Will Prison Further Radicalize MAGA?

Fans of democracy rightfully cheered the conviction of Enrique Tarrio and all others who tried to take down our nation in Donald Trump’s name. But their imprisonments aren’t the end of the danger. Instead, it could be the beginning of a more radical, militant, and fervid fascist movement in America.

We’ve seen it happen in organizations like Al-Qaeda – they grow their ranks abroad and here by enticing fellow inmates, further warping their minds in an echo chamber of grievances. Or they use their notoriety to gain more adherents, grow their ranks, and sow more terror. 

That could very well happen to Aiden Bilyard, a North Carolina man who was 18 when he stormed the capital, or Bruno Joseph Cua, who was also 18 and will be sentenced next week. 

These young, impressionable people could easily be drawn further into a movement that wants to use them as an example. That’s what we see happening to Kyle Rittenhouse: he shot a pro-democracy protester and has been embraced as a hero by the right. (Example: Idaho Republicans recently auctioned off “Trigger Time” with the gun-loving youngster.)

No doubt insurrectionists and conspirators like Torres are still communicating with their friends outside and making new ones inside and becoming an entirely new threat in the process: a more concentrated form of fascism.

So, how do we prevent the further militarization of MAGA convicts? By ensuring that they’re rehabilitated in prison, not further radicalized.

One way is by supporting prison programs that actively counter racist, sexist, and, frankly, anti-American attitudes. MAGA-aligned inmates must be exposed to new ways of thought and accurate history of the United States. They must be reformed rather than left to congeal together and stew into something even more violent. 

If not, we face a future with a more zealous fascist movement than even Donald Trump can imagine – true terror. 

When Racists Embraced Remote Learning

Most of us know that in 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus deployed the National Guard to prevent school integration in Little Rock. It did not go as planned: President Eisenhower used his superior power to override Faubus and ordered the Guard to instead protect the students, the Little Rock Nine – a move that ushered in integration in Arkansas’s capital city and showed the world that America was moving forward.

Equality won and Faubus was defeated…

The hateful governor, however, did not go quietly: the next year, 1958, as part of a broader “massive resistance” to integration, Gov. Faubus closed all of Little Rock’s public high schools and replaced them with television lessons produced at local tv stations.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette explains: “Each channel would offer 30-minute courses in English, math, history and science, with each station focusing on one grade level. The students would be on an honor system to watch… and there would be no homework or credit given.”

That’s right – rather than mix races, Faubus tried to entirely upend education – a bit like Ron DeSantis threatening to dismantle AP courses because he doesn’t believe in teaching true American history.

While Faubus thought he was clever, students were less than impressed. One 14-year-old said at the time, “I can’t wait to get back to school. The TV programs are fine, but I wish there was some way to have class discussions.” Another reflected later: “It was insignificant. It was watching some teachers talk on TV. It was the most modest form of educational experience.”

The courts were equally critical: a judge ruled Arkansas’ racist remote learning was just as unjust and unconstitutional as segregation itself and Faubus was once again forced to treat all people the same. Loser.

So, next time you hear a conservative gripe about remote learning during the COVID pandemic [or the next pandemic], remind them that their ideological ancestors pioneered remote learning to prop up racist discrimination. Isn’t it ironic?

[In an added twist, Faubus was a Democrat and Eisenhower a Republican – this was before the Dems moved left and the GOP adopted the “southern strategy” that began its embrace of hateful, discriminatory policies that define it today.]

(All images Thomas J. O’Halloran, via the Library of Congress.)

“Go Woke, Go Broke” and the Right’s Antipathy To Empathy

Conservatives have a long history of couching their cruel policies in bubbly branding. It was the right’s self-proclaimed “Moral Majority” that launched the war on drugs, ostracized AIDS patients, and demonized black women. It was “compassionate conservatism” that slashed food assistance, fought women’s rights, and banned same-sex marriage. (Actually, both did all of that and more.)

Branding aside, in all cases conservatives led by the GOP claimed they were enacting policies for the greater good, often leaving out “this will hurt you more than it will hurt me.” But those days are over. Today the right makes no secret of their exclusionary, ignorant ways. Now they loudly, proudly proclaim, “go woke, go broke,” a rhyme scheme that reveals the depths of their disdain for their fellow humans. They have no empathy and brag about it.

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Trump’s Formulaic Endorsements

Have you noticed that all of Donald Trump’s political endorsements are more or less the same? They always include the same phrase: “He” – it’s almost always a he – “is a fighter who will be tough on Crime and the Border, fight hard for our Second Amendment and loves our Military and our Vets. He has my full and complete Endorsement!”

