America Backslides Into White Supremacy

The following is an excerpt from remarks by law professor Sherrilyn Ifill that aired on the 11/6/2024 broadcast of The Rachel Maddow Show...

tRump is truly a vulgarian ... I believe we are weaker now than we were in 2016... Then we still had a sense of what the rules were. We had some sense of norms and some sense of ethics. I hate to use this word, but tRump has groomed up. He has allowed us to accept more and more things that were off the table. To the point that we've actually shifted. And I don't mean people who support him or the maga people. We've all shifted. Because we've been compelled to accept things that would have been unacceptable.

Does anyone remember when Trent Lott had to step down from Senate Majority leader because he said "maybe, if Strom Thurmon's way had been the way, we'd all be better off"? ... and he had to step down. ... does anyone think that would happen today? We've moved the line ourselves. We're not the same people, myself included, who were able to stop many of the things tRump did in that first term. Because the line has moved. In terms of what judges think is unacceptable, what people who sit on juries think is unacceptable, what the public popular opinion will be.

If we don't recognize that, we will think that we have more strength than we have to counter him in the way that we need to. We like to say the rule of law held, but mostly it failed. We have to really take stock. We only have a little time to take stock of what we got wrong ... [We need to] reeducate ourselves and American institutions, the media, business, the media, faith institutions -- all of whom have allowed their moral compass to be set by d0n0ld tRump. This is a dangerous time.

Faith institutions are democratic institutions. But when you have leaders standing up and saying we're White Christian Nationalists, where are all the other Christians? Where's my church? ... why aren't people saying it strongly, that's contrary to my faith? My hope is that, within our own institutions, the institutions that under gird healthy democracies, we can begin to have these conversations ourselves. So we will be strong, equipped and ready. Otherwise ... he will just set us further down the road.

Perplexity: Trent Lott's controversial remarks were made in 2002 at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Here's the exact quote that led to his resignation as Senate Majority Leader: "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either". This statement was highly controversial because Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on the Dixiecrat (or States' Rights Democratic) ticket, which had an explicitly segregationist platform. Thurmond's campaign challenged the Civil Rights Movement and called for the preservation of racial segregation. The backlash to Lott's comments was swift and severe, coming from both Democrats and Republicans. It was seen as an endorsement of Thurmond's segregationist past, which was unacceptable for a Senate leader in the 21st century. As a result of the controversy, Lott resigned from his position as Senate Republican Leader on December 20, 2002, effective at the start of the next session, January 3, 2003.

Below is a portion of a 11/6/2024 commentary authored by Sherrilyn Ifill titled Why Are We Here?

It wasn't the Electoral College. It wasn't gerrymandering, or even voter suppression. America was undone this week by the disease that sits in our national DNA -- white supremacy. ...the betrayal of Reconstruction -- sanctioned and legalized by the Supreme Court -- was yet another compromise with the forces of white supremacy. Black people once again bore the brunt of that compromise -- in sharecropping, convict leasing, lynching, wealth theft, and degradation. The historian Rayford Logan described this period "the nadir". Generations of Black people to this day bear its effects. I was warned by writer Isabel Wilkerson after Trump won the 2016 election, that we were entering another nadir. She was right.

To my dismay a majority of white voters chose to accommodate white supremacist ideology and its attendant patriarchy, rather than pursue inclusive democracy. Indeed given Mr. Trump's explicit, coarse, ugly expressions of racism and misogyny, we must accept that a majority of white Americans in fact have chosen to embrace white supremacy rather than the promise of a multi-racial democracy. The choice between darkness and light in this election could not have been clearer. And the choice that was made by a majority of white voters is unmistakable.

"Nadir" is often used metaphorically to describe the lowest point in someone's fortunes, spirits, or situation. Rayford Logan coined the term "the nadir of American race relations" to describe the period from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 to the early 20th century. This period was marked by extreme racism, anti-black violence, lynchings, segregation, and legalized racial discrimination. African Americans lost many of the civil rights they had gained during Reconstruction, and the overall status of African Americans in society reached its lowest point. Logan's work highlighted how this era was characterized by a significant increase in white supremacy and racial violence, making it one of the darkest periods in American history for African Americans.

I agree with this, though likely due to my "guilt pride". Which, as a woke Democrat, I possess. That's according to the White Supremacist bl0gger, Minus FJ.

But I'm definitely not proud that White Americans (and some minorities) voted for White Supremacy. I voted against White Supremacy and authoritarianism. I detest both of these things. tRump supporters love them. They are currently overjoyed that their Orange White Supremacist Emperor is headed back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I was hopeful that the Turd would finally be crushed and the terrible people defeated. I am horrified and angry that didn't happen. I don't know how bad it's going to get, but I think it's going to get really bad. But that's exactly what many of his supporters want. Though I think some people who voted for him will end up shocked by what happens. They will say "I didn't vote for this". Or "this isn't what I wanted".

But they did vote for White Supremacy. Even if White Supremacy isn't what they want. Also austerity. That's coming to. And it will hurt a lot of people that voted for tRump. Fvcking morons.

Post authored by the deeply sorrowful & Depressed Liberal/Progressive Leftist blogger Dervish Sanders. wym336. @@