GregB sent this email because WordPress refused to post it as a comment. Trump pardoned the controversial and racist sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, on Friday night, when everyone was focused on Hurricane Harvey.
Here is Greg’s email:
“I tried to post this but WordPress wasn’t having any of it. Should it interest you, here’s what Joe Kloc wrote in the current email edition of Harper’s Magazine Weekly Review (it may be his best one yet):
“Days before the Mexican government offered to send aid for the victims of a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in eastern Texas and caused catastrophic flooding in up to 50 counties and drove an estimated 30,000 people from their homes, one-time pornographic-film extra and current U.S. president Donald Trump issued a pardon for Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County who, during his 24-year tenure, held inmates in Korean War tents that reached temperatures of 141 degrees; referred to those tents as a “concentration camp” and the place “where all the Mexicans are”; called complaints from Latinos “civil rights crap”; said it costs more to “feed the dogs than it does the inmates,” whom he fed rotten green bologna; ran on his office’s website a “Mugshot of the Day” contest inviting visitors to vote for their favorite inmate images; shot footage of female inmates that could be viewed online; forced hundreds of inmates not yet convicted of any crime to march from one jail to another in pink underwear; oversaw guards who referred to Latino inmates as “wetbacks” and “Mexican bitches,” strapped to a chair a paraplegic inmate and then tightened the restraints until his neck broke, and forced a female inmate to give birth in shackles; said he was the “first in the world” to put women in a “chain gang”; admitted that his counsel had hired a private agent to investigate the wife of a judge who ordered him to stop racially profiling Latinos, a ruling he was later found in contempt of court for ignoring; claimed that all people crossing the Mexican border had swine flu; said he was “doing something good” because the Latino community was “leaving town”; asked a Latino waitress if it was “safe” to drink a glass of iced tea she had given him; was found to have inadequately investigated or ignored hundreds of sex crimes; opened a rape investigation into a political opponent and investigated for child molestation a former Phoenix mayor who disagreed with his treatment of Latinos; oversaw deputies who threatened to arrest a reporter for viewing public records and forced a man’s dog back into a burning house that they had set on fire; ran a jail with four times the suicide rate of county jails for Chicago or Miami; banned his inmates from drinking coffee and possessing pornographic magazines, and created an in-house radio station that broadcasted songs by Frank Sinatra; referred to his Italian-American bodyguards as his “mafia”; and chained together teenage inmates and forced them to bury the corpses of poor people. “More rain coming,” tweeted Trump.”
Wow! I knew he was bad, but he is beyond disgusting.
DUMP should be in jail not potus.
What a horror. This, in the United States. Shameful and disgusting.
Here is a thread on Twitter with links to news stories covering events that occured during the reign of terror overseen by Arpaio. The news of Trump’s pardon of this man made me nearly physically ill. Nearly all of my teaching career was spent teaching Latino students, some of them undocumented; my husband too, is a naturalized Latino citizen. That so many people could be exposured to such danger, even risk of losing their lives, due to one man is an example of how our democracy can – and does – fail. We can do better.
This was especially horrifying: https://t.co/qtnT38W7da
Thanks for posting this, Christine. I read it a couple of days ago on HuffPo and was horrified. The fact that people are supporting him demonstrates, as if we didn’t know already, that American fascism is alive and unfortunately well.
That Phoenix New Times story is truly shocking, Christine. Deeply, deeply wrong. And what’s also deeply wrong is that this story has not been picked up by the national media. It’s important that people know what actually happened in Sheriff Arpaio’s gulag. Sickening.
Sheriff Joe has been an open book for as long as I have corresponded with him and his team. I am sure your source would never speak to any of the many inmates that have thanked Joe over the years. He took a special interest in trying to make it possible for each inmate had the chance to be successful.
We kept him in office for 24 years. But in the last couple of years we have seen a switch brought on by big money democrats. They bought the media and other positions around the town and state.
Linda says that Arizona was bought by “big-money Democrats” but they forgot to buy the governor, the two senators, the Congressional delegation, and the Legislature. Amazing.
Do not get me started on our RINO (republican in name only) Senators!
