Oh Yes … Racism Is Alive And Well In America

Posted on by under Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Yesterday I read a statement by one of the terrorists who attacked Congress and the Capitol on January 6th that made me want to connect my fist to the man’s nose …

“This is not 1950. I’d say about 95, 96 percent of people are not the least bit racist.”

SAY WHAT????

John Hugo at ‘Straight Pride’ parade

The remark was made by a ‘man’ named John Hugo, president of a group called, believe it or not, Super Happy Fun America (SFHA) that bused some three hundred people to the Capitol on January 6th to create chaos, murder and mayhem, and first earned their claim to fame when they held a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston in 2019.  I guess this is what they call “Super Happy Fun”, eh?  Let me tell you something, MR. HUGO … racism is alive and well in this nation … and YOU, sir, are part of the problem!

According to a PEW Research study … well, here … take a look for yourself …

Even without the Pew study, we can see with our own eyes that racism surely exists among the majority of people with pale skin in this country!  I’m talking about the sort of racism whereby pale people believe … truly believe in their warped minds … that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Case in point:  There is overwhelming proof that white people use more illegal drugs. Yet, the only way anyone can explain why Black people are arrested for possession at three times the rate of whites is the racist belief that there is a huge drug use problem in Black communities. Racism is the only way to explain why the largest policing project in world history revealed “Black drivers were searched about 1.5 to 2 times as often as white drivers, while they were less likely to be carrying drugs, guns, or other illegal contraband compared to their white peers.” It is necessary to believe that race is a “fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities” if one wants to understand why Black men receive prison sentences that are, on average, nearly 20 percent longer than white men who commit the same crimes.

I have a Black friend who has been incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, that nobody, not even the police, thought he committed, and now his sons are stopped on average once or twice a month for the crime of “Driving While Black”.  ‘Splain that one, Mr. Hugo!

It isn’t only Black people, it is Hispanics, Asians, and anybody who doesn’t have the physical traits of those pale people.  WHY???  WHY, people … can somebody please explain to me why those pale-skinned people think they are somehow superior???

The PEW study goes on to show that most (65%) white Americans believe it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views since Trump was elected president …

And while I really don’t like tying such things as racism to one political party or the other, the proof, as it were, is in the pudding that overall, Republicans are the ones who think Black people actually have too many r ights!

DAMMIT!!!  Could somebody give these nudniks a bit of education???  Eight-in-ten white Democrats – vs. 40% of white Republicans – say the legacy of slavery continues to have an impact on black people’s position in American society today. And when it comes to views about racial discrimination, 78% of white Democrats say the bigger problem is people not seeing it where it really does exist, while a similar share of white Republicans say people seeing racial discrimination where it really does not exist is the bigger problem.  Tell me again that the Republican Party hasn’t turned into the party of racism and bigotry … go ahead, tell me! 

All my life, since I was a small child, I have believed that someday racism and bigotry would end, that people would come to understand that the colour of a person’s skin, the homeland of his ancestors, do not change the fact that his heart and brain function just the same as anyone else’s and that there is nothing … NOTHING … that makes pale people superior.  All my life … nearly 70 years now … I believed that people would eventually wake up and smell the goddamn coffee.  Today, I no longer believe that.  I have seen the human species as it is and I understand, after all these years, that some people are simply never, ever, going to give up their illusions of superiority and will continue to pass those heinous beliefs on to their children and grandchildren.

It doesn’t mean I will stop fighting, though in truth I am tempted, for I see all too clearly that humans are not going to change, that stupidity and cruelty is ingrained and passed on through the genes.  But, what it does mean is that I have lost hope.  I have lost the belief that people are basically good.  I have stopped caring whether the human species survives or not.

22 thoughts on “Oh Yes … Racism Is Alive And Well In America”

  1. Canadian and American citizens of East Asian heritage have been increasingly verbally and/or physically assaulted during the last year, the perpetrators perhaps under some delusion their targets are willful creators/spreaders of Covid-19. Many have no Chinese lineage, though their assailants seem to not care, maybe due to a hateful perception that they’re ‘all the same’. Overlooked is that there’s a good chance the assault victims came here to escape precisely that which we generally despise about some East Asian nation governances, including that of China.

