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There is a disconnect with some White people who wonder—and sometimes even ask out loud—why Blacks, Jews, LGBT, Latinos, Muslims, and others are so concerned about a Trump Administration. These are the White folks that have no Black friends, just for clarity. We are not talking about White business people who have Black employees: You truly have no clue about their lives. I lump these individuals in a category that The Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “suit-and-tie versions of the white supremacists of old, a kind of professional racist in khakis”.
We hear words like, “Give Trump a chance to be President” and “This is what he will do for your communities.” Maybe if the President-elect didn’t sanction the most bizarre election in the history of our country this might be more believable. Maybe if his campaign slogan wasn’t “Make America Great Again” without defining the period of greatness. Blacks don’t remember America EVER being GREAT for them. However, America is an ideal that could be great if we were all to have a seat at the table.
What we Black folk see that many White people like the ones mentioned above don’t comprehend is what we people of color have experienced in this country when:
- We weren’t sure if we didn’t get the job because of our color;
- When we could not get the apartment (it was magically rented the moment we got there);
- When we could not get the loan or venture capital for our business;
- A mortgage for a home;
- We can’t get police protection without fearing for our lives;
- After 8 years of the Obama Administration the most qualified African American that this new President-elect can find is Dr. Ben Carson for Housing A traditional negro appointment—it’s safe, he can’t do much damage, there.
This has been the reality for Black people in this country since the beginning of the KKK in the 1900’s, where those in power in the KKK were law enforcement, judges, and politicians.
In a brilliant article in the New York Times, the writer Kelly J. Baker calls it “White Collar Supremacy.” I deem it the “Alt-Reich.” It’s the alternate universe where the racists don’t have hoods, where they have the internet and can hide in plain site. Where they can now stand up and be counted and hide their true feelings under the guise of “Nationalist” ideals. Simply stated, the reality that is coming to light for the liberal voting population who did not vote for Trump has been the reality that has always existed for Black people in the United States. I bet you there were folks in Germany who said that Hitler would never happen there, too.
The term “Fourth Reich” has been used in a variety of different ways. Neo-Nazis have used it to describe their envisioned revival of Nazi Germany, while others have used the term derogatorily, such as conspiracy theorists who have used it to refer to what they perceive as a covert continuation of Nazi ideals.
Hitler and the Nazis gained power on January 30, 1933. By March that year Hitler had total power over the country. It started as a small group of hard core Germans who had perceived they had enough of people who were not German, who were not in their mind…superior. The Nazis developed from a small insignificant party into the party that gained total power to change the face of German politics and society. The result of that initial meeting lead to approximately 11 million people being killed because of Nazi genocidal policy. Like many of my own Jewish friends say, “Never again.”
Some people were undesirable by Nazi standards…These included Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs, and people with physical or mental disabilities.
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It was the explicit aim of Hitler’s regime to create a European world both dominated and populated by the “Aryan” race. The Nazi machine was dedicated to eradicating millions of people it deemed undesirable. Some people were undesirable by Nazi standards because of who they were, their genetic or cultural origins, or health conditions. These included Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs, and people with physical or mental disabilities. Others were Nazi victims because of what they did. These victims of the Nazi regime included Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, the dissenting clergy, Communists, Socialists, media and other political enemies. Is this at least starting to sound very VERY familiar? A small group in Washington D.C. at a hotel down the block from the Holocaust Museum? How big does this have to get for us to really pay attention to it? Let’s be very clear: this new Alt-Reich like Hitler’s Third Reich wants those that they deem undesirable…removed. Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Latinos, LGBT, Asians, South Asians, First Nation there is no place for you or me in their world.
White Pride, White Privilege, Neo-Nazi, Master Race, Militia, KKK, Alt-Right, Alt-Reich all mean the same thing to those of us who have suffered the effects of this type of destructive racist rhetoric. All of us that understand the “code” of White Pride starts with twisted Christianity, a Cross, and kerosene. “White Pride” has always involved or depended upon hating and subjugating someone else, ALWAYS. If you close your eyes and you’re honest, you will also see ISIS lurking and laughing, because it is the same; it is terror of a different kind.
White Pride was the basis of the beginning of the rise of Nazi Germany. White Pride, unchecked—and no one to date has ever been unable to check it—never ends well. Yes, while rational thinking people know that God made all humans equal, it is that very belief that men who seek to dominate others have had a problem with ever since slavery was conceived as a way to create wealth.
The Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, and others who make up the groups that take a stab at having some pride do so in an attempt to raise us all up to a societal ideal that seeks fairness. Black Pride, historically, has tried to feed children in poor black neighborhoods, and to stem the tide of injustice delivered by law enforcement and the FBI through COINTELPRO. It has supported Black-owned businesses to build wealth in the community, and, in the instance of Black Lives Matter, to not get shot gratis by the very people who swear to serve and protect them because a cop is afraid to do his or her job or due to preconceived White notions about Black People.