Linda,
So total Republican control isn’t good enough for you.
I suppose you think that Arizona is in the grip of left wing domination because somewhere a Democrat was elected.
Don’t assume. In the military there is a saying … do not assume, if you do you make an add out of you & me. I have voted democratic …
For folks who don’t use Twitter: if you hover over the middle of the blank space in the frame I posted until the cursor changes, then click, it will open up a group of linked posts. There are some 12-15 links to specific news stories on Arpaio’s watch. The one I posted which Bob mentioned is just one of them. Others? failure to investigate child sex abuse cases, setting a puppy on fire, nearly breaking the neck of a paraplegic man, staging an assassination attempt against himself, a 5 year investigation of Obama’s Hawai’ian birth certificate.
Thank you, Christine. My God, those stories!!!! Horrific!!!
What people hear, over and over, is, “He was tough. Really, really tough. A tough sheriff.” Exposing a pregnant woman to conditions that kill her baby. That’s real manly toughness, huh? Sickening.
Arpaio is a sick man, but then again so is Trump. Birds of a feather……..
That SOB pretty much ran rampant and roughshod over people’s rights for the better part of two decades. If anyone should have to endure what he put “his” prisoners through it should be him.
YES
From Wikipedia:
According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 2,220,300 adults were incarcerated in US federal and state prisons, and county jails in 2013 – about 0.91% of adults (1 in 110) in the U.S. resident population. Additionally, 4,751,400 adults in 2013 (1 in 51) were on probation or on parole.In total, 6,899,000 adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison) in 2013 – about 2.8% of adults (1 in 35) in the U.S. resident population.
2.8% of the U.S. population in jail, in prison, on parole, or on probation. Almost 3 percent of the population under correctional supervision–giving the U.S. ” the second-highest per-capita incarceration rate [in the world], behind Seychelles.”
We have lost our way. This is supposed to be the land of the free. But think of the most repressive, extreme regimes in the world–we imprison people at a higher rate than they do.
And then this this–the tale of Joe Arpaio–chain gangs, tent cities, degradation and humiliation of prisoners.
Disgusting. Immoral. Shameful.
utter lawlessness, from the guy charged with enforcing the law
And refusal to follow a court order requiring him to stop blatant and extreme racial profiling
lawlessness and contempt for the law
He was following the law, just NOT THE ORDER OF THE COURT which wanted him to look the other way.
Linda Giffin
No he was not following the law. He does not get to interpret the law as he likes . In this country we use the courts to interpret the law .
“‘it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.’ Since Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court has been the final arbiter of the constitutionality of congressional legislation.”
http://www.history.com/topics/marbury-v-madison.
Did they teach American history where you went to school. Fox news is no substitute for a good education.
He WAS following the Arizona laws on illegals. Arpiao just decided to follow existing laws rather than directives from the court that basically said ignore the laws, just do as I say.
The Obama administration had a habit of doing things their way without doing them the LEGAL way. A good example may be on the horizon. DACA was not done to provide any lasting legal status to dreamer kids. Unless the Trump administration plans to ignore legal processes this administration will find it necessary to rescind DACA so Congress can enact the appropriate laws to protect those kids now and in the future.
Obama had an idea, but did not execute the idea in a manner that promoted a democratic embracing of the idea. He basically dictated what would be… We are a republic, with democratic ideals. He was only one part of our governing body, but he acted like he could do it alone like a dictator. I guess being raised with totalitarians and communists with a hatred for his white DNA affected his moral judgement.
“with a hatred for his white DNA”–a very revealing remark there from Ms. Giffin
hopeless
All you have to do is let these people talk for a while. Pretty soon they reveal who they really are
And how very bizarre and twisted their thinking is because of the underlying fear and insecurity
Bob Shepherd
If she wasn’t so pathetic it would be hilarious. They say that us Eastern elites ( I was a construction worker) should not ridicule these pathetic excuse of near hominids
Poet Robert Okaji:
http://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/neighborhood-politics-hidden/332-editor-s-memo/13903-citywatch-today-the-smallness-of-you
And in case, anyone missed it, Trump told reporters today that he decided to announce Arpaio’s pardon on Friday night because the ratings would be better due to coverage of Hurricane Harvey in Houston:
“Actually in the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a Friday evening, I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally. You know, the hurricane was just starting,” the president explained.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/28/trump-defends-pardon-of-former-arizona-sheriff-joe-arpaio/?utm_term=.9c8b7670e6a1
Sheriff Joe was controversial, but he was effective.
