After the news summary, Neil and I discuss the Trump administration's dangerous and illegal gambit in Venezuela--and look at the man with the plan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
I don't think why Nicole Good's murder hits hard is mysterious: she was a White woman, not a Black person subject to police brutality., as so often happens. Ice killed a Black person in California, whose name I have to look up to find.
Neil says they hate us. Perhaps. But we know they hate Black people--and Brown people, and immigrants. This hatred among right wingers is and has been out in the open for a very long time.
Yes. That said, I think the other thing that is hard about this is that in the last several decades, as Americans we have been used to the DOJ and FBI being neutral parties, and I think the open hostility of the Trump administration and its paid media enablers towards Good--and the sheer gaslighting that followed--was deeply unnerving, even for those of us who believe we have seen everything.
In the terrible murders of George Floyd and Philando Castile in the Twin Cities, there were extensive federal investigations; a plausible counter narrative to the police narrative was not instantly dismissed by the people who are in charge of protecting our civil rights. And while these investigations didn't always end the way we wanted them to, the false narratives about those murders came from the local cops who perpetrated them, not anyone in Washington. Trump has talked about waging war on Americans, and now it is very clear that is what is happening. If they have their way, they will run this operation like a counterinsurgency.
Now, most Black people would know not to do what Renee and her wife did. They wouldn't have engaged. They would have followed instructions, and tried not to be guided by fear. They would have known they had no power in the situation. They would not have tried to move the car, since it is pretty well known that border cops and ICE often deliberately bump a car so that they can use "assault" as an excuse to go wild on people. They would have done everything possible to save their own lives.
Lastly, I think one message that is worth repeating here is also one we both know has repeated throughout history: if you are a White person who choose to defend Black or Brown people you really cease being white in the eyes of racists, and the White privilege you may have enjoyed is withdrawn. We saw that with White officers commanding Black troops in the Civil War, Viola Liuzzo, the White Freedom Riders...the examples are endless. It's an important lesson that folks who are engaging in civil disobedience have to recognize.
Yes, of course, may her memory be a blessing--I was thinking about the number of Black parents I know who instruct their children on what script they must follow to stay alive in the presence of police.
I don't think why Nicole Good's murder hits hard is mysterious: she was a White woman, not a Black person subject to police brutality., as so often happens. Ice killed a Black person in California, whose name I have to look up to find.
Neil says they hate us. Perhaps. But we know they hate Black people--and Brown people, and immigrants. This hatred among right wingers is and has been out in the open for a very long time.
Yes. That said, I think the other thing that is hard about this is that in the last several decades, as Americans we have been used to the DOJ and FBI being neutral parties, and I think the open hostility of the Trump administration and its paid media enablers towards Good--and the sheer gaslighting that followed--was deeply unnerving, even for those of us who believe we have seen everything.
In the terrible murders of George Floyd and Philando Castile in the Twin Cities, there were extensive federal investigations; a plausible counter narrative to the police narrative was not instantly dismissed by the people who are in charge of protecting our civil rights. And while these investigations didn't always end the way we wanted them to, the false narratives about those murders came from the local cops who perpetrated them, not anyone in Washington. Trump has talked about waging war on Americans, and now it is very clear that is what is happening. If they have their way, they will run this operation like a counterinsurgency.
Now, most Black people would know not to do what Renee and her wife did. They wouldn't have engaged. They would have followed instructions, and tried not to be guided by fear. They would have known they had no power in the situation. They would not have tried to move the car, since it is pretty well known that border cops and ICE often deliberately bump a car so that they can use "assault" as an excuse to go wild on people. They would have done everything possible to save their own lives.
Lastly, I think one message that is worth repeating here is also one we both know has repeated throughout history: if you are a White person who choose to defend Black or Brown people you really cease being white in the eyes of racists, and the White privilege you may have enjoyed is withdrawn. We saw that with White officers commanding Black troops in the Civil War, Viola Liuzzo, the White Freedom Riders...the examples are endless. It's an important lesson that folks who are engaging in civil disobedience have to recognize.
I'm not so sure what most Black people would have known or done. I'm thinking of Sandra Bland.
Yes, of course, may her memory be a blessing--I was thinking about the number of Black parents I know who instruct their children on what script they must follow to stay alive in the presence of police.