GOP Defies SCOTUS for Racism and Florida Teaches Slavery Was Good
DeSantis Wants to Sue Bud Light, MTG Is a Pornographer and Biden's New Booster?, Aldean's Defense Dumber than Song, Tony Bennett Sings
There Are None So Blind as Those Who Will Not See
I was going to start by writing: This is a bad week to be Black in America. Then I realized: Is there a good week to be Black in America? That statement will certainly raise the hackles of some conservatives who have never experienced the fear and frustration that accompanies daily systemic racism. In fact, 47% of White Americans don’t believe systemic racism exists in America. But more than 80% of Blacks believe it does, as do more than 70% of Asian American and Pacific Islanders and nearly 70% of Hispanics.
More Americans believe that dreams can foretell the future and that rooms can be haunted by spirits than believe in systemic racism. There is no scientific evidence for the first two, but tons of evidence for the latter: “25 simple charts to show friends and family who aren't convinced racism is still a problem in America”; “The systemic racism black Americans face, explained in 9 charts”; “Studies find evidence of systemic racial discrimination across multiple domains in the United States.” The results of systemic racism include shorter life expectancy, fewer job opportunities, worse public education, worse medical care, voter suppression, and so forth. The only thing we get more of is police harassment. They may not like those facts, but that doesn’t make them any less facts.
What’s more disturbing than that 47% refusing to acknowledge the evidence is that such stubborn ignorance has emboldened GOP lawmakers to stop trying to disguise their active racism and just be open about it. Their philosophy: No one will notice because no one cares. (They define Black people as “No one.”)
Read on and ask yourself if this is the America we deserve.
Alabama Republicans refuse to draw a second Black congressional district in defiance of Supreme Court (NBC News)
SUMMARY: Alabama Republicans on Friday defied a U.S. Supreme Court order by passing a new congressional map that includes only one majority-Black district.
The GOP-controlled Legislature had called a special session to redraw an earlier map after the Supreme Court reaffirmed a federal court order to include two districts where Black voters make up voting-age majorities, “or something quite close to it.” But on Friday, state Republicans approved a new map with just one majority-Black seat and a second district that is approximately 40% Black.
…Democrats slammed the map and its drafters, arguing that legislators ignored a court order and that the map continued the racist history of voter suppression.
MY TAKE: If you’re going to be a Republican these days, it’s crucial that you have removed any capacity for guilt or shame. Many people who act so openly racist might be ashamed that they had to resort to this illegal and immoral behavior to win elections because they were afraid they might not be able to win legitimately. Sure, it’s anti-American and anti-democracy. But the goal here is to suppress Black voters because they tend to vote Democratic. It’s as simple as a mugging.
Maybe it puzzles the rank and file Republican voters how their party can champion law and order while defying the U.S. Supreme Court. Maybe they wonder how they can continue to claim they are not racists (“We’re the party of Lincoln!”) while targeting Black voters in an effort to silence their voices at the voting booth. Maybe having drag shows and letting women have control over their own bodies isn’t worse than promoting racism, undermining democracy, and nominating a convicted sex offender with many criminal charges still pending.
Maybe Republicans can do better.