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Racism and Fascism
https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-16907369/racism-and-fascism ("Racism and Fascism" by Morrison, Toni - The Nation, Vol. 260, Issue 21, May 29, 1995 | Online Research Library: Questia)
What follows is an excerpt of a speech Toni Morrison delivered at Howard University on March 2. Much of the address is concerned with a celebration of the historic role her alma mater has played in the long battle against segregation. But in the middle of the speech Morrison abruptly turns to a consideration of the contemporary face and lineaments of racism and its role in the construction of a new brand of fascism in this country.
- The Editors
Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another. Something, perhaps, like this:
1. Construct an internal enemy, as both focus and diversion.
2. Isolate and demonize that enemy by unleashing and protecting the utterance of overt and coded name-calling and verbal abuse. Employ ad hominem attacks as legitimate charges against that enemy.
3. Enlist and create sources and distributors of information who are willing to reinforce the demonizing process because it is profitable, because it grants power and because it works.
4. Palisade all art forms; monitor, discredit or expel those that challenge or destabilize processes of demonization and deification.
5. Subvert and malign all representatives of and sympathizers with this constructed enemy.
6. Solicit, from among the enemy, collaborators who agree with and can sanitize the dispossession process.
7. Pathologize the enemy in scholarly and popular mediums; recycle, for example, scientific racism and the myths of racial superiority in order to naturalize the pathology.
8. Criminalize the enemy. Then prepare, budget for and rationalize the building of holding arenas for the enemy - especially its males and absolutely its children.
9. Reward mindlessness and apathy with monumentalized entertaimnents and with little pleasures, tiny seductions: a few minutes on television, a few lines in the press; a little pseudosuccess; the illusion of power and influence; a little fun, a little style, a little consequence.
10. Maintain, at all costs, silence.
In 1995 racism may wear a new dress, buy a new pair of boots, but neither it nor its succubus twin fascism is new or can make anything new. It can only reproduce the environment that supports its own health: fear, denial and an atmosphere in which its victims have lost the will to fight. …
https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-16907369/racism-and-fascism ("Racism and Fascism" by Morrison, Toni - The Nation, Vol. 260, Issue 21, May 29, 1995 | Online Research Library: Questia)
What follows is an excerpt of a speech Toni Morrison delivered at Howard University on March 2. Much of the address is concerned with a celebration of the historic role her alma mater has played in the long battle against segregation. But in the middle of the speech Morrison abruptly turns to a consideration of the contemporary face and lineaments of racism and its role in the construction of a new brand of fascism in this country.
- The Editors
Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another. Something, perhaps, like this:
1. Construct an internal enemy, as both focus and diversion.
2. Isolate and demonize that enemy by unleashing and protecting the utterance of overt and coded name-calling and verbal abuse. Employ ad hominem attacks as legitimate charges against that enemy.
3. Enlist and create sources and distributors of information who are willing to reinforce the demonizing process because it is profitable, because it grants power and because it works.
4. Palisade all art forms; monitor, discredit or expel those that challenge or destabilize processes of demonization and deification.
5. Subvert and malign all representatives of and sympathizers with this constructed enemy.
6. Solicit, from among the enemy, collaborators who agree with and can sanitize the dispossession process.
7. Pathologize the enemy in scholarly and popular mediums; recycle, for example, scientific racism and the myths of racial superiority in order to naturalize the pathology.
8. Criminalize the enemy. Then prepare, budget for and rationalize the building of holding arenas for the enemy - especially its males and absolutely its children.
9. Reward mindlessness and apathy with monumentalized entertaimnents and with little pleasures, tiny seductions: a few minutes on television, a few lines in the press; a little pseudosuccess; the illusion of power and influence; a little fun, a little style, a little consequence.
10. Maintain, at all costs, silence.
In 1995 racism may wear a new dress, buy a new pair of boots, but neither it nor its succubus twin fascism is new or can make anything new. It can only reproduce the environment that supports its own health: fear, denial and an atmosphere in which its victims have lost the will to fight. …
CONDEMNING RACISM
Condemning Racism
Donald Trump issued a statement denouncing hatred and white supremacy in a prepared speech written by someone else who is probably not Stephen Miller.
Trump said, “In one voice, our nation must renounce, racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.” In other news, David Duke is now celebrating Kwanza.
Donald Trump denouncing white supremacy would be like him denouncing men who assault women. Wait, he did that. It’ll be like him calling someone else “crooked.” Crap. OK, it’ll be like him calling someone else a “fat pig.” Damn. It’ll be like him going after people who insult veterans. Last try…it’ll be like him criticizing men who assault women. Shit. I tried. Anyway, the point is, I’m not buying it.
