I know this exercise is futile, but still: imagine if thousands of disaffected black voters gathered, stormed the US capitol, & came very close to kidnapping or killing lawmakers. Would anyone be saying, "they were just angry, they need to be heard, let's unify & move on"?
It's obvious to the point of absurdity, but still: if this were ANYONE except for rural & exurban white people ("real Americans"), this act of terror would have prompted an absolute national convulsion. Every participant would be in jail, every black person under suspicion.
If black members of Congress had egged it on, called them "my people," tweeted to them about the location of their colleagues ... they'd be gone already, not just booted from Congress but brought up on charges.
This country's entire history, all its institutions, all its patterns of thought & rhetoric, are structured around white innocence. That's the only reason the current "debate" is happening at all -- it must look absolutely surreal from the outside.
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