*Forgive me in advance: by the time I was finished I had a headache and skipped the proof read.
What a difference a year makes?
It hasn’t been quite a full year since I last scribbled my thoughts here in the ‘kos. Having been somewhat apolitical until late 2015, I find myself in need of some extended breaks — quietly observing the passage of time.
Lately, though, there’ve been a few developments that make me feel the desire to share some thoughts and feelings.
Virginia
Generic Republicans — especially the Red Jersey folk (e.g., not so much ideological as tribal) — are so terribly excited about Glenn Youngkin’s win in the Virginia gubernatorial election. As I was preparing for this article, something interesting struck me: a variation on a theme — “a blow dealt” to Democrats in general or President Joe Biden in particular. “A blow dealt” — or some variation — was plastered across the headlines of online news outlets across the political spectrum. What is a “blow?” I suppose it depends on the viewpoints of both writers and readers. But, really, Virginia is want to oscillate. One might argue that Virginia was distinctly Democratic up to 1974, but one should be reminded that the pre-Great Society, Southern Democrats espoused social views that are now a hallmark of modern Republicanism. Mills Godwin served as governor of Virginia from 1966 to 1970 as a Democrat. He was elected again in 1974 as a Republican.
I will apologize for not taking a deeper dive into Virginia politics of the mid-20th century. It’s complicated to say the least. Northern Virginia’s very transient population — due to its abutment to Washington, D.C., lends itself to occasional swings and shifts not seen in the lower counties and districts. The same, I think, can be said of a large swath of Maryland.
There is something, too, that — while not at all scientific — I’ve noticed in my half-century on this planet: After 1970, some states tend to select governors who are of the opposing party to the President. Others, like Georgia, consistently re-elect the incumbent. Georgia, too, has been consistently Democratic since the effective end of reconstruction — at least until Barack Obama was elected President. There is an obvious correlation between Georgia’s flip and the election of a Black man to the highest office — then again, correlation does not equal causation. But I digress.
What I would expect to be detrimental in real terms is the invasive corruption of the GOP as a whole. It is possible for someone to be decent and honest and a Republican, all at the same time. However, that is exceedingly more difficult with each passing day — so much so I can take the previous sentence, transpose the first two words to form a question that, with each passing day, is equally difficult to answer. Taken a step further, that the GOP has chosen to embrace (rather than repel) White Supremacists and White Nationalists, it is nigh impossible to avoid Godwin’s Law. In fact, since I brought up the concept of Godwin’s Law — I have handily proved it.
On a personal level, I do not see Virginia’s (close) election as a blow to Democracy specifically. What causes me concern, however, is that the cancer of far-right extremism, blatant racism and perpetual gaslighting has metastasized so thoroughly that I don’t envision any way to remove it. I think it will only grow worse as those somewhat sane and moderate Republicans flee.
If past is prologue, moderate, rational Republicans will gravitate toward the Democratic party. Much as Southern Democrats jumped the aisle in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s. That shift was a blessing for progressives and a curse for conservatives. While notions of white superiority and blatant racism have been ubiquitous since White people set foot on this continent, it is surely the GOP who holds the Racist Football at this moment in history. Time will only tell if those who defect carry those sentiments with them.
When an acquaintance (who I once respected) was elected Governor of North Carolina I thought, though Republican, he would be good for the state. I knew him as a centrist, fiscal conservative. I liked him, for the most part, as Mayor of Charlotte, NC — and I had faith he’d do well by the people of his state. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Up to then, I thought myself a good judge of character. I don’t remember what the article was about, but I remember reading something in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and thinking, “they’ve gotten to Pat.” In my mind, the “they” were the corporatists and those so unscrupulous as to gerrymander their way into the General Assembly the way a tick burroughs its way into a hound’s hide.
There is a fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) that infects carpenter ants and essentially turns the ant into a zombie, forcing the ant to be part of the fungi’s replication process. I cannot think of a better analogue for the current state of the GOP. A parasite has invaded and now steers the party toward oblivion — and it is taking the whole country down with it.
In this context, I think the “blow” has a larger reach than President Biden’s agenda.
Minneapolis, MN
I am not quite sure what, if anything, I expected from the police reform referendum in Minneapolis. I thought it would have been a good experiment, if nothing else. I’m not surprised the measure failed — how easy is it to prefer the devil you know? On the other hand, I had hoped that the very callous, racist and visible murder of an innocent Black man would be catalyst for drastic and necessary change. I have no idea if that change would have ultimately been for the better insofar as Minneapolis is concerned. However, there is a greater message to be had — a spark of something far greater to benefit the common good. Instead, I fear that the lessons learned will be drowned out by the racists, nationalistic dog whistles, blaring out warped signals — perverting the decision of a city’s citizens into something far more sinister — and perpetuate their racists rhetoric yet another day.
