Horror in Memphis: And the GOP Actively Fights 'Waking Up' to Our Inhumanity
INTRODUCTION:
From Friday in the Orlando Sentinel:
“Valencia College has canceled optional faculty development courses on diversity-related topics, another casualty of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to rid campuses of what he calls “woke indoctrination.”…
“… A total of 64 faculty members had signed up for the courses, which planned to address topics like racism, microaggressions, privilege, and inequities in the LGBTQ community. Three of the canceled courses had the word “diversity” in their titles.
Less than 12 hours later, Memphis police released the video of Tyre Nichols, horrific - if you could watch. All five officers were black. Tyre could have been their son. Police culture in a divided America overcame the simple fact that the young man beneath them could be their son or them, for that matter. It’s our culture. Frank Figliuzi, formerly the FBI’s point man on civil rights violations by local cops, said that in nearly every department in America, there is an unwritten rule; “Runners get beaten when caught.” Now, back to police culture, back to the culture generally, back to insidious racism (black on black, abuse of force), back to America’s original and ongoing sin.
Back to DeSantis. He has a “Stop Woke Law?” One might as well say, “Leave your concerns about racist abuse and killings, LGBTQ hatred, anti-Semitism, guns, alpha males, the insidious violent culture, all of it, leave it all at home and leave ‘us’ alone to believe what we want.”
A group of 64 professors signed up to listen and learn. We all should. But in an increasing number of places, a class like that is against the law and considered “beta male.” Some see progress as a “threat” and think of it as moving away from when America was “great,” when everyone knew their place.
I. IT WON’T END UNTIL A SIGNIFICANT MAJORITY WANTS IT TO END
The murder of George Floyd was supposed to be “a” final straw, all of it on video, a police officer clearly slowly killing a black man. Instead, on the night of the officer’s conviction, Tucker Carlson said the verdict was a product of fear that the city would be burned to the ground. Tucker complained that no one would want to be a cop again and used every racist trope possible to say, “In America, cops get to kill black men if they’re under arrest.”
In hindsight, the most lasting memory of George Floyd is actually that the MAGAs still talk about the protests and not about the underlying racism. And no one should doubt that racism led to Tyre Nichols’ death. Despite being at the hands of black men, white police culture was the ultimate cause of death.
The Left isn’t immune, and that’s the underlying meaning of “diversity” training or awakening to who we are as a country, all of us, “woke.” It is nothing threatening, merely learning to recognize the insidious privileges and power over others. But most of the Right believe the path to the presidency involves rejecting the entire idea. DeSantis is saying, “I want to go back to a world when things like this weren’t discussed.” And so there it is, Tyre Nichols and George Floyd both offered up as the 21st Century’s Emmit Till. The GOP calls such efforts “indoctrination”… into being less racist? Indoctrinated into understanding the entire dynamic? What?
The answer is easy, “indoctrination against what has been the natural order or hierarchy that “makes America great.” They won’t say it quite that way, but that’s it. A significant number don’t want it to end. They believe in white privilege.
White privilege?
I remember a video I saw five to ten years ago on Daily Kos. It left such an impression on me that I’ve not forgotten it to this day. The woman filmed some of it on her phone and left the audio on the whole time as the camera got tossed around.
In one of Washington DC’s richest neighborhoods, the woman mentioned above saw an elderly black man, 60s to 70s, with a toolbox beside him and a work rag, kneeling on the sidewalk in front of two white cops, handcuffed while being interrogated. The woman stopped her new leathery BMW in the middle of the street, left the door wide open - in the middle of the road - and charged at the cops. She was white and clearly very wealthy. She screamed at the cops that this was “James,” who did repair work and odd jobs for people up and down the neighborhood and was known and loved by everyone. He was walking the mile to the nearest bus station. She ORDERED the cops to take the handcuffs off him. They removed the handcuffs. She helped James up and “ordered” the cops to let him go. That is exactly what happened.
