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Tim Wise

18 Jun, 9 tweets, 2 min read

I love it when folks say the South is so patriotic. They typically mean white conservatives of course. But historically white conservatives have been the LEAST patriotic group. Don't believe me?

A quick thread.

First, they wouldn't even join the nation unless slavery was protected & strengthened via the 3/5 compromise, a fugitive slave return provision in the constitution and the extension of the trans-Atlantic slave trade for 20 more years (2)...

@ProfCAnderson

...not to mention the 2nd Amendment, which, as @ProfCAnderson demonstrates in her brilliant new book, The Second, was principally about strengthening the white militia so as to put down possible rebellions by enslaved Black folks (3)...

Then, white southern conservatives threatened to bolt several times after the founding over everything from inadequate commitment to fugitive slave laws, to the rise of abolitionist writings, to what they saw as unfair trade laws undermining their traffic in human beings (4)...

Finally, they broke away when they decided their slavocracy was truly threatened and went to war with the U.S. Then after the war, they undermined the new Constitutional guarantees of equal protection and the right to vote, for another century (5)...

Which demonstrated disdain for the governing document of the nation, all for the sake of racist power. Historically white conservatives have always put white supremacy above love and concern for the nation. That isn't patriotism. It is a love of whiteness (6)...

That is not to say the South is an unpatriotic region, if we understand patriotism as something other than a fetish for war-making and shooting things. Understood properly, there are plenty of people in the South, historically and today who love the country deeply (7)...

And they demonstrate that love by demanding the nation live up to its principles & fulfill its promise. Those are Black folks (who've always loved the nation more than the nation loved them) and white progressives who believe in the principles of freedom and liberty for ALL (8)..

It is those of us on the left who evince the only meaningful kind of patriotism -- love of country as an ongoing, reflective love, which criticizes when needed, as with love of family members -- unlike the right, which evinces a phony, cheerleading patriotism of empty platitudes.

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More from @timjacobwise

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

18 Jun

Your daily reminder that those who would ban antiracist education or Critical Race Theory would have to ban MLK. And the only reason people don't realize this is they've never read King or listened to any of his speeches except one misinterpreted line from one speech

THREAD...

After all, King recognized the systemic nature of injustice and how to address it when he said:

"...the problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.” (2)

He also was clear about white ignorance:

'Whites are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.' (3)

Read 10 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

17 Jun

Conservatives say we shouldn't teach that racism was embedded in the U.S. from the start bc that ignores the progress we've made. But only by understanding how deeply rooted racism has been can we truly appreciate the victories of the abolitionist or civil rights movements (1)...

By downplaying how central white supremacy was to the founding & creation of the country, we minimize how incredible the anti-slavery and larger freedom struggles were. Progress only has full meaning when contrasted with the depths of depravity from which it emerged (2)...

Ultimately, the reason the right doesn't want us teaching about racism isn't so we can focus on progress, but so we can ignore everything against which we needed progress to begin with. These are people who say we need to MAGA, which means they think we didn't need progress (3)..

Read 4 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

16 Jun

Obviously, I'm no fan of Greg Kelly or Newsmax, but the main interpretation of his since-deleted tweet about military service & race is pretty clearly inaccurate. That said, what he IS saying, or trying to say, is also tone deaf and worth challenging...

A THREAD

On Sunday, Kelly tweeted this (2)...

At first glance, and taken literally, it sounds amazingly white supremacist. But truthfully, it should be obvious he's trying to be funny and ironic. Sadly, right-wingers aren't good at either, so it falls flat (3)...

Read 19 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

15 Jun

Thread

To understand white denial about American history, consider two photos. First, this pic of Hazel Bryan screaming at Elizabeth Eckford during the integration of Little Rock Central High. The date: September 4, 1957. As for the second photo, follow along...(1)

This is a promo pic for the TV show Leave it to Beaver: a much-beloved program, especially for white conservatives, who view it as a nostalgic representation of family life and the ultimate example of a more "innocent time..." But here's the thing...(2)

Leave it to Beaver premiered on October 4, 1957: one month to the day after that photo from Little Rock was taken. America was not innocent, and the evil wasn't only in the heart of Hazel Bryan or other Little Rock whites. It was a national sickness. One most whites ignored...(3)

Read 12 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

15 Jun

This cop must be terminated. Canceled, Career ended forever. No mercy, no second chances. Done. Zero tolerance for this is the only possible approach.

Warren police officer under investigation for racist comments on Facebook clickondetroit.com/news/local/202…

His "learning" and "growth" and whatever other woo-woo nonsense folks want to advocate for cannot come at the expense of those his attitude would or could victimize. Their safety is more important than his personal evolution as a human being...Let him learn from his unemployment

It's one thing to give average folks grace for racist shit. I believe in that, generally. But if you are a cop, teacher, judge, doctor, nurse, or anyone else in an authority position where your power can harm people, no second chances unless you do SERIOUS work to make amends

Read 4 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

15 Jun

Those attacking Critical Race Theory want us to get bogged down explaining why they don't understand CRT, or what CRT really is. Don't fall for it. Flip the frame. By their own admission, they seek to lump all discussion of racism, past or present, under the CRT label...

THREAD

...Bc they don't want any analysis of racism as a historic or contemporary force in the U.S. This is why even books like To Kill a Mockingbird are coming under attack, and books looking at segregation are being called "divisive" because they cast whites in a 'bad' light (2)...

Rather than spend time trying to explain what CRT is, expose their real agenda: canceling truth about history and its lingering effects. Censorship. Book banning. And as I said in an earlier thread directed at one of their main attack dogs, their approach would cancel MLK...(3)

Read 14 tweets

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