So Rachel Dolezal claimed African ancestry. Doesn't seem like such a big deal to me and I wonder about how one reconciles the outrage with the claim that there is no such thing as race anyway, but all that seems petty today. Today I identify with being black too and I feel militant and angry and outraged. There nothing ambiguous about the circumstances, no lack of witnesses, no question about the innocence of the victims. The little bastard just walked into a church, waited through the service and opened fire on unarmed people, some begging him to relent. He is said to have reloaded five times, killing nine people while talking about how "they" raped "our" women and were "taking over " the country.
Who gave him such ideas? Watch Fox lately? Listen to AM radio? I think we know whose hands are bloody. I think we know who's been promoting anger, hate, irrationality and vicious stereotypes.
The perp is in custody. I have no doubt there will be charges of 9 counts of Murder One. I have no doubt about the verdict, but I doubt I'm going to see the end of racist murder in my remaining time. I mean racism, capital R Racism, not the nanosecond delay in recognizing a facial expression, not some secret fear of the black man in the baggy shorts and hoodie not a dislike of Al Sharpton. I'm talking about visceral hate, about vicious stereotypes, about the irresistible urge to kill people begging for their lives. I'm talking about the sort of things I thought we'd left behind in the 60's
How will we react? Will we hear more about he war on Christianity on Fox? Will we hear that every pastor carry openly? Will we blame it on "military style" weapons? I hear the grindstones beginning to whir.
I only hope the memory of the murdered isn't sullied by the kind of routine things we've been seeing elsewhere. I hope we allow civilization to prevail, allow the justice system to hand out justice and I hope the people of Charleston don't share the same urge I have today to put a gun in my pocket and look suspiciously at cars and houses and people with Confederate flags on them.
I'm an old, affluent white man who lives in the south but I don't care who says what about my thoughts and my right to identify with another gender or race or species for that matter. Today I feel Black as Black can be, black as the barrel on a Remington 870, black as a Beretta M92, black like a 40 round magazine on an AK - black like anger, black like me..
Yes, Capt.
ReplyDeleteAnyone's immediate gut instinct should be to see those churchgoers as "us", instead of seeing that kid as "us".
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As for the then, and especially now, much lesser issue: "So Rachel Dolezal claimed African ancestry. Doesn't seem like such a big deal to me and I wonder about how one reconciles the outrage with the claim that there is no such thing as race anyway,"
Race matters to racists. A plethora of government institutions, universities, and businesses give special advantage to those of "African ancestry" with explicit racist quotas, goals, and preferences. Rachel Dolezal, through her fraud, even had a leg-up on others for applying for corporate welfare that's doled out based on having the right skin color. I'd very much welcome reform so to these discriminating organizations, there would no longer be "such a thing as race" anyway. and they abolished all of the quotas.
No doubt, the perpetrator will dominate headlines for weeks and months; and I am not inclined to call any more attention to this evil person. So my comment today will focus on the very fine people who we lost, their names:
ReplyDeleteClementa Pinckney, 41
Pinckney was the church's pastor and a state senator representing the 45th District. A married father of two, Pinckney was elected to the state House at age 23, making him the youngest House member at the time.
Tywanza Sanders, 26
Sanders graduated from Allen University in Columbia in 2014 with a degree in business administration, university president Lady June Cole told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was a quiet, well-known student who was committed to his education,” Cole said. “He presented a warm and helpful spirit as he interacted with his colleagues. Mr. Sanders was participating in the Bible Study session at Mother Emanuel church at the time of the shooting.”
Cynthia Hurd, 54
Hurd was a branch manager at the Charleston County Public Library. The branch where Hurd worked will be renamed after her, it was announced at Thursday's press conference.
Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45
Coleman-Singleton was a high school track coach. Charleston Southern University, where Coleman-Singleton's son is a rising sophomore, confirmed the death in a statement on the university website. She was also a pastor in the church, according to the Emanuel AME Church website.
Myra Thompson, 59
The Church of the Holy Trinity, via its Facebook page, identified Thompson as the wife of Reverend Anthony Thompson, Vicar of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston.
Ethel Lee Lance, 70
A relative of Lance who had worked at the church for 30 years identified her as a victim in an interview with The Post And Courier. "I'm lost, I'm lost," Lance's grandson, Jon Quil Lance, told the media outlet. He described her as “the heart of the family."
Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74
Simmons was a ministerial staff member, according to the church website. He was transported to a hospital after the shooting and later died, the coroner said.
Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
Middleton-Doctor was an enrollment counselor at the Charleston campus of Southern Wesleyan University, AP reported, and a mother of four, according to The New York Times.
Susie Jackson, 87
Jackson was Lance's cousin and a longtime church member, according to The Post and Courier.
Source
More here.
I'd rather know all of their names than the name of that kid who looks like Bill Gates' mugshot.
DeleteAs for my statement about quotas, I am sure there is disagreement with it. And if so, I will let that disagreement stand, and won't reply on that subject in this post (unless specifically urged to by the blog hosts). To keep this on topic.
“I am sure there is disagreement with it.”