A black man was stopped in daylight with a toolset, kneeling on the ground handcuffed, suspected of “breaking into homes,” despite no one reporting a break-in. A very wealthy white woman stopped her car in the middle of the road and aggressively yelled (she was the boss) at the cops to let this poor man go.
That’s America. As heartwarming as her concern about James may be, it’s white privilege on display.
Diversity training helps cut through the raw privilege seen above. Diversity training would lead to people talking to people who are “different” than them and help see the world through their eyes. I’m intentionally including myself because fear of the “other” seems almost genetic. And white people need to understand that this is everyday life for black people, the marginalized, and especially black men in this country. We ALL need to understand why five black police officers would kill a young man who could be their son or them. It is not obvious.
Admittedly, for some, it is completely understandable and obvious, so get your woke shit out of my face. It won’t end until a Floridian (or Texan) governor stops spitting on people of color by outlawing attempts to merely understand one another. “Indoctrination.”
Tyre
II. Can It End?
Every time I find myself wondering whether we’re fooling ourselves and our ability to overcome this country’s inherent racism, I remind myself of three things.
First, even though we’re always behind where we should be, a lot of progress has been made. Visit any college or hospital, formerly enclaves of white America, now mixed with “everyone.” The worry is that the progress we’ve made has been on the back of a desire to get better, and never has the movement to go backward (OUTLAWING “diversity training!”) been stronger. It will take the GOP getting behind the idea of “wanting to get better.” Right now? They are proudly against it. Anti-Semitism is almost tolerated, so long as it’s “light.” Racism is fully embraced, quietly. Screw your woke ass.
Second, I look to other countries. The U.K. and Canada have plenty of black citizens. And both countries have plenty of racism. But not at this level, not this much hatred. Neither of those countries has a long history of slavery. Neither had a long period of apartheid. So they had a head start. But the racism that exists is nowhere near the levels we see here every day. It can be done. It is not just a genetic fear of “others.”
Third, we’re in a unique period. We are at a tipping point where people of color - any color - are about to outnumber white Americans. To some, this is terrifying. To others, it’s not the least bit threatening, not even worth a thought, and if it is, it’s positive. But there is serious tension in the nation as “threatened” white America makes its last stand. Again, look at Florida and Texas, in particular. One hopes that when we get to the other side, the tension will subside. A large part of the MAGA movement is based on this fear… and many other fears. But they are a minority.
There are reasons to believe that even though the universe is expanding, that arc still bends toward justice. It is just that there is a gap in the arc, GOP GAP.
SUMMARY: IT WILL NOT END SOON: ‘AMERICA FIRST’ ACOLYTES ARE FIGHTING TO STAY ASLEEP (AND POWERFUL)
A lot of racist divisions would disappear overnight if China attacked Taiwan and sent a missile straight into a U.S. aircraft carrier steaming for the Chinese Straight. Suddenly, the U.S. wouldn’t have the time, energy, or desire to hate other Americans. We’re all in it together.
Obviously, that’s not the answer. But it would bring us together. There is one spot and time in America where I see racism disappear for a couple of hours. Under Friday night lights, in schools all over the south, the white guy who owns the local bank sits next to the black woman who works at Dollar General, and they hug when one son hits the other son across a seam for a touchdown against the team from that other shitty town twenty miles down the road.
A shared “spot,” forced “mixing,” shared passion for something too important for race to be a concern, God - it seems so easy, and yet… how many other places does one find that mix? The military? Athletics? We need classes.
It is going to take a long time. As things stand, it is against the law for 64 professors to get together to discuss diversity issues, at least in Florida. And that movement is growing. A large bloc of America is fighting “diversity.”
It won’t get better until a significant majority want it to end. We are nowhere near it. We would be a lot closer if the America First, MAGA GOP would get the fck out of the way and let those who want to take a class in order to understand at a deeper level without it being outlawed! Talk about indoctrination. This is America, for god’s sake!… and that’s the problem right now.
Prayers for Tyre. May the God I believe in comfort you and your family.