He was convicted of a MISDEMEANOR … CONTEMPT OF COURT. No other charges have EVER been brought against him. A conviction would have been a maximum of six months IF he had gotten that. He was accused of violating a judge’s order that directed him to not enforce existing law. This was done in the middle of an election with financial backing to his opponent from none other than George Soros … who since 1979 has openly been trying to destroy this country.
The TENT CITY was never found to be a violation of prisoner rights and neither were the pink underwear the inmates wore.
Chelsea Manning leaked vital government documents … a felony and then some. Are you really going to hyperventilate over a pardon for a civil misdemeanor charge, rather than one that put the entire nation at risk?
“Sheriff Joe was controversial, but he was effective.”
Yep. Just like Adoph Eichmann. Keep those trains running on time I say!
Incidentally, your defense of this man is truly telling. That you see nothing wrong with making inmates wear pink underwear and live in tent cities is too. I’m not sure what’s happened to you in your life to make you this hateful, but I’m deeply sorry for you and I hope you find healing.
Healing is awful kind of you a pair of pink undies paraded in front of cameras and living in tents at 141degrees would be more appropriate .
Bravo, Dienne! Encore!
Agree with Dienne “Sheriff Joe was controversial, but he was effective.” Hitler was effective too. Effective is not enough. I notice that Linda ( here and below) also wants to change the subject rather than offering evidence of the great and wonderful things Sheriff Joe did for all of those prisoners. Like many Trumpsters and defenders of Sheriff Joe, Linda does not want to change her mind.
Quote: “The TENT CITY was never found to be a violation of prisoner rights and neither were the pink underwear the inmates wore.”
…………
Keeping people in tents with unbearable temperatures (141F) is inhumane. Causing prisoners to wear pink underwear was meant to dehumanize and humiliate. Strapping a paraplegic to a chair until his neck broke is indefensible. How does one support feeding inmates rotten green baloney?
I see a man who had power and abused it for his own advancement and profit. If there were no violations of prisoner rights then the law was one more example of injustice towards those with no power.
This is not something the US can be proud of. Defending Trump in this manner is showing a contempt for humanity’s better motives which is to care for everyone, even those who are Latinos.
This hatred is a symptom of the deplorable slime that has come out from under the rocks. The fact that it existed years ago in these ‘concentration camps’ is not an acceptable excuse for defending it today.
Linda –
Do you know what else is a MISDEMEANOR? Being present in the United States without proper authorization is a civil misdemeanor. So all those arrested detained and harmed by Arpaio’s policies were guilty (perhaps) of no more than a misdemeanor. That ICE under Trump’s direction use this misdemeanor to charge people with a crime does not change this underlying fact.
Chelsea Manning committed a crime, and was punished.
Joe Arpaio committed a crime and was not punished.
It’s good to be consistent.
Being that you condone a racist monster, you are a horrible immoral person. My father did not fight Nazis in WW II and march for civil rights for me to have to read your garbage. You are nothing but a hateful troll. People like you are ripping this country apart. One who condones evil are themselves evil. As a Jew, my heart is with the persecuted and not the persecutor. My father was one of the medics that opened up and cared for the concentration camp victims of Dachau. I will tell you this, the American Jewish soldiers rounded up those who lived around the camp and shoved their faces into the skeletal corpses. You should be forced to live a month in the conditions perpetrated by that monster so that maybe you will learn some empathy toward other human beings.
Arpaio was convicted of criminally chargeable offenses1) perpetrating racial profiling; and 2) ignoring court order to stop racial profiling.
The man was a blatant racist turd, engineering gross anti-human rights legal practice, deliberate criminalization of immigrants including those who are yet to be convicted.