DeleteIndeed, there is disagreement but I choose not to be confrontational about it. Here’s why:
There are some liberals who have accused GWB of racism. I am not one of them. It should be acknowledged that GWB raised two highly respected African-Americans to prominent positions within his administration: Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice. Both of whom openly supported affirmative action in direct disagreement with their boss. Yet, the disagreement never resulted in recriminations, open animosity, dismissals or resignations.
In the autobiography of Condoleeza Rice published some years later, she recalls a childhood experience. When her father tried to register to vote, the Dixicrats subjected him to a voter registration test: Guess the number of jellybeans in a jar. Without fanfare or question, the local Republicans registered her father. Rice says in her autobiography, she had been grateful to the GOP ever since.
This was a different era. Generations ago, the GOP stood on the moral side of civil rights and human rights. Today, those old-time Dixicrats are Republicans, and the amount of bigotry, anti-Semitism, racism, sexism and sheer hatred in the Tea Party wing is frankly beyond disturbing.
My only concern here: Why raise the subject of affirmative action and quotas in this context when our focus of attention should be the love and support of the victims’ families and their community. I will leave the topic for another day; it just doesn’t feel right today.
" Why raise the subject of affirmative action and quotas in this context..."
DeleteI realized it was off topic (though started by one of the Capt's statements), so I said I would let it lie.
... it just doesn’t feel right today.
DeleteIt isn't,
No it isn't but I can hear those grindstones whirring and there will be attempts to use this incident to push someone's agenda in search for a "solution" whether or not it has any merit.
DeleteI want to apologize for my references to violent revenge, but that's not for today either.
You are right, all. The quota thing was too off topic and didn't belong.
DeleteAnd dead on about the "grindstones" thing, Capt.
Thank you for posting the names of the people we lost. A painful thing to read. I don't know if we'll ever resolve this. Ever.
ReplyDeleteWhen I said grindstones, what I had in mind were calls for "resolution" in the time honored tradition. I recall that Charles Manson also wanted to start a race war, but all you have to do is listen to him for 30 seconds and you realize he's psychotic. It's more about insanity than something all white people share. His stated objectives need to be discounted. I'm afraid we'll concentrate on that same objective again, making it a matter of white racism and wanting to start a race war that will elevate white people over black people, but should we look at this as an instance of a paranoid schizophrenic latching on to some excuse to kill? Madman, racist or racist madman, My bet is that "racists are everywhere" will be the theme and not mental illness.
ReplyDeleteWill we make this all about "military style" guns, Semi-automatic weapons, large capacity magazines, gun shows, armor piercing, high velocity copkiller bullets, waiting periods or licensing? None of those apply here.
No "tougher laws" I can foresee would have made a difference and in fact I'm still waiting to hear a solid proposal from someone who knows the existing law..
But will we resolve the fact that the very air is full of hate speech that attracts crazy people. and the streets are full of crazy people looking for an excuse, looking for something to make them important even it takes martyrdom. The Muslim world faces this and so do we and its a worldwide problem. What do we do about insanity?
I'd like to remind everyone though, that things have changed. This is not the 60's or 70's where James Ray and Byron DeLa Beckwith could find help from co-conspirators and escape justice for a long time. No we will not get rid of madmen or weapons, but perhaps we can tone down the rhetoric, the incitement, the lies that tip people over the edge.
Capt said; "This is not the 60's or 70's where James Ray and Byron DeLa Beckwith could find help from co-conspirators and escape justice for a long time."
ReplyDeleteOr is it so different, in some ways? While this guy might not as easily find a KKK meeting hall (or wherever they used to meet). they can quickly find a vast online community of fellow supremacists.
I've read that at one time a good part of Congress belonged to the Klan. You're right particularly about the internet where every depravity can find comfort, but I think the tide has been running against them for a long time. There's a certain element that's always been here and always will be but I'm trying to resist the reaction to tragedy we've been trained to have. It's natural to be angry, but I don't think elevating rare instances to make a case that this is a "racist country" and that nothing is getting better is helping anyone but groups who promote anger and divisiveness. Some of them do such a good job of promoting race war that they deserve a place in my anger. I want to ask how much of this is racism and how much is psychosis. .
DeleteThis day should be their day ... the victim's families; a time to mourn and remember; a time for the rest of us to lend our love and support. But there are people who want to turn their day into National Grindstone Day and steal it from them.
ReplyDeleteThis may be the most offensive piece of shit I have seen in years:
National Rifle Association board member Charles L. Cotton argued that Pinckney was responsible for the deaths of the eight church members who died alongside him because he did not support legislative proposals that would have allowed concealed carry in churches. Cotton wrote that the victims “might be alive if he had expressly allowed members to carry handguns.”
If there were a death penalty for depraved indifference ...
That's precisely the response I expected. I'm only surprised it took so long.
ReplyDeleteThis is the time for me to declare that I made myself part of the problem when I referred to my anger and made metaphorical references to firearms. That's just what the perpetrator was looking to accomplish: more polarization and more people pointing guns at each other. I should know better.
ReplyDeleteA better response, in terms of truthfulness and the promotion of a better America is to reaffirm how far we've come with non-violent means and most of all, how far out of line the perpetrator is with the world nearly all of envision for the future. This should not be a sales opportunity for every group to peddle their wares.