I never cease to be amazed by the speed and the ability of the political Right to distort the truth.
The attempt by the political Right to reconstruct the Charleston massacre as an attack on Christianity defies belief. Yet it is something that we cannot simply sit back and allow to play out. This is a moment when we must connect the Charleston massacre with the lynchings that are regularly taking place against people of color generally and African Americans in particular. The Charleston massacre, allegedly carried out by someone comfortable wearing the flags of apartheid South Africa and white supremacist Rhodesia, is a continuation in the line of assaults on Black America.
The fact of the matter is that there is no basis to believe that this white man walking into a Black church and murdering Black people had anything to do with any antipathy to Christianity, It has to do with an antipathy to Black people. It also has the markings of someone who probably wished to ignite a race war.
The political Right will do whatever it can to move the eyes of reasonable people away from analyzing race. When African Americans, Native Americans or Latinos are attacked by the police, the Right-wing moves quickly to question the motives, not of the police but of the victims. When acts of violence after acts of violence against African Americans are held up for the entire world to see, the political Right does its best to question each incident and try to demonstrate how any ambiguity in one case should somehow compromise the integrity of any suggestion of a demonstrable pattern.
The fact that the Charleston massacre took place in a church should, however, demonstrate one fact about religion. White supremacists are not restrained or constrained by the fact that the targets of their hatred may be people of faith. As far as the white supremacists are concerned, those murdered in Charleston are not worshiping the same Creator of All Things as are the white supremacists.
One thing that can be done immediately is to contact right-wing media outlets and politicians and convey, in no uncertain terms, that we do not appreciate their commentary on the Charleston massacre. The ‘analyses’ offered by these right-wing pundits remind me of something that my father used to say: “It is better to keep one’s mouth quiet and to be thought of as a fool than to open one’s mouth and prove it.” Oh, how I wish that Fox News would appreciate that point.
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1 Comment
The horrific attack in Charleston definitely has to do with an attack on African American people since the attacker admitted that he wanted to start a race war between caucasians and African Americans. The fact that the attacker wore the flags of apartheid South Africa and white supremacist Rhodesia reinforces this point very much. Also, his background/history of making racially bigoted remarks against African Americans makes this argument crystal clear. The fact of the matter is that we still have a profoundly deep racial problem that too many Americans just do not want to face and overcome that goes back to the genocide perpetrated against Naive Americans and African Americans, including the racial injustices committed against other racial ethnolinguistic minorities like Chicanos, Puerto Ricans,and Japanese Americans. It is a systemic problem that is festering that we just can not continue to ignore if we wish to survive as a nation. Therefore, I concur that we must definitely and immediately “contact right-wing media outlets and politicians and convey, in no uncertain terms, that we do not appreciate their commentary on the Charleston massacre.” It is morally imperative that we do so as soon as possible and decisively. We have no other choice.