Thread by @polotek

This is why Republicans talk about "small government". It's only government that can get in the way of capitalists being allowed to actively exploit people for more profit.

https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1391892197193179144

I believe we are still introducing a lot of the population to the concept of "a living wage". I think a lot of conservative white people still hear it as foofy liberal jargon. But here it is in stark terms.

https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1392084058772058120?s=19

I can't say that I truly understand what these conversations sound like among conservative white people. I don't know how the people making 2.15/hr justify that to themselves and continue to go vote for it.

Here's what I do know. The Republican platform is intentionally set up as a trap. And it utilizes white supremacy. Even if white conservatives did want to see their wages change, they still don't want to see non-white people thrive above themselves. So they can't vote Democrat.

This is also why you should never believe it when Republicans talk about trying to reach non-white voters. They don't actually want to do that. They just need a minimum of PoC as a fig leaf. If they lost the white supremacist cornerstone of their base, they'd be finished.

If it wasn't for the wedge of white supremacy, we would be much more progressive as a nation by now. The need and the desire is there already among the populace. White supremacy is leveraged to destroy the necessary solidarity that would make it happen in a bipartisan fashion.

It's difficult to find common cause with conservatives in many different areas. But the idea that "I should get paid more for doing this shitty job" is one that has a lot of agreement. Whatever your political persuasion. Instead, they're are being held hostage by white supremacy.

To put it another way, white people would've already given themselves a $15/min wage if you told them they didn't have to give it to Black and brown people too.

That's what they did in the 40s and 50s. They created "The American Dream" for white people (men really). Where they could make decent living off of one good job. But Jim Crow meant we weren't included.

Then in the 60s Black people demanded that we have equal rights and be included in America's prosperity. And every since then, the politics of Whiteness has been about cutting off their nose to spite their face. If it has to be for us too, then nobody gets it.

I'm a terrible student of history. It took me a long time to understand this stuff enough to put the pieces together. But the more you seek to understand America, you can't escape white supremacy as it's driving force.

By the way, that's the main thing you need to understand about Critical Race Theory and the vehement backlash against it. CRT says "if you look at race, you will understand America". And white people are extra pissed that this notion is gaining any kind of mindshare.

This person gets it.

https://twitter.com/NfNitLoop/status/1392653316610400261?s=19