It’s kinda hard to believe you’re serious about denouncing racism when you’re the KKK’s poster boy and candidate of choice. Or, when you say a man of Mexican heritage isn’t fit to be a judge over one of your lawsuits. Or, when you refer to immigrants as an “invasion,” or “rapists and murderers,” or “animals,” or an “infestation.” It’s hard to believe you when you say there were good people marching among those chanting “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us.” It’s hard to believe Trump is serious about confronting racism when he says four female representatives of color should “go back to where they came from.” I can’t take him seriously when he refers to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “shithole countries.”
At one of his recent hate rallies, the crowd started chanting “send her back” after he made comments about Representative Ilhan Omar, who is black and a refugee from Somalia. Trump acted surprised and claimed they didn’t get the slogan from him. He has issued similar denials about white supremacists who echo his words before their mass shootings.
The Pittsburgh shooter attacked a synagogue and used Trump’s term “globalists” for Jews and referred to immigrants as “invaders” in web posts.
The mass shooter in Gilroy referenced a white supremacist manifesto and wrote online about “hordes” of mixed-race people “overcrowding” towns.
The El Paso mass shooter used the word “invasion” or “invader” seven times in his anti-immigrant manifesto. Trump has often wailed about “migrant invasions.”
The shooter in New Zealand who killed 51 people at two mosques said Trump is a “symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” During his campaign, Trump called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the country and for government surveillance of mosques.
And while it wasn’t about racism, the MAGA pipe bomber was a huge Trump fan and mailed pipe bombs to people his hero has attacked at CNN, MSNBC, and members of the Democratic Party. The guy was even tooling around in a van covered in pro-Trump propaganda emblazoned with bullseyes and conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump is a racist and he’s motivating violence from his supporters. Don’t take my word for it. Even in 2016, a Pew Research Center poll found that 54 percent believe Trump has done too little to distance himself from white nationalists groups. Other polls from 2017 through 2019 found that 54-59 percent of Americans think Trump’s decisions and behavior encourages white supremacists groups. A YouGov/HuffPost poll from last March said more Americans believe he outright supports white nationalist groups. Trump has described himself as a nationalist.
Another disturbing factoid is that hate crimes have steadily increased since Trump started his campaign for president. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, hate crimes across the country have increased by nine percent over the last year, mostly against LGBTQ people, Jews, and people of color. A study from the University of North Texas found that “counties that had hosted a 2016 Trump campaign rally saw a 226 percent increase in reported hate crimes.” Remember, Trump recently held a rally in El Paso to highlight the “migrant invasion.”
With hate, assaults, and murders following the white-terrorists-recruiter-in-chief around, it’s no wonder Dayton and El Paso doesn’t want him to visit their communities today. Don’t be surprised to see other communities ask the Trump campaign not to hold campaign events near them during the 2020 campaign. The man is toxic.
Donald Trump continues to claim he’s the “least racist person,” something non-racists never say. I know I’m not a racist but I would never claim I’m the “least racist person” you could ever meet. I don’t feel the need to sell how non-racist I am. But then again, I wasn’t endorsed by the official newspapers of the KKK and neo-Nazis.
Donald Trump wants us to believe he’s not a racist while at the same time, he believes his supporters are racists. They’re proving him right because it’s his supporters who are shooting up Wal-Marts and garlic festivals in their quests to kill brown people. We can say the same thing about Trump that former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said about his Trump-loving Republican opponent in 2018.
It’s not that I or liberals believe Trump is a racist. It’s that the racists believe he’s a racist. I’m not buying his denouncement of racism. I bet the racists aren’t buying it either.
Condemning Racism
Donald Trump issued a statement denouncing hatred and white supremacy in a prepared speech written by someone else who is probably not Stephen Miller.
Trump said, “In one voice, our nation must renounce, racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.” In other news, David Duke is now celebrating Kwanza.
Donald Trump denouncing white supremacy would be like him denouncing men who assault women. Wait, he did that. It’ll be like him calling someone else “crooked.” Crap. OK, it’ll be like him calling someone else a “fat pig.” Damn. It’ll be like him going after people who insult veterans. Last try…it’ll be like him criticizing men who assault women. Shit. I tried. Anyway, the point is, I’m not buying it.
