant
* just to make sure: the use of "nonwhite" was purposeful as a little reminder to our friends at the National Review