In one of his 1970’s albums, Black comedian extraordinaire, Richard Pryor joked about the type of justice black people can expect in America. In that joke Pryor stated that when blacks seek justice here they often only get Just Us.
Can any reasonable person really not see the difference, or preferential treatment, that some people get over others? For the majority of people arrested in this country, there are two legal systems.
On the one hand, is a legal system for all people of color. On the other there is a system for whites. To compound the situation further, their is a hierarchy within each system.
Rich black people are treated better than poor blacks, but both are disproportionately treated worst than whites, even than poor whites. Wealthy whites, for the most part, get a mere slap on the wrist, while other whites may be sentenced to probation and or public service. Let’s not confuse these with the extreme violent criminals. Those are sentenced to prison – but even here, for the most part, people of color are disproportionately sentenced to death.
Within this framework, let us talk a little about the events of 2020.
During the summer of 2020 angry groups organized to demonstrate that Black Lives Matter. Let us not try to erase the horrible history this country has with regard to the treatment of people of color. First, the eradication of the native peoples. Then the issue of slavery, and of course the so-called Jim Crow Laws after the 13th Amendment (The 13th Amendment forever abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories. In addition to banning slavery, the amendment outlawed the practice of involuntary servitude and peonage. Involuntary servitude or peonage occurs when a person is coerced to work in order to pay off debts.) The so-called Jim Crow Laws were a loop-hole to the Federal Law which allowed states to create the concept of, and enforce, “separate but equal” which perpetuated the notion that Blacks were inferior and therefore allowed for the establishment of the White Supremacist group known as the Klu Klux Klan (KKK).
All people of color in this country have endured (and to some extent continue to endure) Jim Crow. While this ideology was somewhat laid to rest, Donald Trump began to awaken this horrible sleeping giant. It started with his continued attacks on Barrack Obama, the so-called birther movement, and the vitriol spread by the Tea Party. Yet, despite all this hate-mongering, Obama was able to complete two successful (no personal scandals) terms as President of the United States of America.
Donald Trump had gotten a lot of mileage out of his constant anti-Obama sentiment. He elevated the birther sentiment to a movement, and this helped to empower him to seek the Presidency. On June 16, 2015 Donald J. Trump formally announced his candidacy for president. Standing atop the escalator of Trump Tower he proclaimed his intent. In his speech he spewed the hatred and underlying white supremacist notions that would continue throughout his tenure as president. He started by calling Mexicans drug dealers, murderers, and rapists. Then one of his first acts as president was to ban Muslim travel. Throughout his presidency, everything Trump did had an anti-people of color slant to it.
During the midterm elections of 2018, Trump, and his minions, resorted to the fear and hate-mongering that worked so well for him in the past. They talked about the vast immigrant invasion. And began putting the children of immigrants in detention cages until they were sent back to the country of origin. These tactics were shown on television for the entire world to see. Much like the televised police brutality of the 1960s, the false narrative of an immigrant invasion, and the caging of children, swayed public opinion against the Republicans. The results of this foiled hateful attempt led to their loss of control of the House. Incrementally the Trump agenda began to lose its grip.
In the summer of 2020, it all came to a head. On May 25 a young child videotaped the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. This video was picked up by television stations and broadcast all over the world. This ignited the Black Lives Matter sentiment. Now, not only were blacks chanting black lives matter, but other, rationale and reasonable, people began to get involved. BLM protests erupted all over the world. Trump and his racist stance only further ignited the situation. Standing in front of a church across from the Capitol Trump deployed the National Guard to arrest peaceful BLM protesters. His hatred and racist undertones did not fall on death ears. Proud Boys, Skin Heads, and Neo Nazis heard his call. Clashes between BLM protestors and these White Supremacists groups became commonplace. As often happens when two opposing groups confront each other, mayhem ensued. Looting, pillaging, vandalism and rioting happened. It was a summer reminiscent of the 1960’s rioting that ensued after the Reverend Martin Luthur King Jr. was assassinated. Eventually the mayhem stopped, and for a brief time there was a semblance of normalcy.
Then America entered the presidential election season. After a bitter and, often contentious primary season, Joe Biden was the victor. He was nominated as the candidate to run against Donald Trump for the presidency. Poll after poll showed Biden inching up in numbers. Trump and his minions began to panic. Soon Trump began to poison the wells. He started by saying that the only way he could possibly lose the election to “slow Joe” was if the “crooked democrats” rigged the elections. Soon Republican elected officials began to echo Trump. Thus the birth of the big lie.
That November, when the results of the election came in naming Joe Biden the next president, Trump could not accept it. Donald J. Trump and his most loyal adherents began to insist that the election had in fact been rigged. They continued to perpetuate the big lie. Playing on the hatred and white supremacists notions of his many followers. They began to foment insurrection. In case after legal case the Republican claims of election tampering were defeated. In court after court, even with Trump-appointed Judges, the big lie was dismissed. But Trump and his minions continued pushing the big lie.
The rhetoric of the big lie continued to inflame the Trumpsters. This incited more hate and the mobilization of these sore losers. On the morning of January 6, 2020 – the day that Congress was to certify the election results, thus naming Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. the 46th President of the United States, a protest rally was held (this is the basis of the January 6 Committee is investigation). At this rally, Donald Trump told the mob to March to the Capital and let your voices be heard. Trump told the crowd of angry protestors that “we fight like hell. and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,”
Trump’s speech continued “All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they’re doing. And stolen by the fake news media. That’s what they’ve done and what they’re doing. We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved…” So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol, and we’re going to try and give.
