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Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
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16 Nov, 5 tweets, 1 min read
when people ask me to sum up rightwing grievance politics I think of the time Virginia slaveowner Richard Henry wanted to protest high taxes levied by the British so he forced his slaves to protest the tax hike on his behalf w/ banners denouncing the taxes as "chains of slavery"
from this (very excellent) book amazon.com/Internal-Enemy…
Forcing slaves to hold signs saying high taxes are literally slavery while you sit at home is a foundational image. All American politics henceforth have flowed from this single moment
Richard Henry *Lee, sorry left out a word

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Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
16 Nov
See I think this where there’s confusion. That Americans did radical and righteous things being rammed into some Essential American narrative is often times simply ahistoric. The IWW built a foundation of labor progress but explicitly rejected nationalism. Where do they fit in?
Are the Black Panthers part of some American fiber? Runaway slaves who justifiably sided w/ British in War of 1812? Labor radicals who disrupted supply chains during WWI? Some movements used the banner of Americanism but many explicitly did not. Just convey this reality imo
Retconning all progressive movements into some preordained American Way is a self serving tautology that views the people who occupied the relevant space of North America as, by definition, part of some coherent political project which is goofy kid shit.
Read 9 tweets
Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
16 Nov
This shit is so insecure. Insisting the US is ultimately Good & Moral, no matter how nuanced & handwringing one may be about “mistakes,” is so transparently political & about soothing egos it’s weird we have to act like this has anything to do w/ fidelity to historical precision
Let’s all just admit it’s about political utility & social cohesion & ameliorating the cognitive dissonance inherent in running a liberal empire that supposedly promotes human rights & democracy while bombing & propping up dictators and not, at all, about proper historiography
Again, there are dozens of countries on earth who don’t tell themselves exceptionalist fairy tales and their citizens get along his just fine! The sun doesn’t have to rise and set in our ass, truly
Read 8 tweets
Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
15 Nov
Bail reform in NY was already very watered down, now supposed Rational and Reasonable Reformer Eric Adams wants to basically kill it. Remember: this is about caging humans for months, sometimes years, before they’ve even had a trial, much less been found guilty of anything.
Again, BLM & abolitionists were scolded time & again during the campaign by the Serious People at the NYT and MSNBC that Adams was going to “balance” “real reform” w/ “safety”. Other than cosmetic changes in leadership: what actual reforms has Adams proposed since he was elected?
Proposals Adams has made since primary win:

✔️ Ending school mask mandate
✔️ Bringing back “jump out boys” NYPD unit that was shelved in 2020 because it harassed and killed so many black people
✔️ Teaching “crypto in schools”
✔️ Hiring more police officers

❓ “Police Reforms”❓
Read 6 tweets
Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
14 Nov
Yes! A 1859 NYT editorial scolding abolitionists as unreasonable and doing harm to the cause of opposing slavery is a fascinating read, especially the part where they say “silence on the part of the north concerning slavery would be the best policy”
“The very best thing that could possibly be done towards the abolition of Slavery would be for the North to stop talking about it.”
“Ten years of absolute silence would do more than fifty of turmoil and hostility, towards a peaceful removal of the evil. It is quite possible that the Abolition crusade may force a bloody and violent termination of the system, but this no sane man desires”
Read 10 tweets
Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
14 Nov
Democrats were THIS CLOSE to backing meaningful “police reform” (whatever that means, body cams for the body cams? banning chokeholds for the fourth time?) but those meddling defund kids messed it. Otherwise it would have absolutely been a real thing that would have happened
8cantwait were a series of “requirements” state and city lawmakers would insist police departments would suggest to police they abide by. Several of which were already on the books for years and no one ever followed already
Theres a sophisticated perma-reform regime of PR firms, partisan hack think tanks & nonprofit limited hangouts specifically set up to waterdown reform efforts thats been around for decades & it’d be good if the “defund is too far” crowd would at least try & engage w/ this reality
Read 6 tweets
Adam H. Johnson Profile picture
12 Nov
This is such a smart gambit by Hawley, just the perfect superficially appealing fake bullshit. Here, white rural communities aren’t suffering because private equity firms like the one Hawley used to be a lawyer for gutted jobs, but due to vague moral failings
The problem is a moral one not a material one, its origins are immigrants, academics, feminists, gays, the Chinese & the wokes not the interior rich & petty bourgeois owners who fund Hawley’s campaign & whose interests he serves & who drive down your wages & gut your labor laws
Self help Christian woo woo is smart, it speaks to a genuine human need and fills a real void but offers warmed over MRA dogma mixed with capital-serving victim blaming
Read 4 tweets

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