On Independence Day, are we really independent?
July 4, 2023 is our nation's 247th birthday. Cellebrating the day when We the People declared we were free of a monarch who sat on a throne on the other side of the world's second largest ocean. Much has changed in the nearly 2.5 centuries since. Much has changed in just the last decade.
The level of partisan political acrimony is at one of the heights rarely reached in thatn 247 year history. One man's rhetoric only further enflamed the already high tensions between the two dominant political parties. If you disagree, perhaps we should ask Heather Heyer. Or Ashli Babbitt. Brian Sicknick. Roseann Boyland. Wait, we cannot ask them. Heyer was murdered during a peaceful protest of a white supremacy rally. The others died during the January 6, 2021 insurrection. For those who deny that it was an insurrection, let us examine the definition of the term
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto"
That is the legal definition of insurrection within federal law.
***
We are caught up in a conflict. Perhaps we should call it what it is, a war. A war for control of our government. A struggle to reduce and ultimately remove our freedoms. We are witnessing attempts at voter suppression not since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Only the illegality of a poll tax is stopping Republicans from instituting them. Not all Republicans are white supremacists. But all white supremacists are Republicans or they support the agenda of the Republican party.
To be crystal clear, it is not illegal to hold white supremacist beliefs. It is not illegal to peacefully rally in support of white supremacist beliefs. But it is illegal to do some things in support of those beliefs. Such as plotting to kidnap the govenor of Michigan. I could list the mass shooting incidents where the investigation deterined thatthe motive was right-wing beliefs, but that's a very long list. Here are just a few.
Colorado Springs night club shooting (shooter motivated by anti LGBTIA beliefs) - November 2022
Buffalo supermarket shooting (shooter motivated by white supremacists) - May 2022
Atlanta spa shooting (shooter motivated by Christian fundemantalist beliefs) - March 2021
In pointing the violence of those on the right (not all people on the right, but far too many), we cannot ignore the violence actions of those on the left. I'm not going to list the actions perpetrated by those on the left. What I will mention are the results of a study by the University of Maryland. It showed that violent actions by the left are 45% less likely to result in fatalities. That being said, violence on either side is wrong."
Violence on either side is wrong. It is the rising level of violence on both sides that is so concerning.
LLLLLL ***
Are we independent? I see attempts to outlaw things that shouldn't be concerning. I do not belief that a drag show library reading is an attempt to create new members of the LGBTIA communities. Christianity is not the official religion of this nation, in spite of the beliefs of some Christians. English is not the official language of the United States, but that does not stop a seemingly endless stream of bigots from screaming "Speak English" at people who are conversing in other languages.
It is 2023 but racial hatred contines. Two black men have filed a $400 million lawsuit alleging that Rankin County Mississippi deputies assaulted two black men inside the home where they lived. Rather than describe the actions of the officers, you can read about them here.
I have written about this before. A dozen years before we saw the video of the late Rodney King being beated by LAPD officers after a pursuit, police officers stopped an insurance salesman named Arthur McDuffie. He'd led them on an 8 minute high-speed pursuit before he . He was driving with a suspended license. When he stopped, they beat him to death. The officer who had lied on the initial statement he wrote, recanted. He testified that McDuffie had swung at him. That does not justify what transpired.
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno was the lead prosecutor when five of the eight officers invoved in the beating were tried. They were acquitted by an all-white uy after only three hours of deliberations. In the rioting that resuled in the Overtown and Liberty City areas of Miami.
Like it or not, the animus exists today. We are less free because of it."
We are less independent today that we were when I was born.
The level of partisan political acrimony is at one of the heights rarely reached in thatn 247 year history. One man's rhetoric only further enflamed the already high tensions between the two dominant political parties. If you disagree, perhaps we should ask Heather Heyer. Or Ashli Babbitt. Brian Sicknick. Roseann Boyland. Wait, we cannot ask them. Heyer was murdered during a peaceful protest of a white supremacy rally. The others died during the January 6, 2021 insurrection. For those who deny that it was an insurrection, let us examine the definition of the term
"Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto"
That is the legal definition of insurrection within federal law.
***
We are caught up in a conflict. Perhaps we should call it what it is, a war. A war for control of our government. A struggle to reduce and ultimately remove our freedoms. We are witnessing attempts at voter suppression not since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Only the illegality of a poll tax is stopping Republicans from instituting them. Not all Republicans are white supremacists. But all white supremacists are Republicans or they support the agenda of the Republican party.
To be crystal clear, it is not illegal to hold white supremacist beliefs. It is not illegal to peacefully rally in support of white supremacist beliefs. But it is illegal to do some things in support of those beliefs. Such as plotting to kidnap the govenor of Michigan. I could list the mass shooting incidents where the investigation deterined thatthe motive was right-wing beliefs, but that's a very long list. Here are just a few.
Colorado Springs night club shooting (shooter motivated by anti LGBTIA beliefs) - November 2022
Buffalo supermarket shooting (shooter motivated by white supremacists) - May 2022
Atlanta spa shooting (shooter motivated by Christian fundemantalist beliefs) - March 2021
In pointing the violence of those on the right (not all people on the right, but far too many), we cannot ignore the violence actions of those on the left. I'm not going to list the actions perpetrated by those on the left. What I will mention are the results of a study by the University of Maryland. It showed that violent actions by the left are 45% less likely to result in fatalities. That being said, violence on either side is wrong."
Violence on either side is wrong. It is the rising level of violence on both sides that is so concerning.
LLLLLL ***
Are we independent? I see attempts to outlaw things that shouldn't be concerning. I do not belief that a drag show library reading is an attempt to create new members of the LGBTIA communities. Christianity is not the official religion of this nation, in spite of the beliefs of some Christians. English is not the official language of the United States, but that does not stop a seemingly endless stream of bigots from screaming "Speak English" at people who are conversing in other languages.
It is 2023 but racial hatred contines. Two black men have filed a $400 million lawsuit alleging that Rankin County Mississippi deputies assaulted two black men inside the home where they lived. Rather than describe the actions of the officers, you can read about them here.
I have written about this before. A dozen years before we saw the video of the late Rodney King being beated by LAPD officers after a pursuit, police officers stopped an insurance salesman named Arthur McDuffie. He'd led them on an 8 minute high-speed pursuit before he . He was driving with a suspended license. When he stopped, they beat him to death. The officer who had lied on the initial statement he wrote, recanted. He testified that McDuffie had swung at him. That does not justify what transpired.
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno was the lead prosecutor when five of the eight officers invoved in the beating were tried. They were acquitted by an all-white uy after only three hours of deliberations. In the rioting that resuled in the Overtown and Liberty City areas of Miami.
Like it or not, the animus exists today. We are less free because of it."
We are less independent today that we were when I was born.
posted by me at 5:27 PM
<< Home