The Democrats are hopeless — they never vote for anything. Not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help. We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.
So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Chants by elected officials could be heard, things like ““fight like hell”, “it’s time to kick ass and take names”, “Trial by Combat”.
Among The Insurrectionists
Then shortly thereafter this angry mob marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and up the steps to the Capital. Fighting and overpowering law enforcement. They broke down barricades, smashed windows and doors, scaled walls, and got into the Capital. These insurrectionists chanted and spewed their venom “where’s Pelosi, that bitch” “Hang Mike Pence” “Stop the count”, and more. It was like a scene out of a Hollywood Movie.
On the Mall, a makeshift wooden gallows, with stairs and a rope, had been constructed near a statue of Ulysses S. Grant. Some of the marchers nearby carried Confederate flags. Up ahead, the dull thud of stun grenades could be heard, accompanied by bright flashes. “They need help!” a man shouted. “It’s us versus the cops!”
That was then, this is now.
Today, October 29, 2020, the insurrection of January 6, seems to be a vague memory. The Republican Party, the party that once boasted Law and Order, is now attempting to whitewash what happened that cold January morning. Some were saying such asinine things as “it was nothing more than a group of tourist” or “these are patriots simply expressing there first amendment rights”. Others try to minimize it, all the while attempting to elevate the BLM protestors to terrorists.
Many of the mostly all-white (99.99% were white) insurrectionists who were arrested, including those whose antics were broadcast all over the world, are being let go with the most minimal of criminal charges. Some are simply getting fines and or probation.
Contrast that to how the BLM protestors of the summer were treated. Beaten, arrested, and still awaiting justice.
Some in the White community rationalize the behavior of the January 6 insurrectionist as nothing more than political descent and decry the BLM protestors with criminal behavior.
I say BULL SHIT. One group (the January 6 insurrectionist) mounted a failed coup d’é·tat. Angry that their candidate, i.e., Donald Trump, lost the election they attempted to circumvent the peaceful transfer of power that has been the hallmark of American politics since John Adams rendered his power to his rival, and newly elected President, Thomas Jefferson.
“On the heels of his humiliating defeat in the previous year’s election, Adams was setting an important precedent. His departure from office marked the first peaceful transfer of power between political opponents in the United States, now viewed as a hallmark of the nation’s democracy. Since then, the loser of every presidential election in U.S. history (the exception of course being Donald J. Trump) has willingly and peacefully surrendered power to the winner, despite whatever personal animosity or political divisions might exist.”
Peaceful Transfer of Power: John Adams to Thomas Jefferson
Adding salt to insult, Trump refused to attend the inauguration and continues to insist that he is the rightful victor. Meanwhile, his minions continue to spread the big lie and are doing everything possible to thwart the January 6 Committee from its investigations. The only people that try to avoid the courts (or in this instance, Congress) are the guilty. Everyone that profess’s innocence always demands their day in court. The Republican Party has veered so far off course that it can hardly be recognized as the Party of Lincoln, or Reagan. It has become a three-ring circus with Donald J. Trump as the Master of Ceremony. Just look at the current Republicans to emerge as the new leadership. Marjorie Taylor Greene. This work of art makes Sarah Palin seem sane. When Tina Faye jokingly mocked Palin on SNL by saying “I can see Russia from my window” it was a comedian taking artistic license on what Palin actually said, which was “I can see Russia from my house.” Marjorie Taylor, on the other hand actually did say, in a now-deleted Facebook post, that “wildfires in California were not natural. Forests don’t just catch fire, you know. Rather, the blazes had been started by PG&E, in conjunction with the Rothschild’s, using a space laser, in order to clear room for a high-speed rail project”.
My future brother-in-law is a pedophile
Another new Republican leader to emerge (who has subsequently announced that he will not be seeking re-election, YEY!) is pedophile Matt Gaetz. Both, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, are probably frantically swarming in their respective graves over this new, extreme right (white) Republican Party. This new GOP 2.0 (Two Point Oh) is so far off course that it is practically a brand new party, a party in which the lunatics are running the asylum.
All this leads me back to my original premise, Whites can get away with anything in this Country – including an insurrection. It reminds me of Donald Trump saying “Grab them by the pussy” and then when busted saying it was just “locker room talk” all the while getting away with it. Yes, he got away with it. And a couple of years later he appoints and manages to get confirmed, a woman victimizer (that’s me being nice) to the highest court of the land. Or when Mitch McConnell says it’s not fair for a President (Barrack Obama) to appoint a Supreme Court Justice so close to the election, that the incoming president should have that prerogative. The election talked about was eight months away, yet with less than 30 days to the next presidential election, the Republicans, led by the same man, Mitch McConnell, found that it was ok for that sitting president (Trump) to appoint Amy Vivian Coney Barrett to the bench.
Yes, sir, there are two America’s one white one very colorful. But I’m no hater. I know that not all white people are evil, I am not that naive. There certainly are some very decent, fair-minded whites. That would be like me saying only white people are members of the KKK, we know better, right (wink, wink). Haven’t you seen the movie “The BlacKkKlansman“?
