THREAD: If we care about diversity, equity and inclusion, then we must pay close attention to how the GOP is normalizing openly white supremacist language. It is a war on diversity. /1 
I have little doubt that US Senator Cassidy's safe Louisiana Senate seat made him a perfect candidate for national level GOP consultants to focus group the following statement and test it on the national stage. Lessons are being learned about how to normalize white supremacy. /2
Speaking to Politico, Senator Cassidy said: "About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear." /3
US Senator Bill Cassidy goes on the say, "Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality.”
"For whatever reason." /4
"For whatever reason." /4
Senator Cassidy is not misspeaking. He is testing yet more GOP language to normalize otherwise unspoken systems and structures which institutionalize racism. /5
By stating that Black mothers’ die more often in Louisiana "for whatever reason" Cassidy normalizes the GOP's move from so-called racist dog whistles, to openly declaring and thereby reinforcing longstanding systems of racial inequality. /6
Two facts are indisputable:
1) Black mothers in Louisiana are four times more likely to die than white mothers.
2) Open unapologetic white supremacy is accelerating in the GOP. /7
1) Black mothers in Louisiana are four times more likely to die than white mothers.
2) Open unapologetic white supremacy is accelerating in the GOP. /7
As @thinkplay writes on Twitter: "This is why unpacking language and frames of meaning (discursive analysis) is key to dismantling racist structural moves." /8
Senator Cassidy's structural move is to normalize genocide against Black mothers as acceptable political discourse. With the full support of right wing media icons like Tucker Carlson, the mainstreaming of this and other frames like the Great Replacement are under way. /9
Recently a white man told me I was "calling everything racist" thereby reducing the effectiveness of the word. He's wrong. There is a well funded, well coordinated white supremacist extremist movement set to overwhelm our democratic institutions. #BlueWave2022 /10
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