I could understand being incredulous if we were talking about a man who hasn’t been engaging in divisive rhetoric for the past year, if we weren’t talking about a political party with a racist track record, and if all the other shit being reported in the news didn’t exist. But all of these things are in play. So hell yes, I believe Mr. KKK guy. Why the hell not?
The Klan is dead. White Supremacism is dead. Defunct. Pushing up daisies. Taking a dirt nap. In short, it’s gone for good and never coming back.
Problem is, groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center rake in big bucks by proclaiming daily that the Klan is bigger and more dangerous than ever. They lie because they know they’d be irrelevant if they didn’t.
Meanwhile, the handful of losers who still belong to what’s left of the Klan are also lying and trying to pretend they’re relevant. If they try to latch onto Donald Trump and pretend he’s their guy, let them. They’re full of crap.
When exactly did white supremacism die, and why haven’t most black people noticed?
I’ve made a variation on this point in multiple related discussions: throughout US history, black people, in general, have been right about the extent of white supremacism and how they have been mistreated, and throughout US history, white people, in general, have been wrong about the extent of white supremacism and how black people have been mistreated.
From personal interactions, as well as polling statistics, it’s my understanding that most black people in America believe that white supremacism is still a problem to some degree, and black people are still mistreated by certain aspects of society. I find it extremely hard to believe that, for the first time in American history, black people in general are wrong about the extent of racism and white supremacism. I think it’s far more likely that white people, in general, just continue to have somewhat of a blind spot for white supremacism, anti-black racism and bigotry, and societal and institutional mistreatment of black people.
Sorry, still not buying it. The only way to argue that white supremacism is still Ialive and powerful is to redefine the term to include almost anything white people do.
Lynchings don’t happen any more. Cross burnings don’t happen any more. Anti-black hate crimes are rare.
But the challenge now is to see whether and how “almost anything white people do” can, wittingly or not, disadvantage non-whites: and to the extent that any attempt to do so is rejected as somehow against the natural order of things, how is that different from the cruder and more overt past forms of supremacism?
I am very happy* about that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s gone – there are still plenty of (lesser) examples of institutional discrimination still occurring. White supremacism is not just violence – it’s a myriad of beliefs, polices, and practices; if cops are more likely to draw their weapon and pull the trigger for a black suspect than a white suspect, all else being equal, then that’s an aspect of white supremacism in society; if a city like Ferguson uses law enforcement as extortionists of its black citizenry, then that’s an aspect of white supremacism in society; when companies are less likely to hire someone with a stereotypically black name than a white name, when qualifications are equal, then that’s an aspect of white supremacism; and there are many more examples.
*Like Ta-Nehisi Coates says, it’s not reasonable to expect someone to thank you for pulling the knife 3/4s of the way out after you stab them in the gut.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that there are 724 KKK groups in the US. Certainly far less than there used to be, but there are enough new racist groups to take up the slack for anyone who doesn’t want to wear a robe and hood. A hate group can identify as Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist, Neo-Confederate, or White Nationalist.
Sorry some think the SPLC lies (though I’d accept “exaggerates”); I lived in an area where blatant racism was pretty much winked at. I’ve personally had run-ins with some of these groups. I’ve known people involved in these groups. They’re still out there.
Astonishing numbers of black men are imprisoned, many in for-profit institutions. Schools are increasingly segregated by race, with the schools that are predominantly black consistently underfunded. States freed from federal oversight on voting laws are redrawing districts to decrease the influence of black voters. Black families accrue a fraction of the wealth of white families. Banks still red-line majority-black neighborhoods, making it harder to buy homes there.
Now, I could define “white supremacism” to mean “driving Priuses and listening to Kenny Rogers and going hiking” or whatever you think are the things white people do. But I don’t think that’s necessary.
Huh. I have to disagree here and say you are the one that is “full of crap”. The FBI has been warning about the rise of right wing domestic terror groups, many of them with roots in the KKK, for manyyearsnow. With Republican politicians pushing an anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim agenda and having their message being amplified by media outlets like fox news, there has been a lot of growth in openly racist attitudes in recent years. One only needs to look as far as the Bundys (who have been in the national news spotlight for several years now) and groups like the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC, co founded by a known neo-Nazi) and the other armed militias that have been guarding our borders to see that the racist attitudes propagated by the KKK are alive an well. In fact, the FBI warned in 2006 that white supremacists were infiltrating police departments and more recently it has been noticed that there is a significantdifference in treatment of minorities by police. Do you think the BLM movement appeared out of nowhere for no reason? Hell, even the CTC at West Point recognizes the problem. So please give me a cite that the SPLC is lying (this being Great Debates and all).
Donald Trump is favored to win the Iowa “caucus” tomorrow, and even more strongly favored to win the New Hampshire primary a week later. I would love to hear a reaction to this by the GOP-leaning Dopers.
We often hear, from such Dopers, that Democratic voters are dupes or fools, and that it is the GOP voters who are intelligent, in touch with American values, able to see through deceit. How do they reconcile these views with Trump ascendancy?
Here, I’ll make it easy. Multiple-choice:
[ul][li] Donald Trump is a supreme conservative. We are proud of his candidacy, and proud of the intelligent Republican voters who support him.[/li][li] Mr. Trump may be a little blunt or grumpy, but he says what we’re all thinking. He’d make a fine President, certainly better than anyone the Democrats put forth.[/li][li] Mr. Trump is Hillary’s stooge. He’s tricked fine intelligent Republicans into supporting him, but in fact is going to throw the election to the serial felon, HRC.[/li][li] So what? You guys had your clowns: Carter and Gore. Can’t we have a little fun too?[/li][li] You’re right. The idiocy of the GOP voter base is finally apparent even to the most stubborn of us. We renounce allegiance to the OGOP, the Once Great Old Party.[/li][li] Other ____________[/li][/ul]
No, this guy is the next Hitler. You can tell by the way he’s trying to rebuild a lost empire by committing genocide to purify it of minorities who aren’t “real” members of the group.
I don’t think there’s any real argument that plenty of racist hate groups exist out there, and I’m sure that they do support the GOP to the extent that they support any major party.
But those facts are such a long way away from “The GOP is basically the KKK.”
We know that convicted felons overwhelmingly support the Democratic party. Aha! “The Democrats are basically all criminals.” Hillary’s e-mail server proves it, right?
So in the cartoon world of punditry, we have a choice between racists and criminals.
Baltimore spends $15,483 per student. Utah spends $6555 per student.
My son’s private school charges $6000 per student which is really low. But it’s the students and their families which make his school so great. I went to an inner city public school so you don’t need to lecture me about what it’s like.
We had a District Court Judge here who said something similar – once.
Elderly Jewish lady, Holocaust survivor, living in poverty, in court for shoplifting a pound of hamburger from a grocery store. Judge, while sentencing her, snaps “you should have learned respect for law and order in the camps”.
Lots of fuss when that was reported in public. That Judge decided to retire as few months later, rather than run for re-election. (The thousands of dollars raised by local Jews, Gays, & Gypsies as campaign funds for ‘anybody running against him’ might have been a factor.)
The OP should realize the democrats were in close with the KKK for several years especially in the south where they were called “Dixiecrats”. Lincoln was a republican.