I just happened to be in the room when this segment came on “The 11th Hour”. It was in regards to the racist dogwhistles blown by GOP candidates the past weekend, and the revelation of racist comments on tape by members of the L.A. City Council. Guest Professor Brittney Cooper, whom I’ve not seen on TV before, delivered some knockout analysis.
Her first segment starts at the 1:45 mark-
It tells me, Alicia, that the Republican party is running on a platform of unbridled racism. Essentially what they are saying is that they have nothing to offer to the American people in the way of economics, in the way of social programs, in the way of dealing with real kind of bread-and-butter issues.
And so what they are doing is appealing to their base and saying “Well, the Democrats might be trying to help you with student loans, the Democrats might be trying to help you with any number of other things. But they’re doing it for everyone that doesn’t include you. And what we can offer you is this simple truth- you’re still white. And being a white person should still matter in the world. And it shouldn’t be overtaken by people of color and their very legitimate concerns about an ever narrowing democracy.”
That is really dangerous rhetoric. And we should not let them off the hook for the way in which they are also stoking violence as a way to reinforce their message. It is very deliberate. We have the cautionary tale of January 6th. They know what can happen from this rhetoric. And at this point it is wholly irresponsible for them to continue it. And so they are doing it deliberately and they are doing it with a 19th and early 20th century playbook that says “When nothing else works for us, appeals to white power and appeals to our ability to use violence to get what we want will work.” And that’s what they are doing.
They came back to her at the 5:17 mark-
Look, we can’t let Kayne West off the hook. He’s also participating in this kind of stereotype of a black male, being a black male supplicant to white power in the same way that Herschel Walker is. This is what they need black men to be. As I said last week on Twitter, this is the kind of blackness that works for the Republican party. One that is deeply anti-black in its own way.
I think we have to tell the truth, Alicia. These folks don’t want democracy. What they want is White Rule. What they want is White Power.
Unfortunately, because of how we understand the history in this country, for a very long time, folks were able to have White Power and call that democracy. While it was actively excluding black folks, indigenous folks, Latino folks, Asian folks from the body politic. Now, because we have tools at our disposal, we are able to say “Hey, we’re here. We are part of ‘We The People.’ You can’t have a real democracy unless you include us.”
And I think the thing that is, if we want to be vulnerable, heartbreaking to many of us is when confronted with that truth, in the aftermath of a civil war, WW2, which was fought in part with solidarity with Jewish folks being decimated by Hitler, the fact that we know those things about our history.
And then these folks are still willing to say “Our money is on White Power as the solution for the future of America”, when we know that this has devastating consequences, is really hard to stomach if you are a person of color.
Because these folks are saying we actually want the future to not include you at best- you know, at worst- and, at best if it does include you, we want you to be clearly, legally, and in practice, subordinate to us. That is what they want.
They do not want democracy. They want White Rule, and that’s what they are voting for.
Clip of the whole segment.
Her Tweet about Herschel Walker-