As a nation watched, it becomes obvious that the implications of the referendum are far greater than the form and structure of the city’s police force. What does this result mean in the bigger picture? What would a “yes” vote have meant? Regardless of the final outcome, this issue was destined to become a bludgeon — the difference being who has the firmest grip.
I don’t live in Minneapolis, haven’t even visited the city — so, to be fair, I have no vested interest in its politics or policy. If I am reading correctly the proposed charter amendment for Question 2, the net effect would have been — forgive this gross distillation — a bit of union busting and a much higher degree of accountability. It would, at least in the beginning, shift the primary focus of the police (proposed name was Department of Public Safety) to a more holistic approach to community policing. Despite the internal conflict between cynic and optimist, I would have liked to see how that played out.
Perhaps, though, the closeness of the Question’s fate can still be a strong catalyst for change; and that — somehow — something good can come of the senseless murder of George Floyd.
Brunswick, GA
Speaking of senseless murders caught on video — The prosecution and defense attorneys have finally qualified 65 jurors for the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial. The next step will be to further whittle that list down to 16 — 12 jurors and four alternates. I don’t know how this trial will end. My gut says a relatively short deliberation followed by guilty verdicts. Regardless of the verdict, it will be appealed. Beyond that is anybody’s guess how that goes.
As was the Minneapolis, Minnesota police referendum, the Arbery case holds massive implications beyond the city of Brunswick or the State of Georgia. I find it impossible to not look on the video (recorded by the perpetrators) and not see a lynching. We cannot know what would have happened if Mr. Arbery had not fought for his life. We can, however and with utmost certainty deduce that Mr. Arbery indeed fought for his life and lost. We can say, with utmost certainty, that had Mr. Arbery been left alone and unmolested, he would be getting ready for Thanksgiving and his friends and family would not be grieving their loss.
I might also conclude that the murder — nay, the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery was a catalyst for the Georgia General Assembly to remove an anachronistic law granting citizens arrest powers. That does not negate the accused’s current defense, however, but only prevents such defense in the future.
Oct 27 (Reuters) - A pivotal defense argument of the three white men on trial in Georgia for killing Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger, is that they were trying to make a citizen's arrest under a Civil War-era law that was later repealed amid an uproar over the shooting.
- Slavery-era Georgia law in focus in trial over Ahmaud Arbery's killing
The whole concept that a band of armed men felt the need to chase another man down because he walked around a home under construction — clearly out for a jog and clearly not running away with building materials down his shorts. How in the hell can you claim self defense when you were the one pointing the gun in the first place and it was you who fired your gun into the person you were pointing it at. That’s not self defense. That’s aggravated assault followed by murder. It strains credulity to say that, in the commission of a felony (aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — O.C.G.A §16-5-21(2)) the victim of that felony attempted to defend himself, somehow then shooting and killing the victim of the initial felony was self defense!
Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 5 - Crimes Against the Person
Article 1 - Homicide
§ 16-5-1. Murder; malice murder; felony murder; murder in the second degree
- (a) A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being.
- (b) Express malice is that deliberate intention unlawfully to take the life of another human being which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.
- (c) A person commits the offense of murder when, in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.
*Emphasis mine
While some remarkably bad life choices led me to a certain fascination and acquaintance with Georgia’s criminal code, I am not a lawyer or legal scholar. Georgia’s justice system is harsh and exceptionally punitive against people of color. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections own statistics for the fiscal year 2020, Georgia’s prison population is over 60% Black and 35.6% white. Georgia’s overall population, however, is 52% white (non-hispanic or latino) and 32.6% Black or African-American. There are countless studies which reveal the causes and posit theories behind this gross disparity. To be sure, Georgia is far from alone. This is an American dysfunction.
That being said, I trust Georgia’s courts to make sure that Travis McMichael never breathes air in freedom again. I also know that Georgia’s prisons take their mission of punishment and retribution seriously. The aggravating circumstances of Travis McMichael’s act opens him up for the death penalty by taking his case before a jury. A guilty plea, though, would be a guaranteed life without parole. Shaking the dice at trial is probably the best he’ll be able to do. Given, too, the global attention on the upcoming trial, I suspect the judge to instruct the jury in the most monochromatic terms; that they are to assess whether, beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendants committed the crimes they are charged with. The passion and prejudice will play out boldly in the press and social media — but in the courtroom and sequestration, the facts will stand a better chance of survival.