It is very effective. So is your callousness sinking deeply in your mind.
Arpaio’s concentration camps were torture chambers in which the guards had free rein to be sadistic thugs. Arpaio should be in jail for all his crimes.
What a truly despicable person this guy is. Really ironic that a lowlife like him would parade around calling himself “The world’s toughest sheriff.” What a very manly man. Hiding behind his badge and his office and dealing out torture and bigotry to people in no position to defend themselves. Sickening. Perverse. Completely immoral.
In his zeal to go after “illegals,” he ignored the sexual assault of children. “Sheriff Joe” has cost the taxpayers of Maricopa County millions of dollars, since he’s been sued many times. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/maricopa-county-to-pay-35-million-for-botched-sheriffs-office-rape-investigation-7287590
He has hinted he may run against Senator Flake. A pardoned felon in the Senate? Call it the Trump party.
Misdemeanor NOT A FELONY CONVICTION. His conviction was the same as a JAY WALKING conviction as far as severity.
I don’t think the categories of felony/misdemeanor apply to criminal contempt. And I don’t know where you live, but I’m not familiar with any jurisdiction that hands out six month prison sentences for jaywalking. It’s typically a fine.
Neither a felony nor a misdemeanor, as FLERP says, according to this ruling:
https://www.judicialview.com/Court-Cases/Criminal-Justice/Criminal-Contempt-Neither-a-Felony-Nor-a-Misdemeanor/Sui-Generis-Offense/19/7289
But evidently, from several accounts I just looked at, a misdemeanor in Arizona.
Please send this to CNN, hen we can all tweet, “impeach!”
So you were cool with Obama issuing a pardon to someone that committed a FELONY (Chelsea Manning) by leaking national secrets and put American lives in jeopardy, but if Trump pardons someone convicted of a MISDEMEANOR you are outraged?
Manning served seven years in prison for being an American hero . His\her crime was releasing documentation of war crimes committed by US forces, In Iraq . Including a Helicopter firing intentionally on unarmed civilians
Only fascist thugs and those that support fascist thugs finds these actions and the actions of the Department of defense who brought no charges on the helicopter crew acceptable .
Her. Manning is female.
Linda, has it ever occurred to you that perhaps there might be millions of Americans who think that NEITHER criminally releasing classified intelligence documents NOR humiliation and endangerment of prisoners and racial profiling is acceptable? Why would you simply assume that people who deplore the one set of actions would find the other acceptable? Ms. Manning released 700,000 classified documents. That’s a very serious crime.
Linda Giffin is engaging in deflections, straw men and red herrings. As Joel pointed out, Chelsea Manning was in jail, served time for 7 years for being a whistle blower. No comparison to the thug sheriff.
Dienne
Yes Dienne!!!!!!!! ; but we are talking about war crimes and ignorance not gender identification . She can be what ever she chooses in our America not in Linda’s.
Chelsea Manning’s 35 year sentence was commuted to the 7 years served.
No one died due to the information Manning released. Indeed, lives may have been saved.
Christine, you are spot on, as usual. On the other hand, our Dear Leader has put many lives in jeopardy and compromised information sources for tweeting classified information to the whole world.
GregB,
Dear Leader met with the Russian ambassador and gave him classified information. Bragging.
Here’s Harvard constitutional law professor Noah Feldman on the Trump pardon of Arpaio, prior to its occurrence:
“Arpaio wasn’t convicted by a jury after a trial for violating some specific federal statute. Rather, he was convicted by a federal judge on the rather unusual charge of criminal contempt of court…Arpaio was convicted of willfully and intentionally violating an order issued to him in 2011 by a federal judge… Arpaio didn’t just violate a law passed by Congress. His actions defied the Constitution itself, the bedrock of the entire system of government. For Trump to say that this violation is excusable would threaten the very structure on which his right to pardon is based.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-08-23/arpaio-pardon-would-show-contempt-for-constitution
Millions of Americans were suckered by Russian propaganda, think the Civil War was not really about slavery and Confederate monuments are not tied to white supremacy, believe that human evolution didn’t happen and climate change is a “hoax,” and that Joe Arpaio is a “hero” and a “patriot.”