It’s kinda hard to believe you’re serious about denouncing racism when you’re the KKK’s poster boy and candidate of choice. Or, when you say a man of Mexican heritage isn’t fit to be a judge over one of your lawsuits. Or, when you refer to immigrants as an “invasion,” or “rapists and murderers,” or “animals,” or an “infestation.” It’s hard to believe you when you say there were good people marching among those chanting “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us.” It’s hard to believe Trump is serious about confronting racism when he says four female representatives of color should “go back to where they came from.” I can’t take him seriously when he refers to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “shithole countries.”
At one of his recent hate rallies, the crowd started chanting “send her back” after he made comments about Representative Ilhan Omar, who is black and a refugee from Somalia. Trump acted surprised and claimed they didn’t get the slogan from him. He has issued similar denials about white supremacists who echo his words before their mass shootings.
The Pittsburgh shooter attacked a synagogue and used Trump’s term “globalists” for Jews and referred to immigrants as “invaders” in web posts.
The mass shooter in Gilroy referenced a white supremacist manifesto and wrote online about “hordes” of mixed-race people “overcrowding” towns.
The El Paso mass shooter used the word “invasion” or “invader” seven times in his anti-immigrant manifesto. Trump has often wailed about “migrant invasions.”
The shooter in New Zealand who killed 51 people at two mosques said Trump is a “symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” During his campaign, Trump called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the country and for government surveillance of mosques.
And while it wasn’t about racism, the MAGA pipe bomber was a huge Trump fan and mailed pipe bombs to people his hero has attacked at CNN, MSNBC, and members of the Democratic Party. The guy was even tooling around in a van covered in pro-Trump propaganda emblazoned with bullseyes and conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump is a racist and he’s motivating violence from his supporters. Don’t take my word for it. Even in 2016, a Pew Research Center poll found that 54 percent believe Trump has done too little to distance himself from white nationalists groups. Other polls from 2017 through 2019 found that 54-59 percent of Americans think Trump’s decisions and behavior encourages white supremacists groups. A YouGov/HuffPost poll from last March said more Americans believe he outright supports white nationalist groups. Trump has described himself as a nationalist.
Another disturbing factoid is that hate crimes have steadily increased since Trump started his campaign for president. According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, hate crimes across the country have increased by nine percent over the last year, mostly against LGBTQ people, Jews, and people of color. A study from the University of North Texas found that “counties that had hosted a 2016 Trump campaign rally saw a 226 percent increase in reported hate crimes.” Remember, Trump recently held a rally in El Paso to highlight the “migrant invasion.”
With hate, assaults, and murders following the white-terrorists-recruiter-in-chief around, it’s no wonder Dayton and El Paso doesn’t want him to visit their communities today. Don’t be surprised to see other communities ask the Trump campaign not to hold campaign events near them during the 2020 campaign. The man is toxic.
Donald Trump continues to claim he’s the “least racist person,” something non-racists never say. I know I’m not a racist but I would never claim I’m the “least racist person” you could ever meet. I don’t feel the need to sell how non-racist I am. But then again, I wasn’t endorsed by the official newspapers of the KKK and neo-Nazis.
Donald Trump wants us to believe he’s not a racist while at the same time, he believes his supporters are racists. They’re proving him right because it’s his supporters who are shooting up Wal-Marts and garlic festivals in their quests to kill brown people. We can say the same thing about Trump that former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said about his Trump-loving Republican opponent in 2018.
It’s not that I or liberals believe Trump is a racist. It’s that the racists believe he’s a racist. I’m not buying his denouncement of racism. I bet the racists aren’t buying it either.
The Treasury is lying
The Treasury is lying - TheMoneyIllusion
Scott Alexander correctly admonishes us not to overuse the term “liar”. Nonetheless, I can’t resist using that term here, as today’s Treasury decision seems so transparently dishonest:
The U.S. Treasury Department labeled China a currency manipulator Monday after Beijing pushed down the value of its yuan in a dramatic escalation of the trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies.
The decision, which came hours after President Donald Trump accused China of unfairly devaluing its currency, marks a reversal for Treasury: In May, it had declined to sanction China for manipulating its currency.
The U.S. has not put China on the currency blacklist since 1994.
The Treasury has a very specific set of criteria for determining whether a country is a currency manipulator. There is no question that China does not meet the Treasury’s definition. Thus the Treasury is lying today in its claim that China is a currency manipulator. Why? Why would the Treasury lie?