The above was from his endorsement of Texas Congressman Pete Sessions. Here’s Trumpet’s endorsement of Danny Tarkanian: “[He] of Nevada is a great friend who supports the Trump Agenda. He is Strong on Crime, the Border and our under siege 2nd Amendment. Danny Loves our Military and our Vets. He has my total and complete Endorsement!”

And this: “Congressman Keith Rothfus continues to do a great job for the people of Pennsylvania. Keith is strong on Crime, the Border, and our Second Amendment. Loves our Military and our Vets. He has my total Endorsement!”

The examples go on – and they’re always the same: crime and border; second amendment; military and vets.

Clearly these endorsement’s aren’t from the heart; that space is too full of his own self-interest.

HBD: Mary Renault and Richard Wright

 

Today marks birthdays for Mary Renault (b. 1905) and Richard Wright (b. 1908), two authors who used their tremendous talents to tackle social injustice and institutional discrimination.

Renault’s novels, including 1953’s The Charioteer and 1956’s The Last of the Wine, challenged homophobia: the first directly, the second, like most of her works, indirectly, through the lens of historical fiction. Meanwhile Wright’s works, most notably 1941’s Native Son and his 1945 memoir, Black Boy, explored and exploded racism in America and its deleterious impact on the nation and its people.*

In another similarity between these Virgos, both authors left their homelands to live their truest lives: Renault and partner Julie Mullard escaped England’s mainstream homophobia by relocating in 1948 to comparatively nonchalant South Africa (they would also become vocal opponents of that nation’s racist apartheid government); and Wright and his wife Ellen Poplar relocated to Paris in 1946 to enjoy an existence free of American racism, especially because they were an interracial couple in a time when that was uber taboo.

It’s ironic, isn’t it, that post-WWII America and England, symbolic stars at the time for the west’s superior liberalism, lost two of their brightest  stars because of their restrictive, moralistic social norms?

Both authors died in their adopted lands, Renault in 1983, and Wright in 1960, in Paris.

(*Note: James Baldwin, the gay black author recently discussed here and who escaped American homophobia and racism by also moving to Paris, later took aim at Wright’s depiction of black people, in Notes of a Native Son).

“Join, or Die:” America’s First Meme

Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 version of the iconic reptile.

The “Join, or Die” snake is one of America’s most recognizable, beloved and replicated icons. Emblazoned on flags and t-shirts, pillow cases and iPhone cases, and even on tv show title cards and in comic books, the image is upheld today as a both specifically as an emblem of American independence, and generally as bid for unity against a common oppression. But the world’s most adored reptile didn’t start this way.

Created by Benjamin Franklin in 1754, the “Join, or Die” snake originally signified loyalty to the English empire. It wasn’t a call to action, but an order to fall into line. It was only later that “Join, or Die” evolved into a revolutionary rallying cry — and when it did, it became America’s first meme, too.

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The Incredible Arthur Ellerman

The Ellerman crew circa 1917. Based on his football background, I think Arthur’s standing second from right.

 

A history book’s minor character becomes the author’s editorial sidepiece, resulting in an essay that includes log cabins, net neutrality, research methods, Twin Peaks, romance, politics and one very good dog.

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Meghan Markle Tops Donald Trump

An estimated 29 million Americans tuned in early Saturday morning to watch Meghan Markle marry Prince Harry. That’s about 5 million more than in England itself, and about six million more Americans than who watched Will and Kate Middleton marry seven years ago.

Why did so many more viewers tune in to this wedding versus the last? Are there more televisions now than there were then? Is it that we love Harry more than Will; because we’re all fans of Suits, the show on which Markle starred; or is it because Meghan’s biracial and her entry into the British royal family is a watershed historical moment?

Sure, all of that makes sense, but it seems to me that so many Americans are enthusiastic about Meghan Markle becoming the Duchess of Sussex because we like seeing a polished and seemingly empathetic American representing us on the international stage. With the buffoon president’s steady stream of racist, hateful rhetoric, general dishonesty and pungent nastiness sullying our national name, it’s nice to have an American standing with/for dignity and grace —and not just an American, but a biracial woman whose path — and the once-stodgy royal family’s embrace of — is the emotional and sociopolitical opposite of all President Trump represents.

Meghan Markle is the face of America’s future; Donald Trump and his reactionary racism are its past.

(PS: I was going to have a photo of Trump next to fresh-faced Markle for juxtaposition purposes, but it just didn’t feel right having his ugly mug next to such beauty.)

‘Ultra Rich’ In America, 1883-Today

Hundreds of the planet’s richest and glitziest will gather today to kick off the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That said, this week’s etymological adventure revolves around the term “ultra-rich.”

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