    Meanwhile, near where I live, a non-white man wearing a red “Keep America Great” cap (with “45” on the side) called a nine-year-old girl wearing a hijab a “f—–g Muslim terrorist.” The girl’s father rightly confronted the man and repeatedly called him a racist. (One can imagine the shameful pleasure felt — and rampant media posts left — by white supremists upon learning the accused racist is not Caucasian!) As far as terrorism goes, the girl’s family is far more likely to be fleeing extremist violence abroad than planning to perpetrate it elsewhere.

    As a young boy I was bewildered (especially after watching the miniseries ‘Roots’) by Black people being brutalized and told they were not welcome — while they were violently forced here from their African home as slaves! As a people, there’s been no real refuge here for them, since. In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, the narrator notes that, like the South, the Civil War era northern states also hated Black people but happened to hate slavery more.

    Disturbingly, too many people will always find an excuse to despise and abuse those who are superficially different.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I agree with you, racism is disgusting, reprehensible and anyone who thinks they’re better than anyone else simply because of their skin tone is delusional at best.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I don’t believe for one minute you’ve stopped caring about the human species resigning. It’s just something you tell yourself. If ‘Tash’ eventually has a baby you’ll care very much that your great-grandchild has a chance. In the meantime, it’s vitally important that you and others continue to blog and educate the Repubs that the majority of whites in your country support the true meaning of the BLM movement and neither believe in nor practice racism and do believe in racial equality.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 1 person

    • Sigh. You know me too well. No, I haven’t stopped caring, for I cannot. But, I have stopped believing that people will ever change, that there is any hope for this species. As for Goose, she’s always sworn she doesn’t want children and now, I think she’s even more committed to that, seeing how the world is today. She’s almost 27, so I think it highly doubtful she’ll change her mind at this point.

      Thing is about continuing to blog and try to educate … we’re not actually getting through to anyone. We’re preaching to the choir, or as Hugh used to tell me, spitting in the wind. If I had any sign that I’ve made someone stop and think, it would be encouraging, but after 11 years of writing this blog, the past 6 being almost exclusively socio-political, I haven’t changed a single mind. Sigh. Still, I guess you’re right that I haven’t given up the fight just yet.
      Cwtch

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  4. To start, you hit the main nail right on its stubborn head–racist behaviors “continue to pass those heinous beliefs on to their children and grandchildren.”
    Then you ask “can somebody please explain to me why those pale-skinned people think they are somehow superior???”
    I will try to keep this as simple and direct as I can.
    To the latter: The White Christian Bible tells its adherents to go forth and dominate all other species. White humans see themselves as a different species from non–White human species. They must dominate all others. The opening of the world by European explorers proved this to them because they were the only industrial part of the world capable of building the ocean-going ships, and the armed weapons, that allowed them to go to other lands with the capability of dominating every other part of the world. Their God said do it, and they did it. fulfilled their Biblical destiny. That is what made them superior.
    To the former: Maintaining their superiority mainly is perpetuated by the nuclear family. Government is not only scared to interfere with the nuclear family (unless your name was Trump at the Mexican border, and too many whites agreed with him!), but most politicians cannot even see how the nuclear family dominates the belief in White Supremicism, not to mention the systemic racism that underlies even that. Because families own their children they can teach them anything they like. Males are more important than females, Whites are superior to non-Whites, democracy is superior to all other political styles, and the Christian religion has the One True God! In other countries the nuclear families teach other lessons, but the truth is, nuclear families pass the beliefs of the parents on to the children.
    Until these cycles are broken, any movement towards better humans can only be tiny, and often temporary.
    Real change only comes from changing the processes of forming beliefs. We desperately need to change our processes.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Jill, many thanks for writing this. I do think for many Americans, the racist climate has improved. Yet, I do feel those who want to perpetuate racism feel empowered and emboldened. I also feel there who are too many who look the other way or tolerate racist behavior. Sadly there are groups that cater to or grease the skids to allow this to happen. The deceitful former president did not invent racism, he just showed how it could be exploited. And, too many followed him.

    Regardless of who does it or what group or individuals are focused on, to treat people differently because they look (or worship, act, identify, or love) differently is not right. To stoke these fires for political gain is just plain wrong. Keith

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    • Thank you, Keith! The apathy, those who turn a blind eye to what is happening, is as bad as the blatant racism. What disturbs me most is seeing our members of Congress support racism and bigotry in other forms and knowing they do so because it is what their constituents want. It does not speak well for a large portion of this country in my book. And while yes, there has been improvement in some areas, it seems to be getting worse in most. Do we really need to fight the Civil War all over again?

