Saturday, September 30, 2017

Donald Trump and the Bloody Racism of America



Donald Trump likes to claim he's not a racist, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

He likes to claim it's all about saving the white people's heritage, or stopping black athletes from dishonouring the flag or the national anthem.

But it is all just another Big Lie.

Like the the latest one his grubby racist supporters would have you believe.



That these NFL football players are defiling the flag like savages or traitors.

When the truth is quite different.

It is indeed fake news.

And as Charles Blow recently pointed out in two powerful columns.

Francis Scott Key's anthem is impregnated with racism.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, 

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, 


A home and a country, should leave us no more? 


Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. 


No refuge could save the hireling and slave, 


From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.


Key was a white supremacist.

As Jason Johnson, a professor of political science at Morgan State University and political editor at The Root wrote on the site last year: “With a few exceptions,” Key “was about as pro-slavery, anti-black and anti-abolitionist as you could get at the time.”

And the flag is soaked with the blood of African Americans.

The overall slave trade in North and South America caused about 1.8 million deaths. There was so much human flesh being tossed over the sides of those boats — or jumping— that sharks learned to trail the boats to feast on it.

From the beginning to the all too recent past...



“From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States. Of these people that were lynched, 3,446 were black. The blacks lynched accounted for 72.7 percent of the people lynched.”

One horror after the other.



The youngest person executed in America in the 20th century was a 14-year-old black boy named George Stinney. 

The 5-foot-1, 95-pound Stinney was so small in the electric chair that they had to use a book as a booster seat. Some say it was a phone book; others say it was the Bible.


All the way to the present.



I don't know how one could ever forgive a country that has killed so many unarmed black men, or lynched so many others, or could execute a 14-year-old in the electric chair.

I couldn't.

But what I do know is that African Americans have the absolute right to peacefully protest, in whatever way they choose, the racism of their country.

And that others have the duty to join them, and say it loud and proud:



Trump is a racist pig.

And he will NEVER be my president.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

he needs to fuck off

Steve said...

Trump always tells the truth. Whatever he says the opposite is true. His tax cut plan is exhibit A. Puerto Rico a travesty.

Marmalade said...

I am more concerned about racism in Canada!

Anonymous said...

The anthem isn't only racist. The worship of it and other American "symbols" like statues and hymns is borderline religious and exactly what the Founders didn't want. Not to mention, the rocket-red-glaring fact that for it to be the anthem of Ameria is an ahistorical error... only the yanks would celebrate a war they lost to Canada (well, technically Britain, but what later became Canada). Nobody stands for Country Joe's Fixin' to Die Rag. Even more ridiculous is that the NFL now goes to London and they play it there. Education is atrocious in the 'States. Dumbing down by design.

Plus, it's a drinking song. "To Anacreon in Heaven" is the melody. A pub tune. You might as well stand and salute "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" or the theme song to the movie "Strange Brew."

"America the Beautiful" would be a better choice. I'd prefer "This Land Is Your Land" myself, but that wouldn't happen because Woody Guthrie was (gasp) a socialist. As for Canada's own anthem, shame on the petty cons for sabotaging that gender-neutral lyrics bill on grounds that the sponsor was no longer present... duh, he wasn't there anymore because he fucking DIED OF A.L.S.! They painted Belanger's bill as being "virtue signaling" to feminism on behalf of the hated Trudeau, more sissifying and dog-whistling from the party of hate and immature frat boys. This party has no shame, no more than the GOP, and everyone in Canada needs to be reminded of it this coming election season.

Anonymous said...

Be concerned about both, because the Americans are having an undue influence. The Sainte-Foy mosque shooter was radicalized by Trump videos. "Rebel Media" and its attendant stench will not go away quietly. The cons keep traveling south of the border to go on Fox News, where they Muslim-bash Khadr and accuse Trudeau of being an unpatriotic "terrorism sympathizer."

As the old saying goes, "on the Internet, no one knows you're a dog." Well, no one can really tell if you're a mild-mannared moose or if you're a vulture in disguise as an eagle either. Plenty of hateful Americans and paid Russians calling themselves "Canadians" in the comment sections of YouTube, the CBC and the mainstream social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, all trying to plant the seeds of disinfo and distrust against Trudeau.

Lies about his tax proposal ripped straight out of the GOP playbook. Fear-based agitprop about refugees and racial minorities, again ripped straight out of the GOP playbook. Vicious rumors about his parentage, his sexual orientation and even the paternity of his children. Conspiracy theories accusing Pierre of being a "pizzagate" pervert working for the Soviets, who sacrificed his youngest son to the "Illuminati god of the mountain" so that his eldest could "inherit the throne." Vile sexual comments about his wife, his mother and even his little girl. The world of "the current year" isn't one of equality like Trudeau said in that famous video. The world of "the current year" is one of digitally-manipulated fake news fanning the flames of hate, a fog of disorientation that gets "liked" and "retweeted" by the #1 "keyfabe" heel in office: Donald J. Trump.

The suspension-of-reality wrestling promoters are having an effect, unfortunately. Time will tell if it's enough to derail his candidacy entirely as it did for Hillary Clinton. I sincerely hope not. But that's the reality we live in. An unreality distortion field, a horror house of mirrors created by the socially inept, quasi-humanoid data-miners in Silicon Valley, where liars, con artists, hatemongers and snake oil peddlers of all sorts thrive.

America created this monster and exported it around the world. Canada is not perfect. They have wounds that need healing. But America poured gasoline into those wounds and set the hospital and its victims on fire. (With help from Russia, of course.)

