By Final Call News
Many may feel comfortable condemning the Alt-Right, neo- Nazis, Klans-men and White Supremacists who gathered in Charlottesville, Va., but the true problem is America’s underlying cancer of White Supremacy etched into the DNA of this nation.
The torch carrying, swastika waving, black-shirted, Nazi saluting supporters of the Alt Right, who openly voice their disdain and hatred for Blacks and others, are not the choice for expressions of White Supremacy today. Their look and their tactics are outmoded, draw too much attention and draw too much of an emotional response.
What is preferred today is “Make America Great Again” White Supremacy, an ideology and expression that couches Whites as the group suffering and losing in the United States.
It was that sentiment that President Clinton played to in the 1990s as a welfare-bashing, prisoner executing, missile into Africa launching New Democrat. “Bubba” was a godsend and consoler of aggrieved Whites who supported him. He felt their pain. He wasn’t like Democrats of old who were beholden to Black people. He disrespected the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has registered more Democratic voters than anyone in history, at the civil rights leader’s national convention to make his point.
It was that sentiment–the belief that Whites and America are under siege from Black and Brown people–that led to the Birther Movement backed by Donald Trump. The movement challenged whether Barack Obama was born in America and painted him as an illegitimate president.
That same suffering-White-sentiment fed the Tea Party Movement, its virulent opposition to President Obama and the unabashed assaults of right wing and conservative media on him and his family. Not to mention an intruder making his way into the White House, shots fired at a White House window and missed by the Secret Service and a 400 percent increase in death threats against the president.
The cry “take our country back” wasn’t a neo-Nazi, skinhead or Klan sentiment but a mainstream political message.
The White America under siege mentality has led to reluctance to take on White militias and Whites calling for the violent overthrow of the American government. Instead of calling for a federal crackdown, political leaders called for understanding what was making weapons carrying Whites so uneasy.
It was that sentiment that got Janet Napolitano, then United States Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, crucified politically. It was “in 2009, the Department of Homeland Security reported that white supremacy is the US’s biggest threat for domestic terror, it was met with harsh criticism. Conservatives blasted the department for defining terror threats too broadly, instead of focusing on potential Islamic terrorists,” observed Think Progress.
“Then-House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) was one of those who berated DHS, saying that they weren’t focusing on the real threats the US faces: [T]he Secretary of Homeland Security owes the American people an explanation for why she has abandoned using the term ‘terrorist’ to describe those, such as al Qaeda, who are plotting overseas to kill innocent Americans, while her own Department is using the same term to describe American citizens who disagree with the direction Washington Democrats are taking our nation. Everyone agrees that the Department should be focused on protecting America, but using such broad-based generalizations about the American people is simply outrageous.
“The report was titled ‘Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,’ and it named white supremacists, radical anti-abortionists, and a few ‘disgruntled veterans’ as most susceptible to recruitment by extremist groups, or to harboring resentment that may lead to domestic terrorism. DHS stressed that, during recessions, these threats go up, and law enforcement should be on the lookout for such extremism.”
“The report’s findings were congruous with previous studies that indicate right wing extremism is responsible for more instances of violence every year (with the exception of 2001, when the September 11th attacks happened) in the United States than Islamic extremist,” Think Progress noted. “Sec. Janet Napolitano ended up withdrawing the report and apologizing to veterans who felt they’d been called out, stressing that the threat was limited to a very small number of veterans.”
That sentiment isn’t just yesterday, it exists today: Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to President Trump, appeared on Breitbart News Daily, “the radio show of his former employer,” said Think Progress. “ ‘Oh, it’s the white man. It’s the white supremacists. That’s the problem.’ No, it isn’t,” he said.
But, Mr. Gorka is wrong and we’re not just talking about the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma by White supremacist and former serviceman Timothy McVeigh in 1995.
“Gorka noted that the Oklahoma City bombing was 22 years ago, which is true. But since 9/11, right-wing extremists–almost always white men and frequently white supremacists – have been far more deadly domestically than Muslim extremists. A study found that in the first 13.5 years after 9/11, Muslim extremists were responsible for 50 deaths in the United States. Meanwhile, ‘right-wing extremists averaged 337 attacks per year in the decade after 9/11, causing a total of 254 fatalities,’ ” Think Progress reported.
But the idea of curbing White Rights is a dangerous one and accounts for the reluctance of President Trump and his defenders to call out these good, old, All American groups. There is a desire to not retreat or offend White sensibilities, nevermind investigating White extremist groups.
The governor of Virginia bemoaned being “outgunned” by Alt Right protestors, despite having the National Guard at his disposal. White Rights must be respected. Even the Black police chief of Charlottesville, Va., bemoaned how Alt Right protestors violated agreed upon entry into the park where their gathering was to take place. Instead of shutting the event down, police officers hung back. Despite the melee that followed, no tear gas was deployed, he said. The hope was the Unite The Right demonstrators would simply peacefully participate, he said. And though gathering was declared an unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park, there were just a few instances in which pepper spray was used, the police chief added.
When a reporter cited a police officer who said orders had been issued not to make arrests unless called for by the mayor, the chief said that report was untrue.
America will never solve the problem of race until she looks in the mirror and sees how ugly she has been and remains. But at this point, it doesn’t even appear that a mirror exists, let alone a willingness to look into it.
