It might be unpopular but it’s also true that the EXACT same nuance is required to understand why the Black American voting majority enthusiastically supported both the “crime bill” in 1994 AND Bill & Hillary Clinton from the 90s until now.
Feels like I’ve mentioned this blindspot umpteen times before, but here it goes again for the nosebleed seats. People need to understand that “defund the police” rhetoric on the far left inevitably catalyzes White fearmongering about Black “lawlessness” on the far right. 🙃
In other words, the folk whose main goal is perpetuating fuckery of the Democratic party’s agenda and its marginalized base want nothing more than to paint BIPOC communities as resistant to law & order while simultaneously aiding & abetting White supremacist domestic terrorism.
What none of these agitators & instigators want you to know is that it was the pragmatism and altruism of the Black American voting majority that forged a centrist but right leaning, bipartisan, 90s era coalition that had the VOTES to pass an assault weapons ban & VAWA.
Hello.
Yeah, I said assault weapons ban. Black folks were fully on board with that and VAWA b/c the White powers that be made sure to flood our cities with guns, drugs, alcohol/tobacco and a bloodthirsty “war on drugs” police force that decimated the Black community in the *1960s-80s*.
In case you’re keeping track at home, this is also the same fucked up Black “lawlessness” line of “reasoning” (on both the far left & far right 🧲) at the root of “Kamala’s a cop” propaganda. The aim is ALWAYS to paint Black folk as criminals who fundamentally don’t abide laws.
Ultimately their objective is to fearmonger us out of doing police AND gun reform b/c the end result is maintenance of the status quo, more guns on the street, more crime, more death, more chaos, more anger, more confusion, more Whitelash & MORE Republican destruction of America.
Bottom line is DO NOT fall for this “defund the police” bait & switch bullshit. Look no further than the very telling reality that the FOP hasn’t lifted a fucking finger to increase their own safety by supporting gun reform. More guns & crime = more 💰 = Job Security. #WakeTFUp
We have less than 9 months to get our asses in gear for the next election. If you’re so busy arguing the finer points of “defund” v. “reallocate” that you’re sidelining reform of America’s gun fetishism & racist/militarized police force, you’re on the loud & wrong battlefield. ☠️
As @JonathanMetzl so eloquently advised us re: the pitfalls of the CRT “debate” during our book club discussion, we can’t afford to get distracted by the semantics of public policy when our GOP opposition is purposely stoking Whitelash for POWER. #DyingOfWhitenessWithJonAndJane
Since y’all are here for it, here’s yet another reason PJB has NO fucks to give about telling the “defund the police” crowd to either shut the hell up or find a better slogan. He’s been to the “defend the police” Whitelash rodeo before & knows this is the fuckery of DISTRACTION.
The thing that’s always struck me about this (not only as a Black woman but also as a psychiatrist IRL who’s literally tasked with helping people cope with stress, illness and the ups & downs of life) is the Black woman savior complex of it all. It’s subconscious but ubiquitous.
As with many things in America, I also think it’s yet another sociological phenomenon brought to us by slavery. A lot of White family systems fell apart (continue to) without the presence of a Mammy or some form of matriarchal Black help in the home. jstor.org/stable/2714687
Except for all intents/purposes, VA *was* TX not too long ago. The 2021 Gubernatorial election set back over a decade of hard-won progress by VA Democrats. It can happen in ANY historically or recently “blue” state at the drop of a dime, if enough White voters DEFECT/vote GOP. 🥴
The other thing to remember is #WeTriedToTellThem ALL of this shit was gonna happen (all over again) but HELL NO. This is yet another consequence of MAGAts who have both a death wish and outsized influence on every single public/private system in 🇺🇸 running the asylum. 🤡👹👺🦊
Adding this here b/c it’s really important that we also recognize how the toxic/violent masculinization of GOP women voters also extends to #MAGAWoman elected officials. They’ve created an army of Ashli Babbitts who aid/abet the radicalization of their menfolk & themselves. 👹🤡
By now we’ve seen too many GOP/GOP adjacent mothers/wives/girlfriends either completely “overlook” the extremism in their midst or actively enable and facilitate the obstinance/defiance and evasion of consequences that leads to White, right wing domestic terrorism. #VanillaISIS
The thing that really chaps my hide about it is I’ve heard Republicans vilify Black family values & label us criminals/social deviants my whole life, yet here they are breeding & grooming the most PROLIFIC White domestic terrorists America’s ever seen and the NARRATIVE is SILENT.