Anonymous said...

I had never heard of the case of George Stinney and I felt sick after reading about it. Racism really does turn people into beasts.

e.a.f. said...

Racism desensitizes people to the plight of others. It has worked well for those who promote racism. Not only is racism morally unacceptable, but racism works for the corporate elite, or at one time the landed gentry. Poor whites were always able to see loud and clear that others had it worse and it could be them. It also enabled people who were looked down upon to have some one else to look down upon.

Racism has worked for Trump, with his 33% base. that won't change and we might want to be careful because that is about what Hitler had when he was elected. so for those who are more concerned about Canadian racism, take note. Yes, we ought to start our clean up, but we also need to pay attention to racism which lives next door.

As the U.S.A. declines some of their message will filter north and as more find they can no longer live in the U.S.A. they will move north.

Executing a 14 yr old child ought to have gotten the U.S.A a quick trip to the hague court but the American never saw the 14 yr old child as a human or a child. Executing him, when they did simply made them feel good.

Racism has been part and parcel of the American experience from the time of the Louisianna land purchase, well it got worse then.

Anonymous said...

Hey Yankee,
We appreciate your concern and we are always on guard here. There are a lot of slobbering morons in Canada (conservative base is 30%!), but we also have a much better educated populace than America and I have seen entire elections turn on their heads as people strategically vote to block hideous racist or right wing options. Alberta 2011, Quebec 2014, and Alberta 2015 all come to mind.
That isn't to say we are immune. Our problem will be a vote split on the left that allows the cons to get in. The ndp are about to elect a vapid man who is everything that they have accused Trudeau of being. The media will push him to no end in an attempt to split the vote up just right for Scheer and his band of uterus controllers. However one thing I have learned is to never count out Justin Trudeau, I have seen this man perform under pressure over and over again since he was elected Liberal leader. It could end up being a good thing as his government was getting a little soft around in the past six months what with no real opposition. I have a feeling that the doomsayers will be proven wrong yet again. They used to joke that you could wallpaper a house with obituaries written about Jean Chretien's political career, yet there he was, his finger prints all over Canadian history as cabinet minister and a Prime Minister who won 3 majorities in a row.

Simon said...

hi anon...That's putting it mildly, and I'm hoping the Democrats will be able to give him the boot and help him on his way...

Simon said...

hi Steve...it might not be Einstein's theory of relativity, but I think you're on to something there. It reminds me a bit about how children argue. One says yes it is is, the other one says no it's NOT !!!!
If it's a child it's amusing, if it's a president it's terrifying...

Simon said...

hi Kathleen...I am very concerned about racism in Canada too. I've been fighting it, and homophobia, and sexism since I was about fourteen. And I will continue to do so until the day I die. But the Americans are our neighbours, they are going through a terrible time, and we must do what we can to support them. Also, remember that the racism in the U.S. doesn't just affect the Americans, it can also reach across the border and grab us by the throat...

Simon said...

hi anon 11:28...if I was an American I too would prefer "America the Beautiful" and "This Land is Your Land" which are two beautiful songs. And yes, the Con attempt to keep the sexist line in our own anthem, which was not even in the original version, was shocking and shameful. Republicans and Cons like to pretend they are the only ones who love their country, but with love like that who needs hate?

Simon said...

hi anon...I had heard about it, but had never known the details. And when I did learn more about it, I felt like you. I'm a fierce opponent of capital punishment for people of any age. I consider it legalized murder. But executing a child is so bestial it's simply beyond belief...

Simon said...

hi e.a.f...when I wrote that based on what I had seen in Britain, racism was the prime mover behind the Brexit vote, a lot of readers didn't believe me. They said it was just a natural reaction against the forces of neoliberalism or globalism blah blah blah. But while some of that may have been true, racism is the deadly force that is threatening us all, whether you live in the U.S., or Britain, or Germany, or Canada...

David said...

Video clip:

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) Sept. 29/17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzW8NYeQbo4

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/its-the-same-flag-that-flew-over-slavery-musician-tom-morello-tells-bill-maher-why-trump-is-missing-the-point-on-nfl-protests/

Singer and songwriter Tom Morello went off on President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on the NFL players protesting police brutality by taking a knee during the American National Anthem.

During the panel discussion on Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Morello said that he finds this entire argument instructive in telling of who Trump really is.

“It’s telling that when athletes protest racism, it’s assumed that they’re protesting America,” he said. “There’s two sides of the flag. There’s the flag that flew over the founding of our democracy, and over soldiers who fought in our wars, and was emblazoned on our uniforms on the heroic 9/11 first responders. It’s the same flag that flew over slavery and the genocide of the Native American population, the napalming of Vietnamese children, the destruction of Afghanistan’s civilian hospitals. It’s also on the uniform of every police officer who has killed an innocent African-American person. It’s also the flag that is in every courtroom of ever Judge who has let every one of those cops go free.”

He went on to say that if people are uncomfortable about football they should think about the discomfort felt by families of those dead black men killed by police.

[snip]

David said...

The vast majority of those who voted for Trump were not mainstream Republican voters, or even Independents. They are basically a group unto itself, almost all white, and no education beyond Grade 12. And with a subset of those with racist leanings.

David said...

If You Haven’t Slept Well Since November
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/09/29/havent-slept-since-november/

These Protests Aren’t About a Flag, an Anthem, or the Military—and You Know it
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/09/26/protests-arent-flag-anthem-military-know/