Here’s my theory. Trump ignored the advice of almost all his policy people in announcing another 10% tariff on China. China retaliated by allowing their currency to depreciate, as currencies normally do in that situation. Trump got angry and told Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to label China a currency manipulator. Mnuchin said, “But Mr. President, China does not meet our definition of currency manipulation.” Trump said he didn’t care, and ordered Mnuchin to lie about China’s currency policy.
Perhaps there is some other way to explain today’s announcement. But until I hear a more plausible explanation, I’m going to assume that the Treasury is lying under orders from the President.
Almost every single day the US slides further and further toward banana republic status. Today I heard some financial analysts suggests that we cannot believe what the Chinese government is saying about the trade war. I thought to myself, “And you guys believe what the US government is saying?!?!?”
We should assume that everything we hear from the US government about China, about Iran, about North Korea, about Venezuela, etc., is a lie. You say Huawei is a national security threat? Show me the evidence.
PS. Yes, this has always been a problem (Gulf of Tonkin, Iraq War, etc.), but the rot is spreading into even more areas than before. It wasn’t this bad under Obama. Treasury used to be a semi-respectable branch of the government.
PPS. And it’s going to get worse:
Mr. Coats, a former senator and longtime pillar of the Republican establishment who angered the president by providing unwelcome assessments of Russia, North Korea and other matters, told Mr. Trump last week that it was time to move on, officials said. His departure removes one of the most prominent national security officials willing to contradict the president.
The Treasury is lying - TheMoneyIllusion
Scott Alexander correctly admonishes us not to overuse the term “liar”. Nonetheless, I can’t resist using that term here, as today’s Treasury decision seems so transparently dishonest:
The U.S. Treasury Department labeled China a currency manipulator Monday after Beijing pushed down the value of its yuan in a dramatic escalation of the trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies.
The decision, which came hours after President Donald Trump accused China of unfairly devaluing its currency, marks a reversal for Treasury: In May, it had declined to sanction China for manipulating its currency.
The U.S. has not put China on the currency blacklist since 1994.
The Treasury has a very specific set of criteria for determining whether a country is a currency manipulator. There is no question that China does not meet the Treasury’s definition. Thus the Treasury is lying today in its claim that China is a currency manipulator. Why? Why would the Treasury lie?
Here’s my theory. Trump ignored the advice of almost all his policy people in announcing another 10% tariff on China. China retaliated by allowing their currency to depreciate, as currencies normally do in that situation. Trump got angry and told Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to label China a currency manipulator. Mnuchin said, “But Mr. President, China does not meet our definition of currency manipulation.” Trump said he didn’t care, and ordered Mnuchin to lie about China’s currency policy.
Perhaps there is some other way to explain today’s announcement. But until I hear a more plausible explanation, I’m going to assume that the Treasury is lying under orders from the President.
Almost every single day the US slides further and further toward banana republic status. Today I heard some financial analysts suggests that we cannot believe what the Chinese government is saying about the trade war. I thought to myself, “And you guys believe what the US government is saying?!?!?”
We should assume that everything we hear from the US government about China, about Iran, about North Korea, about Venezuela, etc., is a lie. You say Huawei is a national security threat? Show me the evidence.
PS. Yes, this has always been a problem (Gulf of Tonkin, Iraq War, etc.), but the rot is spreading into even more areas than before. It wasn’t this bad under Obama. Treasury used to be a semi-respectable branch of the government.
PPS. And it’s going to get worse:
Mr. Coats, a former senator and longtime pillar of the Republican establishment who angered the president by providing unwelcome assessments of Russia, North Korea and other matters, told Mr. Trump last week that it was time to move on, officials said. His departure removes one of the most prominent national security officials willing to contradict the president.
It’s hard to calculate the damage that President Trump’s overt racism and almost daily attacks on black and brown people are having on the fabric of our nation. With white supremacy bolstered from the Oval Office, hate crimes and domestic terrorism incidents are increasing, including, it appears, Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso.
At the same time, immigrants and native-born Americans live in constant fear of law enforcement officials emboldened to think they can act with impunity. Still, Mr. Trump revels in ripping off the fragile scab over the lingering sore that is our country’s historical racial divide, as if to ensure it never heals.
The president’s appalling goal, quite simply, is to pit Americans against one another for crass political purposes as well as, it seems, to vent his unabashed personal prejudice. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress by and large amplify his message through their deafening silence, abdicating their responsibility to serve our country above any political master and making a mockery of their claim to be “the party of Lincoln.”
Is there no floor to how low this president and complicit Republicans are prepared to go to divide America?
