White America's "hidden wound" threatens to destroy the country -- and not for the first time

[marmar]

White America's "hidden wound" threatens to destroy the country — and not for the first time
Half a century ago, writer Wendell Berry saw this coming: What white people can't talk about is destroying them

By KIRK SWEARINGEN
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 11, 2021 10:00AM


Words matter; poetry has power. It's not for nothing that authoritarians first go after the intellectuals, the journalists, the poets.

Consider these well-wrought statements:

All men are created equal
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Black lives matter.

The first two you will recognize as having appeared in proximity with each other, in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. All are connected concepts, and the final one hinges on your understanding and good-faith acceptance of the others, in their intent. (Yes, women were not mentioned, and, no, people are not born into life on an equal footing in many ways; politics is forever hamstrung by taking place in its own era.)

For a small but increasingly emboldened minority of contemporary Americans, the assertion that black lives also matter — the intended meaning, which was always obvious — was more than they could countenance. That this was so in the melting pot of the United States in the 21st century was in no small part due to a president who race-baited and championed white grievance (while, in his inimitable way, denying he was doing so: "I'm the least racist person there is anywhere in the world" ), encouraging white supremacists to take off their hoods and take to the streets, reopening the country's oldest wound.

From disingenuous reactions to discussions of white privilege to indignity at Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem to decrying nonexistent violence by protesters of the killing of George Floyd to often hysterical fights over the teaching of "critical race theory" in schools, Republicans have been busy in their modern tradition of denying that race is an issue in America. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/10/11/americas-hidden-wound-threatens-to-destroy-the-country--and-not-for-the-first-time/

[ShazamIam]

1. It is a self inflicted wound, born from a need to feel superior, all part of that good old old time

conservative government where only the people at the top have any political and economic power, creates a necessity to have a disposable class of humans. Instead of fighting for equality and liberty for all they seek it for themselves only and the only power they can conjure is hate of the poorest.

[Varaddem]

2. If we have people above the law

We can become Brazil quicker than one would think.

[RussBLib]

3. I don't understand why it is so hard for white folk...

...to admit that they (we) royally fucked over blacks and women from the very git-go of this country. Not to mention genocide of the Native Americans.

Sure, it is ugly.

Sure, it is painful.

But acknowledge it, goddamnit, and let's try to move on.

Reparations? How about free college for any and all blacks and Native Americans in this country for the next 50 years? How about trying to make things easier for mothers, single moms, and poor folk struggling to make ends meet, like child care, universal health care?

[ancianita]

4. Children know that no nation is an island. Deny science for ANY reason, deny children a future.

Racism is the poison spread by centuries of corporate enslavement of all races of people.





imo, today is "all things connect" day.