In Georgia, there is little to no defense for aggravated assault. There was no reasonable cause to point a deadly weapon at Mr. Arbery. The pretext is irrelevant. Mr. Arbery was not armed. At most, he commited the misdemeanor crime of trespassing and the assailants did not own the property in question. Now, we can suppose that the defense for the murder is that the accused was merely exercising his right under Georgia law to effect a citizens arrest. That’s going to be a shaky defense. The old law did allow for citizens to arrest and offender is “if the offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge.” The groundwork for that defense was laid almost immediately after the murder occurred and before the offenders were themselves arrested. The bigger problem with that defense comes down to the second part of the old law: “If the offense is a felony and the offender is escaping or attempting to escape, a private person may arrest him upon reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion.” That one of the defendants was in law enforcement seems a high hurdle. It will take some skillful spin to make a jogger a reasonable and probable suspect.
Again, I’m just a layperson — not a lawyer or legal scholar. I can only speculate what the prosecution might employ and be hopeful that some justice will prevail. From the facts that I have seen (video, warrants, arrest reports, public statements, etc.) I could not reasonably doubt the guild of all three of the accused. Whether murder was the intent or not, the aggravated assault was surely intended. That is a felony. That felony then resulted in the death of Amhaud Arbery.
CRT
This entire stream of consciousness was brought to you by some random article I read in my newsfeed regarding Critical Race Theory (CRT). I’ve looked for the article and, sadly, I have been unable to locate it. The article was an opinion piece from an out-of-state poll watcher in Virginia. The topic of critical race theory (banning it, specifically) is a plank in Glenn Youngkin’s platform. From there I started jumping around and looking at the headlines for the day.
Although I am a white male from the south, I don’t get the aversion to CRT. I understand why racists would be averse to it — that’s pretty plain. But it seems rather difficult to say that the very buildings in our seat of government were built by slaves and, somehow, racism and white supremacy aren’t baked into the entire system. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 hasn’t even turned 60 years old yet. I’ve always been sure my “white privilege” was obvious (and being openly gay hasn’t taken a dent out of it).
I cannot claim to be an expert on critical race theory. I’ve only just begun to study it but from what I have read, it seems a bit obvious. The danger, I suppose, is that by applying the ideas of CRT in education, younger generations may begin to see the artifice of race and eschew “otherness.”
Because of my prejudice against neo-republicans I tend to believe they are intellectually incapable of understanding what critical race theory really is. That is dangerous folly on my part — it underestimates the malevolence of GOP leadership.
A few weeks ago, this little nugget popped up:
North Carolina school board bans critical race theory from its classrooms
Teachers can be disciplined or fired for suggesting that figures in American history are not ‘heroes to our culture’
The Guadian — October 5, 202
I don’t think I could comment on what happened in Johnston County, North Carolina last month better than the Editorial Board of the Charlotte Observer(probable paywall):
Under the new policy — which was approved unanimously by the school board last week — teachers can be disciplined or fired if they teach certain things, including that American historical figures weren’t heroes or that racism is a permanent part of American life. Once the policy was passed, commissioners voted to hand over the funds.
The policy attempts to whitewash history by favoring ideology over truth. Republicans have long cried wolf over “indoctrination” and Critical Race Theory in schools, and we’ve said before that it’s a problem that doesn’t really exist.
The Charlotte Observer — October 6, 2021
Critical Race Theory is what brought me to this point — to hopefully make a point. I don’t think it is hard to understand the truth within CRT. I think it’s obvious. I think the events in Virginia and Minneapolis lend credence to the theory.
While I was preparing to write, I sat back and thought on all I’d read this morning. It was early and I hadn’t made it beyond these three topics — and a phrase popped in my head: White Panic. I don’t recall where I’d heard or read that before, so I searched for it. I was greeted immediately with an excerpt from a book by Matthew W. Hughey called White Bound. Chapter four is names, White Panic. Hughey compares a white supremacist group and a white anti-racist group and determined that “[t]hough he found immediate political differences, he observed surprising similarities. Both groups make meaning of whiteness through a reliance on similar racist and reactionary stories and worldviews.” This type of literature is more up my alley — my degree is in psychology and I also enjoy the flavor of sociology just as well.
The book, White Bound, is good to understand the social constructs and how, even if well meaning, stereotypes and deleterious ideals can and often do persist. CRT merely adds the appropriate “and” — as in “and such inherent racism is embedded into public policy and law.” What can be a better indicator of the validity of CRT than a country board of supervisors extorting the county’s board of education?
I have to wonder, too, if the racially biased social constructs influenced the outcome of the decision in Minneapolis. I don’t know. As I said earlier, I have no personal interest in the policies and laws of the city. I’m just a bystander with a question: what was it that tipped the scales? To what degree did race play in the final decision?
Obviously this morning’s headlines were enough to jar me out of hibernation. To what end, I have no clue. In some way, pointing out the obvious is cathartic. I guess. I do wish that the leadership on the left would recognize the full extent of the existential threat facing America. Moreso, I wish liberal voters would get on the same page and recognize the full extent of the existential threat facing America.