Racism in America – Deep Left Field

The issue of race and racism has been in the news quite a lot over the past few days, thanks to two major news stories that have garnered lots of attention and commentary from all sides of the political spectrum.

The first story involves Kanye West (who now prefers to be called Ye) but will be referred to by his given name to avoid confusion.

Kanye decided it would be a great idea to make a incredibly insensitive antisemitic comment in which he basically declared war on Jewish people.

Specifically, West posted this on social media, and got his Twitter account suspended as a result:

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is also in hot water for saying the following at a Trump rally over the weekend:

“I have never seen like the crime in this country. We all grew up respecting the police. Our moral values. Doing what we could do to help law enforcement in this country. The Democratic party, they have a majority, they could stop this crime today. Some people say, well, they’re soft on crime. No, they’re not soft on crime, they’re pro crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bulls***. They are not owed that.”

And now we have Nury Martinez, Los Angeles City Council President and and a Democrat, who made horrific comments that are also blatantly racist, The Los Angeles Times reports:

Behind closed doors, Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez made openly racist remarks, derided some of her council colleagues and spoke in unusually crass terms about how the city should be carved up politically.
The conversation remained private for nearly a year, until a leaked recording reverberated explosively Sunday and turned the focus of a sprawling metropolis toward Los Angeles City Hall.

Martinez is being pressured to resign her post, but Tuberville is under no such call from his GOP colleagues, which led a reporter to ask White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the Tuesday press briefing for her thoughts and those of President Joe Biden on the matter of Nury Martinez, to which she responded:

“Here’s the difference between Democrats and MAGA Republicans. When a Democrat says something racist or antisemitic, we hold Democrats accountable. When a MAGA Republican says something racist or antisemitic, they are embraced by cheering crowds.”

Karine Jean-Pierre: "Here's the difference between Democrats and MAGA Republicans. When a Democrat says something racist or antisemitic, we hold Democrats accountable. When a MAGA Republican says something racist or antisemitic, they are embraced by cheering crowds." pic.twitter.com/P1ax0e25fg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 11, 2022

That says it all, and perfectly.

Over the years, there’s been some absolutely moronic, absurd, and misleading shit said on right-wing media, most notably Fox News, which is infamous for trafficking in lies and conspiracy theories that have no basis in fact or grounding in reality.

But in today’s wide-open media bouillabaisse of anything goes inanity — fueled in part by the explosion of social media platforms and ubiquity of the internet everywhere you go — we have even more extreme mutant strains of nutbaggery such as Newsmax, where today’s batshit, head-shaking headline originated with a discussion of “critical race theory” which led to a guest warning that teaching about slavery and how whites have treated blacks in the United States over the centuries will result in “death camps” for white people.

Those words came from right-wing radio host Michael Savage, who told Newsmax hosts Steve Cortes and Jenn Pellegrino that there’s already violence against whites all over the country:

“And now they’re beating up white children in schoolrooms. And I’m not going to mince words. You can cut me off if you have to. I know you probably agree with me. I can’t take this anymore. And there’s only one solution to it—sue the goddamn schools if they do it to your child for child abuse, and you will win.”

Yeah, kids didn’t start beating each other up until racism became a topic of discussion, right, Michael? As for suing for child abuse, can we also sue parents who voted for Trump and believe his bullshit? Seems only fair, don’t you agree?

Rather than provide proof of his specious assertions, Savage went full douche and brought up Nazi Germany and the Holocaust:

“The same kind of thing started in Germany. The Jews were no good. The Jews did this. The Jews did that. The next thing you know they were being excluded from swimming pools. They didn’t put them in concentration camps overnight.
“I studied this intimately. I am Jewish. I know how this starts. Attacks on white people is exactly what was done to the Jews in Germany in the 1930s. Don’t fall for this garbage. This is the road to the death camps. Stand up to these bastards and sue them!”

Newsmax guest says critical race theory is "the road to the death camps," adding "attacks on white people is exactly what was done to the Jews in Germany in the '30s" pic.twitter.com/jus8XSqz2Q
— Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) June 22, 2021

Jewish Americans were once excluded from public swimming pools, clubs, and schools in this country, too. Did it lead to concentration camps? No. It led to reforms, change, and a growth in American consciousness that allowed this country to evolve and realize the ignorance of such discrimination.

We have to understand where we’ve been as a nation in order to make sure we don’t repeat the past endlessly and lose our souls. Learning from history — even the dark and controversial parts — is how we prevent repeating it.