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      • Jill, one of the challenges is people who are in leadership positions need to lead. That is why McConnell’s comment for corporations staying out of politics is so comical, as he won’t go to the bathroom without checking with funders. We need leaders to step up and say racism is not right, full stop. Violence is not right, full stop. A former president who lies far more than he does not is not right, full stop. Tucker Carlson is being called out by the Anti Defamation League. Good. But others need to call him on the carpet, as well, as should others public people regardless of their tribal affiliation. I have long grown weary by folks who espouse so much vile BS without getting called out. When they are not, it makes their BS normative. Keith

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        • I completely agree. Of late, it has become obvious that our leaders, those who we elect to represent the people … all the people … of this nation do not think for themselves, do not have a conscience, or at least do not listen to it if they have one, and clearly value their own position of power more than they value the lives of the people. I am so disgusted by all I see coming out of the Republican fools like McConnell, Jordan, McCarthy … not to mention the thoroughly unqualified like Gaetz, Boebert and Greene. But, until the people stand up and say, “ENOUGH!”, nothing is likely to change, is it?

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          • none of the politicians have activated consciences. they’re all mindless fools who do the bidding of the lobbyists and corporations. We are only convenient receptacles for their self-promotion activities which occur every few years when they need the votes of the people to maintain their absolute power.

            Liked by 1 person

            • I can’t argue against what you say, but … the question then becomes, “How do we change it?” Yes, we can vote them out, but how do we convince the people of this nation that they must be voted out and we must vote in men and women of conscience who genuinely care about the nation and its people?

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              • and I guess the other thing is even if we vote them out, as my wife says, they probably know people who know people who would run in their place.

                I always say that term limits are necessary and she says they won’t help because the people going out have connections and they’ll just get their buddies to run.

                As George Carlin said “it’s a big club and you ain’t in it.”

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                • Your wife makes a valid point, but only we can change that, I think. One part of the problem is that the two major political parties have grown far too powerful and for many candidates, loyalty to party takes precedence over loyalty to the people. We the voters are the only ones who can fix that, and we can do so with our words, and with our votes, refusing to vote for those who are supported by large corporations and favoured by “the party”. It is a big club, but I still believe it can be broken. For the record, I fully agree on term limits … 3 terms for House members and 2 for senators … no more, for they grow greedy and corrupt with age … the power goes to their head.

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              • Hi Jill, sorry it’s off topic but I wanted to give you a book title I stumbled across and thought you might be interested

                Look up author Alexandra Morton and her book called Not on My Watch

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  6. I don’t want to believe that most people are innately evil, but…..
    I couldn’t believe what took place on January 6th at the Capitol Building. Honestly, I couldn’t believe my eyes ….when I saw what was happening! I don’t want to give up hope, but it’s hard to have faith….. when there is so much hatred in our society,
    It’s hard for me to believe that educated people are supporting Trump…. after everything he has done from womanizing to locking children up in cages….. spewing hatred at his rallies….the list goes on and on! It is all about racism, power and money! What about all the criminal activity and the pardons? Really?
    The privileged white class has run amok!
    Like you, Jill…I also believed that we would one day see an end to racism. I wanted to live in a world like they do on Star Trek….different colors, species, etc….. all coming together and living in peace.
    As far as I’m concerned , If you support Trump…you stand with hate and bigotry! I have people in my own family referencing BLM protestors as rioters and looters! This is willful ignorance!

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    • You are so right, my friend. Money, greed and bigotry have taken over much of this nation and it is depressing. It seems the more opportunity there is to help people, the less willing some are to do so. No matter how much we advance technologically, if we don’t learn to treat everyone as equals, we are worth nothing. I’m with you on Trump supporters … I can no longer be friends with anyone who still supports him. Period. Sigh.

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  7. Thank you for the information, Jill! At all a very sad situation. People can’t just parrot racist things just because someone says it. ;-( Here in Germany, according to the latest surveys, there are fears that right-wing extremists could plan an attack on the parliament / parliament building. What a crazy world! ;-( Michael

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