CRITICAL- PLEASE READ AND ACT: Notes from the MoveOn.OrgEmergency Call on 8/20/17 about White Supremacy. There were 35,000 people on the call. This is IMPORTANT information for all of us. Please read. MoveOn feels this is an urgent and critical issue.
This past week, Donald Trump doubled down on White Supremacy. Since Trump has been the president, there has been a spike in the number of hate groups and crimes targeting people of color. His Muslim Ban and deportation forces are forms of white supremacy. Suppression of voting, slashing Medicare and Medicaid, slashing social programs are also all forms of white supremacy, and these are just a few examples.
But take heart, sanity and decency have prevailed. Trump is less relevant now. He has had supporters abandon him and spoken out against him this past week while the resistance and the side of love keeps growing. This week, there is one less white supremacist in White House- Bannon is gone. There are 10 fewer confederate monuments than a week ago. And a week after Heather Heyer’s death, 40K people marched in Boston against the White Supremacists. It was 4000 to 1 against white supremacy in Boston.
On Sunday’s call was the Vice Mayor of Charlottesville. He asked us to watch the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia and help if you can.
But the most informative part of the call for me was the discussion detailing the history of White Supremacy in the US, how it has morphed into White Nationalism, what that means for us all, and what we need to do about it. This discussion was led by the Southern Poverty Law Center:
White Nationalism is a response to the progress we have made over the last 50 years starting with the 1964 Civil Rights movement. The Civil Rights movement was effective in pushing back White Supremacy. They retreated, but what emerged was White Nationalism whose purpose is to create a White State. After the Civil Rights Movement, White Nationalism used anti-Semitism to fuel hatred over the success of civil rights. Because black people were cast by the White Supremacists as stupid and lazy, hate groups had to have a reason for Civil Rights success. Jews were the target- cast as a secret kabala planning to destroy the white race. In 1979, in the Greensboro Massacre, we saw armed paramilitary, KKK, and other hate groups banning together with a new goal: to over throw America in order to create a White State. Recently in Portland, the murder of people standing up to protect a Muslim woman on a bus, signaled to the White Nationalist to mobilize.
REMEMBER- The White Nationalists want to seize state power. They want to dismantle the American government. They want to control the present state by deconstructing our democratic government. (Tula’s comment- Does this sound familiar? This is Bannon’s philosophy. He is a White Nationalist.)
The White Nationalists attack a multi-racial society. We must prove that this won’t work.
We must step up to the attacks on our democratic institutions and underlying issues of discrimination. Remember the standoff with the government in Oregon? This was an attempt to prove that the White Nationalists are a stronger force than the US government. NOTE: They are not a hate group. They use hatred and bigotry to seize power.
ACTION- We must step up as leaders. We must talk to our neighbors and friends, building solidarity. If we can’t talk to neighbors, if we can’t have these hard conversations, we can’t beat them.
Counter protests are important, but we need proactive ideas. For example, there is a town in Germany where the neo Nazis march once a year. The town created a celebration on that day. The celebration is a fundraiser to support anti-hate causes which successfully overshadowed the Nazis march. Hate groups just don’t come to town. That bigotry already exists. We must be leaders, double our efforts with anti-hate organizations. ACTION- We must demand that our leaders take a stand. This is not a southern problem. This is an international problem. Tweeting is not enough. Paul Ryan did not act. They must act. Representatives are home for recess now. Find events at: https://act.moveon.org/…/aug-resistance-recess-even…/search/
White Nationalists are building coalitions based on fear, resentment and anger directed at race, gender, and nationality. Islamophobia targets the right wing religious organizations with anti-sharia rallies masking underlying racial hatred. Misogyny targets men’s movement. In Charlottesville, women protesters were threatened with rape. White Nationalism is a movement of hyper violence and misogyny. “Free speech” is how the White Nationalists blend in at Trump rallies. This was the theme of their Charlottesville demonstration.
Charlottesville shocked the nation. Even parts of Trump’s party denounced him, but denouncing a neo Nazi rally is easy and cheap.
CRUCIAL- We can’t let the Nazi issue cover up the cultural mobilization that is happening, a mobilization that will lead to repressive public policies. This is part of a larger anti-democracy ecosystem. We must stand for solidarity. “If you come for one of us, you come for us all.” Right now, in the USA, we realize that we are a multiracial democracy. However, now in Turkey, they have lost this fight. They no longer think of themselves as a multiracial democracy. We cannot lose this fight.
What more can you do?- Make contributions to racial justice organizations. Don’t normalize White Nationalism which will open the door for public policy changes. Have those difficult conversations with your neighbors. We must amplify what we have already done.
Bonnie Watson Coleman (The representative from NJ) has a resolution censuring Trump. WA State representative Jayapal has signed this resolution on along with 50 other in congress. This is a modest opportunity for republicans, who have tweeted disgust with Trump over his actions, to stand up and push back. ACTION- Reach out to your member of congress and demand they sign the Censure Resolution. Push back against enablers and normalizers. Pick a side! MoveOn is asking everyone to CALL NOW! You can sign a petition to at: http://act.pfaw.org/sign/censure-trump-white-supremacy
You can voice your opinion with MoveOn with these two movements:
1. Tear down all confederate symbols and monuments. Text “Down” to 225568
2.Visa, MC, paypal, Apple, and Amex have begun to remove themselves as credit card providers for hate groups. Show them how you feel. Text “Blood” to 225568
We must push back against racist cuts in budget against such things as title 1, eliminating after school programs, etc. We must take action not just be alarmed. We need to build an army.
This site will give you information. Sign the open letter to DeVos, showing that there is more of us than them. We must end education profiteering. Tell your representatives that you care deeply about public schools. http://www.reclaimourschools.org/summer-2017
There was more on this call, but this is a starting point. MoveOn and their supporting organizations feel that we are in a critical time. A time in which we need to act, not just wring our hands and complain. Thank you for reading this, and for my grandchild’s future, I personally thank you as well.
Tula Holmes
August 2017