Nick Anderson leads us off with a base for today’s discussion, politely translating “E pluribus unum” for those who don’t know what it means.
But, then again, what does it mean?
That’s a key to the American experience, because for all that we’ve fallen short of “all men are created equal” over the past 243 years, that has been the goal of a nation which is based upon a concept rather than, as in monarchies, on a strand of DNA.
Times change, and seldom fast enough. When Abigail Adams beseeched her husband, John, to “Remember the Ladies” in drawing up laws for the new nation, she did so with a gentle bit of friendly humor.
Perhaps she needed to be more blunt: He responded affectionately, but condescendingly, and it took nearly a century and a half for women to earn the right to vote.
The point is not to be patient, but, rather, to understand the process, which relies on the concept, not that “white men” should be in power so much as “men of middle class and above” should be the default, which is almost entirely the same thing.
Until it isn’t.
Here’s what you have to understand, to understand inequality, racism and bigotry: There is a fundamental assumption among those “men of middle class” that everybody wants to be like us.
It’s similar to the way “we” — that is, white middleclass America — looked at the Great Plains and assumed it was not being used, that it ought to be planted in corn and wheat and built up with roads and houses.
Just had to get rid of those damned, destructive buffaloes.
And when we met hunter/gatherer pre-industrial people, scrabbling in the sand to make a living, it’s understandable that we thought they’d be better off living like we do, with shoes and farms and shit.
That’s not racism.
It’s condescending and it’s assuming a lot. It’s imperialism and hegemony, but it’s only coincidentally racism.
However, when you look at “The Five Civilized Tribes” in the southeast, living in clapboard houses with shoes and farms and shit, and you uproot them anyway and make them walk to Oklahoma, that’s racism.
We’re still sorting the kind intentions out from the hateful exclusion.
Jeff Koterba brings up the “Melting Pot” concept, which is that we should all blend together, which sounds good except that it assumes that we’ll blend into a cafe au lait that is a lot more au lait than cafe.
Which, by the way, is how Disney comes up with the notion that you can just paint a Danish mermaid darker and she’ll change races, even though nothing else about her changes.
Because if you’re gonna act black, then we have to paint you blue and stick you in a lamp, or maybe turn you into a wise-cracking donkey who can impart magical minority wisdom to a big green whateverthehellheis.
Meanwhile, if you’re gonna stick around, you need to be assimilated, and, even then, as Joel Pett puts it, you’re still going to be judged by the loudest among us.
We’ve just gone through a period where the loudest among us sparked the Civil Rights Movement, and forced racists and bigots under a rock, but, if you thought they had disappeared, the last two years must surely have been a disappointing revelation.
Jeff Stahler drew this a couple of days ago, but then last night the GOP proved him right.
The House voted on whether or not racism was a bad thing, and 183 Republicans said it was not.
Or, at least, they voted that it is not racism to call African and Caribbean nations “shitholes,” to wish that we had more Norwegian immigrants instead of Latinos and black people, and to tell Latino and black women to go back to where they came from.
The Republicans had a chance to stand up but they fell to their knees.
Juxtaposition of the Falling Dominos
I’ve been accused of never running any conservative cartoonists here, so let’s catch up a bit with some commentary from four undeniably right-of-center sources.
Some observers are suggesting that Dear Leader is putting all this racist garbage out there to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein situation, but, first of all, that’s already in court, so good luck keeping it from coming out.
Second, I don’t think he plans into the future much beyond the next hour and a half.
If there is a connection between that affidavit about him raping a 13-year-old child and his latest outburst of racist tweets, it’s likely that he’s starting to panic and lose what little self-control he ever had.
RJ Matson suggests that the GOP is hiding from the impact of Trump’s rants, though I think they’ve been happy to ride the wave, even though they’re maybe a little scared to bail out now.
Which brings us to “Network” and the fact that, although the anchor was clearly going insane, he was getting good ratings.
We don’t mess with good ratings.
Juxtaposition of the Day
(Ed Hall)
Hall wins for the caricatures, Slyngstad got off a good line. (Line, not … never mind)
Ephphatha!
David Rowe plays tellingly with Trump’s claim that he hasn’t got a racist bone in his body, bringing in his deliberate effort to avoid serving his nation when called upon.
It’s entirely possible that Trump does not recognize his racism, that, like some others, he feels if he avoids the “N-word,” he’s covered, and that, now that we’ve got the Civil Rights Act, there’s no more racism anyway.
In his case, of course, it’s ridiculous, but there are plenty of people in this country who don’t get it, who don’t understand what it is like to be a minority in the home of the brave and the land of the free.
I’d suggest you stream Wanda Sykes: Not Normal on Netflix.
She’s hilarious, but it will open your ears.
Meanwhile, here’s a hint from a bit she did during Obama’s first term: