It took over a year, but the Hampton GOP finally noticed that one of their members was a vile racist. Local GOP Chairman Philip Siff has called on Hampton Electoral Board Chair, David Dietrich, to resign after a blatantly racist and violent Facebook post surfaced. In current Republic philosophy, it is hard to imagine that any display of racism would get more than a slap on the wrist. But Dietrich crossed even the GOP’s decency line.
On February 11, 2021, this miserable man called two prominent former generals, both Black, "vile and racist". One is the current Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and the other, Russel Honoré, gained fame for getting the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina back on track. In a Facebook post, he wrote,
"The situation with the United States military is getting more disgusting and dangerous by the day."
Adding, after naming Austin and Honoré,
"These so-called 'leaders' are so vile and racist, there's no way to describe them other than in terms their own people understand. They are nothing more than dirty, stinking niggers."
And concluding,
“We are being forced into a corner by these enemies of the People. If it is civil war they want, they will get it in spades. Perhaps the best way to pull is back from the brink is a good public lynching.”
[Bolding mine]
The thing about racism and calls to violence is that it says nothing about the targets of the slurs. However, it does say a lot about the author. His diatribe reveals Dietrich as a small, bile-filled bigot who has shed — if he ever had them — the grace, generosity of spirit, humanity, and empathy that are the hallmarks of a civilized adult.
No person, no matter their position, career, sex, race, or any other characteristic, is immune from criticism. But this is not criticism. This is pure hate. Dietrich does not explain his thinking beyond his characterization of white nationalists being “conservative freedom-loving Americans”. I imagine that decent conservative freedom-loving Americans, of any race or ethnicity, would be horrified to be considered synonymous with “white nationalists”. Although, I see little evidence there are many of that rare decent breed.
If ridding the military of active racists was Austin’s crime then Honoré’s was accepting a commission from Nancy Pelosi. It is not hard to connect the dots. Dietrich admits his thinking. Any review of security failings at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, must, in his mind, be an attack on the insurrectionists. And Dietrich can only think that attack is motivated by racism if he believes (knows?) the rioters were all white.
Austin is not trying to rid the military of white nationalists because he is a racist. He is cleaning house to ensure that the US military is prepared to do its job. It cannot do that if it suffers the cancer of racism. I bet Austin is equally vigilant that Black racists do not compromise the military’s dedication to having its warfighters be the best they can be.
Honoré is a legendary problem solver. There was a security breakdown at the Capitol. People entered the building threatening to execute the Vice President of the USA. They busted the place up, smeared shit on the walls, and wounded and killed Capitol police officers. Of course, there is going to be a review. Who better than Honoré?
I cannot believe Dietrich's post has been up for more than a year without anyone doing anything about it. However, the Hampton GOP should get at least a weak handclap for demanding Dietrich’s resignation. Their response, as delayed and weak as it is, is better than Facebook’s. Those cynics allowed this screed full of hatred and calls for violence to be posted in the first place. Then let it stay up for a year.
And finally, consider that Dietrich is in charge of elections in Hampton, VA. How many other election officials in Virginia and the rest of the US are as vilely racist as him? What are the safeguards against them rigging elections? My guess is not much. Especially in those states whose legislatures have written blatantly anti-democratic election rules and gerrymandered to minimize minority voices.