And really, all ANY of the groups want to do is build enough wealth to support their families and give their children a better life.
[T]hose who seek to pervert and stain these “pride” movements and portray Whites as a victim who should also be allowed to feel pride are woefully unaware or utilizing sinister motivations to bastardize the argument of those races within this country who have been marginalized for their failure to be born white.
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As with any “pride” initiative you have some fringe elements that believe that you fight force with force—Hence the Black Panther Party, which started as a legitimate political movement turning violent when confronted with violence. People are in fact “sick and tired, of being sick and tired” as stated by Fannie Lou Hamer. There is NO HISTORY of Black Pride, Latino Pride, LGBT Pride, Black Live Matters or any non-white pride initiative seeking to subjugate others. None, whatsoever. So, those who seek to pervert and stain these “pride” movements and portray “whites” as a victim who should also be allowed to feel pride are woefully unaware or utilizing sinister motivations to bastardize the argument of those races within this country who have been marginalized for their failure to be born white. Ever been in an all-white painted room? BORING! That’s why you need some paint with color to prominently add life to a room.
In reality, we are different in complexion hues and cultures. We ALL want the same thing: love, safety, long life, recognition, and the ability to care for our families on a level playing field without fear of being killed or marginalized because we don’t look like those in power. Those of us who have been targeted by these individuals who have sought to blend Nationalist pride with racism are in fear of a brown planet.
There is no need to fear those of us who look different or feel different from White Nationalist Racists. What we need to do until those people die off or find Jesus is this: “We” need to. . .
- Learn more about each other.
- Educate ourselves intimately about the plight we all suffer due to the White Power Nationalist way of thinking that threatens to rot America from the inside out.
- Come together in the way Blacks and Jews did during the Civil Rights struggle.
- Cry out about the injustice when we see one, like Standing Rock.
- Peel back the rotten layers and expose the racists for who they truly are when we see so-called Nazi Nationalists in political parties who decry immigrant influx.
- Stop being complacent. We need to direct our dollars and our votes to those who want to see a real world where all men and all women are truly created equal.
- Visit each other in our most intimate moments, including in each other’s houses of worship. Yes, even attend a prayer at a Mosque. (I cried when I sat through my first public prayer delivered by an Imam because it spoke to me through my ancestors.)
- Participate in a Seder. (I did, left enlightened and appreciative of the struggle.)
We need to love and understand each other in a way we never have before, and we need to mean it, this time. Our lives depend on it.
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Photo credit: Creative Commons
“Yes, even attend a prayer at a Mosque.” Note – Many Mosques prohibit outsiders from attending service.
Calling someone racist based strictly on the color of their skins is in fact racist. Furthermore calling someone a racist because they participated in the democratic process of voting, and because the results didn’t suit you, is racist. You are a hypocrite. Before you write or comment on an issue, maybe you should use the other shoe option. If what I say was said to me, how would I feel. In other words put the shoe on the other foot.
I’d love for people like this author to get stranded in a deep red part of the country. The disconnect between their preconceived notions and what actually would happen (get a ride by a normal person in a pickup and maybe offered a meal or a hot cup of coffee) would be both educational for them and hilarious for the rest of us. I hope that truck has a MAGA sticker and the driver is open carrying on his hip. Perhaps the author will be brave enough to voice his theory about how Trump = Nazi. I bet he’ll hear… Read more »
At absolutely no point in this article did anyone say that being born white made you racist. And are you really so deep in denial as to believe that people are calling Trump voters racist simply because their candidate didn’t win? This article was written for people like you. It isn’t just about Trump, it’s about everything he is doing and will continue doing, as well as everything he believes in. Trump’s administration and this entire new movement of extreme conservatives ACTUALLY AFFECTS REAL PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD. Minorities aren’t just putting up a fight for the sake of… Read more »
Germany was what 95% white and Christian? The U.S. is 70% white, tops , and shrinking every year. Many of those whites are married to or have close relatives who are not white. I know becomes I’m bi-racial, half white, with white relatives and have another Filipino cousin married to a white man. They have two children who have quite a few white cousins. This isn’t even close to the same situation, but it doesn’t push the fear narrative that everyone wants. Even the whites who aren’t racist are still “racist” according to the author. Their crime, they have the… Read more »
I married a Mexican, one of my brothers also married a Mexican and another married a Guatemalan. Our children are biracial … ummm, we ALL voted for Trump. My son in Germany is married to a women who was born and raised in Turkey and both stated that if they lived here, they would have voted for Trump.
BTW, I’m German too.