List of people, groups and nations
GOP considers enemies is growing
Lee
Daniels
Guest
Columnist
J 1
It's get
ting more and
more difficult
to keep up
with the
lengthening
list of people,
groups, and
- nations the
Republican
rariy s picsiucncy-seeicers are designating
as targets.
Undocumented Latino immigrants -
and their American-citizen children?
Check. Gays and lesbians? Sure. Asian
immigrants and alleged "birth tourists"
who take advantage of the 14th
Amendment's birthright citizenship
clause? Yep. Black Americans? Of course.
#BlackLivesMatter? Univision television
anchor Jorge Ramos, for not having good
manners? Add them in. Poor people?
Right. Women who want to do anything
that differentiates them from a doorknob?
IUU , IUU.
Muslims
Americans,
and Muslims
across the
globe?
Absolutely.
Mexico - for
"sending"
undocumented
Latino immi
grants to the
U.S. and now,
China, whose
own economic
crisis proves
it's trying to
wreck the U.S.
economy? The
GOP has
r i .
rounu you oui.
Welcome, all, to the Republican Party's
enemies list. For what would American
conservatism be without "enemies" to
blame for spoiling the pure, Whites-like
us-in-charge vision that's always been its
driving force?
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-win
ning economist and New York Times
columnist, got it exactly in his August 26
observation that, contrary to its supposed
principles of religiosity and faith in mar
kets, conservatism is just "a reactionary
movement, a defense of power and privi
lege against democratic challenges from
below, particularly in the private spheres
of the family and the workplace."
That dynamic, bolstered by deeply
held racist and sexist notions, is why the
GOP Base hails Donald Trump, who other
wise has virtually none of the personal his
tory or qualities conservatives say they
value. Krugman wrote, "The point is that
Trump isn't a diversion, he's a revelation,
bringing the real motivations of the move
ment out into the open."
In that regard, what Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker said two weeks ago is equally
revealing.
Speaking at a New Hampshire cam
paign event. Walker criticized President
Obama for not stating the global war
against terrorism is in fact a war against
Islam itself. Walker declared that "radical
Islamic terrorism" was fighting "a war
against not only America and Israel, it's a
war against Christians, it's a war against
Jews, it's a war against even the handful of
reasonable, moderate followers of Islam
who don't share the radical beliefs that
these radical Islamic terrorists have."
Got that? This man who would be pres
ident of the United States believes that out
of the roughly 1.6 billion followers of
Islam around die globe, (compared to 2.2
billion Christians) there are only a "hand
ful of reasonable, moderate" ones.
Walker, of course, moved right along
after saying this - never specifying, for
example,
what num
ber of "rea
sonable"
5 Muslims
made up
that hand
ful; or
whether
that group
does or
does not
include all
0 f
America's
Muslim cit
izens (who
now make
up less than
1 percent
or tne country s population); or how he d
operate as a president who believes
America is both surrounded and infiltrated
by fellow-travelers of radical Islamic ter
rorists.
Walker's words reminded me of words
another governor of another state snarled a
half-century ago in the midst of another
crisis. That was the declaration of racial
war in the defense of White supremacy
George C. Wallace declared in his 1963
inaugural speech as governor of Alabama.
That rancid speech's most infamous line
was his pledge to defend "segregation
now, segregation tomorrow, segregation
forever!"
Wallace could make such an evil
pledge because of a promise he'd made to
himself four years earlier after losing the
state's 1958 gubernatorial contest.
Then, Wallace had campaigned as a -
for the South - racial moderate against a
rabid racist. After losing, he told his cam
paign's finance director, "I was out-nig
gered and I will never be out-niggered
again." Ttat pact with the devil produced
the George Wallace that history knows and
condemns.
The "George Wallace Principle" is now
on full display in the Republican Party pri
mary as this candidate and that candidate
compete to appease that sizeable segment
of the GOP electorate who wants to have
its prejudices pandered to.
That's why these people need an
"Enemies List" to identify those individu
als and groups against whom they want to
declare war. That's the purpose of Trump's
unprovoked insult last week of Fox News'
Megyn Kelly as a "bimbo." That's the pur
pose of the slur "anchor babies," whether
it's used against Latino or Asian babies.
These words and phrases are part of the
lexicon of cruelty on which the White
supremacist GOP mob feeds.
In May of 1963, five months after
George Wallace's inauguration, James
Illustration by Ron Rogers for The Chronicle
Baldwin, one of America's moral
guardians during the civil rights years,
spoke words that applied to George
Wallace's followers then - and to his spir
itual disciples in the Republican Party
today: "What the white people have to do
is try to find out in their hearts why it was
necessary to have a nigger in the first
place, because I'm not a nigger. I am a
man, but if you think I'm a nigger, it means
you need it."
Lee A. Daniels is a longtime journalist
based in New York City. His essay.
"Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Great
Provocateur," appears in Africa's
Peacemakers: Nobel Peace Laureates of
African Descent (2014), published by Zed
Books. His new collection of columns.
Race Forward: Facing America's Racial
Divide in 2014, is available at wwwxima
zon.com.
"Walker's words
reminded me of word:
another governor of
another state snarled
a half-century ago in
the midst of another
crisis."
Our votes do count and do
make a big difference for the
betterment of
Black America
Benjamin
Chavis
I
Guest
Columnist
As we enter the 2016
political campaign season
with numerous candidates
for president of the United
States in the Republican
and Democratic parties, it
appears once again that the
political and economic
interests of Black America
are n& .being adequately
addressed by either of the
major political parties. It is
as if the Black American
vote is being taken for
granted.
The Black vote is
important first to the Black
community and secondly to
American democracy. The
right to vote and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 did not
* I i
come about without a
struggle. Many brothers
and sisters went to jail and
paid a heavy painful price
to acquire the right to vote.
Some even died in the
struggle to advance Black
political and civic partici
pation.
In the Civil Rights
Movement, voting rights
were deemed precious and
a sacred moral responsibili
ty to everyone of voting
age. Today, there is need
for the Black community to
reassert the value and
strategic leverage of the
Black vote. It is one thing
for the status quo to ignore
the political interests of the
Black community, but it is
another when so many of
us are missing in action on
Election Day.
According to the
United States Elections
Project, Black voter turnout
has been significantly
increasing steadily from
48.1 percent in 1996 to
i
52.9 percent in 2000 to
61.4 percent in 2004 and
peeking at 69 percent in
2008 when Sen. Barack H.
Obama was elected presi
dent. In 2016, we should
have no less than a 90 per
cent Black turnout. If that
happens, the Black vote,
more than any other single
voting group in the U.S.,
will determine the outcome
of the elections.
We should recall that in
the 2012 elections, for the
first time in history, Black
voter turnout was higher
than White voter turnout -
66.6 percent to 64.1 per
cent. Why do all these vot
ing statistics matter? The
short answer is because if
we can continue to increase
our voter turnout, we will
be better positioned to
advance the interests of the
Black community.
A few weeks ago, the
Pew Research Center
reported that for the first
time in history, there are at
i
least 364 counties, inde
pendent cities and other
county-level equivalents in
the U.S. that did not have a
White majority population
- "the most in modern his
tory, and more than twice
the level in 1980." Ninety
two of the 364 counties are
predominantly Black. This
is leading to the election of
more Blacks as county
sheriffs, county chief exec
utives, and other high pub
lic offices at the county and
regional levels.
Some would say it is
poetic justice, but it is a
rapidly changing racial
demographics reality in
terms of population density
increases and Black elected
officials are on the rise par
ticularly in the 11 states
that once made up the old
Confederacy: Alabama,
Arkansas. Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
and Virginia. That's not
surprising when you con
sider that 55 percent of all
African-Americans reside
in the South, up from 53.6
percent in 2000.
It's not surprising that
some of the most intense
efforts to suppress the
Black vote are taking place
in the South.
Yes, Black Lives
Matter! We must do what
ever is necessary to
improve the quality of life
for our families and com
munities. Do not fall into
the cynical attempts to per
I
suade us that our votes do
not count. Our votes do
count and do make a big
difference for the better
ment of Black America
Yes, Black Votes Matter!
Benjamin F. Chavis. Jr
is the President and CEO oj
the National Newspapei
Publishers Association
(NNPA) and can be reachea
for lectures and other pro
fessional consultations at:
http: I/drbenjaminfchav
is jr.wix .com/drbfc.
*