Find me some white supremacists
It’s corrosive and harmful to America for the Biden administration to continue on this course of purging, while the media obsesses over Trump’s political future.
President Biden visited Tulsa on Tuesday, where he delivered a speech focusing on the horrible race massacre that occurred there 100 years ago.
To be sure, the assault on Greenwood was a massive crime, involving an army of bigoted white people who razed an entire affluent Black community to the ground over a single accusation of possible sexual crime by one man. As Erick Erickson pointed out, that event is not taught to children as a seminal moment in American history. The fact that Biden is giving this sad centennial the amplification of his bully pulpit is commendable. The perpetrators of the massacre were never prosecuted. Justice was never done.
This is not the only, or even an isolated, case of white aggressors killing, even in a massacre, Black victims, without any justice even attempted. I could spend many thousands of words detailing these kinds of crimes, in Georgia alone, which extended into the 1960s. There’s a website that compiles this information, along with positive landmarks in Black America, if you’re interested.
There are still white supremacists in America. But the number, spread, and influence of these extremists is debatable, and varies depending on the source. If you check the Southern Poverty Law Center, you’d think there’s a white supremacist hiding in your kitchen. The SPLC is a biased source, more interested in its own continued relevance (and raising money: a $471 million dollar endowment, according to Google). For example, the SPLC considers legal scholar Michael Stokes Paulsen to be a threat in their “hate watch” along with theologian Dr. Robert Oscar López because they both oppose same-sex marriage, and López acknowledges the existence of “ex-gay” people.
Many of the hate groups on SPLC’s “hate map” exist in tiny numbers in various states. The groups are loosely organized, but yes, capable of carnage. January 6th proves that when a bully pulpit, with a demagogue behind it, whistles Dixie, not only do the fawning faithful supporters come calling, but also the extremists who dream of a coup and live for the day when they can parade in their playtriot gear (or horns) into the Senate chamber to “stop the steal.”
In the midst of that crowd are many who saw the January 6th event as an organic kind of Woodstock for Trumpists, where they’d just go with the crowd in a rally-induced fever. These are the poor souls like 18-year-old Bruno Cua, from Milton, Georgia, who are going to spend significant time in prison. Prosecutors use posts on Parler as proof this kid (and others like him) are violent radicals. Some of them may be.
But if it’s true they all are radical white supremacists and insurrectionists, then where are the white supremacists on the centennial anniversary of Tulsa?
Days before Biden’s Tulsa speech, the Department of Homeland Security issued a general warning that the event “could be targets for racial violence,” CNN reported.
There are no specific or credible threats at this time that violent extremists are planning on targeting the remembrance, according to a DHS spokesperson, who confirmed that information about the concerns was shared with local and state authorities.
No violence happened. As far as the media has been told (and don’t try to tell me they wouldn’t be told) no plot was foiled, no attempt at disruption was made. It was an empty warning.
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald called out the Biden administration on this, and other kinds of “warnings” that they’re using to paint a picture of a large fifth column of Trumpists, white supremacists, and subversives operating in America.
The first was a January 14 warning, from numerous federal agencies including DHS, about violence in Washington, DC and all fifty state capitols that was likely to explode in protest of Inauguration Day (a threat which did not materialize). Then came a January 27 bulletin warning of “a heightened threat environment across the United States that is likely to persist over the coming weeks” from “ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority” (that warning also was not realized).
Greenwald goes on to compare this to the post-9/11 “War on Terror” that highlighted warnings with no specific threats. The point of the warnings is to highlight that there might be a threat from the particular group of people the government wants you to be ultra-sensitive about, as they are a danger in themselves.
I reject Greenwald’s comparison here in many ways. The January 6th insurrection was in large part called into being and fomented by President Trump. He promoted the “Stop the Steal” rally, spoke to the crowd, told them to “fight” and pumped them up. Then he retreated to the White House to observe the carnage on Fox News and CNN. It took him hours to be persuaded to even tweet a weak “I love you all” and “go home” directive to obey the authorities. By then, the damage had been done.
Contrast this with President George W. Bush, days after 9/11, who gave a speech with the central theme of “Islam is peace.” In the speech, Bush got the point, “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace, they represent evil and war.”
He defended Muslim Americans and tried to deal with their fear:
I've been told that some fear to leave; some don't want to go shopping for their families; some don't want to go about their ordinary daily routines because, by wearing cover, they're afraid they'll be intimidated. That should not and that will not stand in America.
In 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump claimed that “thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.” After exhaustive searching of media and personal accounts, the event Trump told George Stephanopoulos he saw, never happened. Trump’s own account, published as a foreword to the book “Where Were You On 9/11” simply notes that he was in his apartment in Trump Tower on 9/11, and saw the events from his window. No mention of crowds cheering.
Bush was concerned with preventing backlash from extremists and fear-based targeting of Muslims as extremists hiding behind every hijab. Trump was concerned with stirring up feelings of fear and backlash. What the Biden administration is doing is much more akin to what Trump did than what Bush did.
Driving through Atlanta in February, I saw the FBI billboards seeking information on anyone related to the January 6th events. The constant drumbeat that anyone who voted for Donald Trump, regardless of their position on the insurrection and claims of “stolen election,” deserve to be counted among the suspect, is not lost on me.
The fact that the DHS, and the media, continue to issue threat warnings with no specific threats, other than the fact that there are 70-plus million voters out there who chose Donald Trump on their ballot, is concerning. We wanted Biden to give us some unity, but what we’re getting is a purge mentality.
It’s almost like Biden’s handlers are out there saying “find me some white supremacists.” They’re taking every attack on Asians, Jews, and Blacks, and combing through to find the ones made by white people. The majority of attacks on Asians in places like San Francisco come from Black attackers. The vast majority of attacks against Jews come from pro-Palestinians and Black attackers. I am not denying these attacks have increased greatly of late. However, the increase is not related to the Biden administration’s hunt for white supremacists and Trumpists hiding in every Walmart.
The push is right in lockstep the Critical Race Theory, the part where if you’re not out there looking for the KKK banner in your neighbor’s garage, then you must be a KKK sympathizer. You must have some unconscious rage against Blacks, or Asians, or Jews, if you’re white—even if you’re Jewish and conservative. Blacks who are conservative are labeled “Uncle Tom.” Even Sen. Tim Scott got the “Uncle Tim” treatment.
It’s corrosive and harmful to America for the Biden administration to continue on this course of purging, while the media obsesses over Trump’s political future.
There are white supremacists in America. But there are not hundreds of thousands of them. There are bigots in America, but not all of them are white. There are extremists of all stripes in America, but not all of them voted for Donald Trump.
Biden’s administration needs to stop searching for these boogeymen and begin what he was supposedly elected to do. But I’m cynical about politics and believe the drumbeat will continue for another four years.
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"There are white supremacists in America. But there are not hundreds of thousands of them."
How many do you think there are, and how many would be enough to merit justifiable concern? You only need one-tenth of one percent of the country's population to be in "hundreds of thousands" territory.
The situation with the SBC is all the proof people need to see to know there is a sick racist vain throughout much of the same population that has always carried it. And every time its brought out it means that someone who was denied justice will have a chance to get it. I hope Biden and more importantly the good just people fighting within these organizations continue to push the need to confront this. Even if people like you and Erick want to keep the hate hidden.