Trump and his regimegave permission and encouragement to his followers and other supporters to engage in antisocial and other anti-human behavior on a national scale. Bryan Myers, the same author who brought you An Open Letter to the Political Leadership of America, a hard-hitting evisceration of the fecklessness of our political leaders that went viral in recent weeks, now tells us what should be done about it. In one troubling new development, Trump supporters have begun flying all-blackAmerican flags, in an implicit threat to harm or kill their opponents meaning nonwhite people, "socialist liberals," Muslims, vaccinated peopleand others deemed to be "enemies" of"real America." God judge me, not man. Her sister would exchange clothes with a black friend, she says. Fascism is a highly virulent social disease that usually destroys the host body but not before spreading the disease to many other people. In an average week, they triage 30 referrals from local police, reviewing scenarios in which officers believe a resident is at risk of committing gun violence. I just had to go cut a black boy down off that hanging tree and take him to his mama.. That week, a Thin Blue Line flag was raised defiantly above the Brooklyn Center Police Department building in Minnesota. It was there when our grandfathers, great-grandfathers, were struggling to feed their six, eight, 10 kids. Nobody, my whole town, she says. When the white supremacist John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago, Booths fellow travelers, of the Great Emancipator was deplorable. Jefferson Davis, that it could not be regarded otherwise than as a great misfortune to the South, and angrily denied rumors that he had, The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? So, why are they doing this. "Violence is the gold standard, the reserve that guarantees order. Thomasa Massey, 49, jumps out of her car at Pearl Park in a majority-white Jackson suburb wearing a T-shirt with Confederate butterflies she designed with Pride, Not Prejudice underneath. A Mississippi flag seen on the side of the road in Simpson County, Mississippi. The NAACP respects the constitutional, first amendment right for private citizens to maintain symbols and monuments on private property, he says. Here is another choice. The National Guard were deployed to Minneapolis, Chicago and Philadelphia. He wrote the chancellor that he would never buy another ticket after the game ban of the rebel flag. Until they do, the violence of the right is only going to keep swelling and crashing. The flag that Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, does not stand in opposition to this actit endorses it. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. No one but Republicans themselves can cure it. Add to cart Add to WatchlistUnwatch Watch list is full That use of the flag is the crux of the "heritage, not hate" argument: that the Confederate flag is simply about honoring the South's past, its dead, and its culture. Trump's rallies and gatherings continue to celebrate violence and the prospect of revenge and specifically of "getting even" with Trump's"enemies.". They believe that Joe Biden has declared a civil war on them by mandating that employers with over 100 employees and the military have vaccinations. The flag even became popular in the North: a man purchasing the flag in New Jersey told Life he was doing it to oppose Truman. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 The Havok Journal. Nonetheless, the police continue to operate under layers of legal impunity and institutional protection that vastly overshadow the rights of the citizens they brutalize, murder or assault. Fascism is a highly virulent social disease that usually destroys the host body but not before spreading the disease to many other people. In this way they honor their ancestors. She grew up in Red Bay, Alabama, in a former slave region that the last census showed as 93% white and 1% black. Studies have shown that police dont solve most violent crimes: Roughly 40 percent of homicide investigations do not result in arrests, and only 33 percent of rape investigations end in an arrest. The law requires the flag to be hoisted 30 feet from the ground, illuminated at night, and surrounded by "an appropriate decorative iron fence." It is also used by anti-government, white supremacist groups who embrace violence, she says. We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Listen to the trailer for, Dear Therapist: I Divorced My Dying Wife Once She Was No Longer Lucid, did all they could to disassociate themselves, who understood the logical conclusion of Confederate rhetoric. Lindy nods, describing her childhood of poverty when the familys land was all they had left. Embrace Violence. It turned into one big heckuva mess. Slavery was an issue, but not the cause, the teacher tells me. The store specializes in Confederate flag-themed merchandise. A New York Timeseditorial published two days after four girls were killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church claimed segregationists were committing "desecration" of the Confederate symbol. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. The infamous tree, used for lynching, was bending over a bridge on Highway 433 toward Lexington. I dont think the black people around here care, Lindy says. This article first appeared in The Havok Journal on 27 August, 2014. The Isonhoods were the first stop of my May 2018 listening tour of Mississippi with photographer Kate Medley to ask flag supporters in our home state why they still support a symbol that represents so much pain, division and difficult history even as they urge black Americans to get over their resistance to it. They are met by massed and prepared force. The Confederate flag began enjoying unprecedented national popularity and became a cultural symbol after World War II, just as the federal government began trying to make good on its Reconstruction-era civil rights promises. They declare a "safe space," prohibit firearms and welcome people who . Gretchen Whitmer called for in her State of the State address Wednesday include what is commonly known as a "red flag" law, providing for "extreme risk . Public opinion polls and other research have repeatedly shown thatmillions of Republican voters and Trump followers would support the use of violence to remove Joe Biden from office because of the "Big Lie" and their belief that that he is not a legitimate president. The first cut of the film also showed Lindy and husband, Ira Isonhood, flying the Confederate battle flag on a 20ft pole in the backyard of one of their homes. One mans prison sentence for a murder seen by millions on camera is a long way from the transformation we need. The current cycle of protests is a grotesque and familiar protocol, shaped over the past years since the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. The history teacher could handle it if the state flag changed, though. Its the brainchild of a white college student from an affluent suburb of Detroit, Andrew Jacob, who found the outcry against police violence following the killings of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, distasteful. That post,"Are Your Republican Neighbors Planning on Killing You? 661 likes. This country was formed for the white, not for the black man. In fact, if the originalhost dies, he or she can beelevated to the status ofmartyr for "the cause,"serving to inspireexisting followers and lure in new ones. Ira Isonhood, 71, remembers his father inviting black people to sit in his yard to watch a basketball game through the window when he got the areas first television a progressive move in the mid-20th century south. Embrace Violence. As, However you interpret these videos posted byTrump followers and otherneofascists which couldbe mainly performative , And a new poll from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics even suggests that, During an interview withMSNBC'sJoy Reid,terrorism and national security expert Malcolm Nance said that Cawthorn's video"picks up on the themes that are not just coming from the Steve Bannon level and Donald Trump level, they are coming from theRepublican street and that Republican street is armed. Cowardice, too, is heritage. For four years have I waited, hoped and prayed for the dark clouds to break, and for a restoration of our former sunshine. This moral truththat the negro is not equal to the white manis exactly what animated Dylann Roof. The Havok Journal welcomes re-posting of our original content as long as it is done in compliance with our Terms of Use. They would speak of us as ghosts and servants of a God they now fear. As a white woman who still . The flag of the Thin Blue Line rises and rises. Who are their enemies? And, as McCluney points out, New York-financed slave ships kept sailing to West Africa for people to be sold in the Caribbean and South America. After the north won, it imposed a harsh Reconstruction on the south that still fuels white resentment today. A little more than a week before the jury delivered its verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and about 10 miles from the Hennepin County Government Center where Chauvin sat on trial, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was fatally shot by an officer during a traffic stop. They are not the same thing. Her friend Evangela Hentz, who is black, opens the passenger door, and we all run through the rain to a pavilion. Do it now. Potter was the president of the local police union . But one mans prison sentence for a murder seen by millions on camera is a long way from the transformation we need. Davis, 47, also believes the institution might have died out due to modernization if they were able to compromise another 20 years. Those are the kind of historical interpretations that make the Confederate flag seem like a harmless symbol of regional heritage. To many white people in the south and beyond, the Confederate flag is a sign of historic pride and defiance to whatever is currently called liberalism; to most black Americans, the flag stands for white supremacy and racial violence. In this way they honor their ancestors. In our world there lives a relativity small group of guardians who not only stand ready to do violence on the behalf of others, but actually wait anxiously for the opportunity. That flag featured horizontal and vertical black bands intersected by the Prussian eagle. 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