I begin by thanking Denise Oliver Velez for her post regarding newly-selected Pope Leo XIV (former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost) and his mixed Creole and Haitian ancestry. (At this point, I must ask if there is a significant difference between the two ethnicities/cultures besides one being based in NOLA and the other in Haiti.)
Ms. Velez has given us a lot of fascinating information—and much food for thought—about America’s tangled racial genealogy in her informative piece. Better yet, she’s given us yet another opportunity to kick back and enjoy our popcorn as we watch MAGA America own itself and run around with its collective hair on fire. This is all because newly-anointed Pope Leo XIV is not only the Catholic Church’s first American Pope but also its first “mulatto” (black, according to American white supremacy’s one-drop-of-black-blood rule) Pope because of his mixed Creole and Haitian roots.
One thing I can say at this point is that MAGA folks from former(?) Confederate states like Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi need to check their hypocrisy at the door. It is an open secret in many of these families that at least a few of their ancestors had mixed racial backgrounds but looked “white enough to pass.” Hey, don’t start me to lying!
The US of A has been dodging the need to honestly confront the rattling skeletons in its racial closet since before its founding. Former AG Eric Holder was hammered by this country’s business, political, and media elites in 2009 for daring to ask for an honest national discussion about race. This nation’s cowardice (Mr. Holder’s word, not mine) has allowed its unacknowledged racial caste system to twist its democracy into a diseased monstrosity under the misrule of the convicted Felon-in-Chief and his outlaw regime. It is that monstrosity that the rest of the world now mocks, pities, and shuns. The reality is that Mango Mussolini didn’t infect America with the disease of white supremacy; he only exploited and amplified it for his own personal benefit.
Despite the dire straits in which the US currently finds itself, there is a silver lining to this cloud. For one thing, the tRump regime has torn the bandage off of this country’s pretense of being a “post-racial America.” Mango Mussolini’s established record of firing experienced senior government officials for not being white, male, and totally loyal to him and replacing them with white incompetent ne’er-do-wells exposes MAGA world’s claims of “meritocracy” (qualified white men) vs “DEI hires” (unqualified women/people of color) as the lies that they are. With its national delusions around race discredited, if not destroyed, maybe our country can finally begin the real work of reinventing itself as a world-class democracy. And maybe Pope Leo XIV can help matters along by reminding us all about the true meaning of service to humanity and the planet itself in these perilous times.
GOTV this year, in 2026, and in 2028. Aluta Continua!