I’d say public schooling – the nation – is in deep need of an emphasis on civic education based on democratic values.
I had to copy/paste part of the article since I am not a paid subscriber to WaPo. This article appeared in Reader Supported News. I think it speaks for itself on the dangers of having someone as repulsive as tRump in a position to give pardons.
………………
If He’ll Pardon Arpaio, Why Wouldn’t Trump Pardon Those Who Ignore Robert Mueller?
By Philip Bump, The Washington Post
27 August 17
…The broader question raised by the pardon, then, is where Trump would draw the line. If he’s willing to pardon Joe Arpaio for ignoring a court order in service of a political goal Trump embraces, why wouldn’t he pardon another individual he respects for similarly ignoring a demand from the court. Say, a former employee or a family member who, say, was issued a subpoena to testify before a special prosecutor?
One message from the Arpaio pardon is precisely that Trump sees his evaluation of the boundaries of legality as superior to the boundaries set by the legal system. The Constitution gives him that power. As we’ve noted before the presidential pardon is absolute. He can pardon anyone for any federal crime at any time — even before the person actually faces any charges and even if no crime actually took place. There’s nothing anyone can do about it, except to impeach Trump and remove him from office to prevent him from doing it again. (The president who replaces him might be able to revoke a recent pardon, one expert told us, but it’s far from certain.)
In other words, if any of Trump’s allies decides to tell special counsel Robert Mueller to stick his subpoena in the south side of the National Mall, Mueller can press a court for contempt charges. The person could be convicted of those charges — and then get a pardon identical to Arpaio’s….
The pardon power is absolute. There aren’t many powers in the federal government about which that word applies, but pardoning is one of them. With that power, Trump can send a message about how and where he feels the rule of law should apply. Or, more accurately, Trump can shape how and where those rules apply. He can, as long as he has that power, grant immunity to anyone he wishes for any federal crime they commit.
For a person in his position, surrounded by a federal investigation into his campaign and his business, that’s got to be appealing. And his pardon of Arpaio makes quite clear that loyalty to Trump can prevail over loyalty to the law.
Trump would do all of this.
Then, Republicans would have to try and defend it.
The framers of the Constitution ultimately had faith in civic virtue as the final arbiter of the duties of governing and citizenship. They never envisioned, nor could they have imagined, the raw disregard of ethics, nepotism, or ignorance we have now to have in the presidency. One can only speculate how different our Constitution might have been had they been able to imagine it. We now see what happens when we have an executive branch and compliant and/or willfully ineffective Congress that completely disregard the unwritten norms of governance that have shaped the country since 1789.
Profiles in Tremendousness: Pardon Edition – Sheriff Joe Arpaio: The Daily Show
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Published on Aug 28, 2017
President Trump pardons Joe Arpaio, a controversial former sheriff who advocated the use of excessive force and cracked down on immigration through racial profiling.
The resurgence of racism in our country is a predictable consequence of its changing demographics. There are plenty of poorly educated, provincial people who fear others who are not like them.
I had an uncle from a small town in rural Kentucky who became a sergeant in the Korean War. He had one black guy in his squad (or whatever it was called in those days), and my uncle made this black guy’s life hell–giving him the worst and most dangerous duties.
Well, at one point, my uncle stepped on a land mine that blew one of his legs off below the knee. No one was going to help him because they were under heavy fire. The black guy picked my uncle up and carried him under fire for a considerable distance to get him to a helicopter and safety.
Back in his small, rural, Southern town, that uncle with the artificial leg became a staunch local supporter of Civil Rights and a lifelong enemy of racism.
I heard this story from many folks in my family, including my uncle himself.
Prejudice is always a toxic brew of fear and ignorance. But people like Arpaio are fighting a rear guard action. They are on the wrong side of history because the population of the country is changing (they HATE THAT) and because as people from different backgrounds come to know one another, their fear and hatred vanishes.
What we’re seeing among these old racists is A DEATH RATTLE. Sure, it’s loud, and it’s very nasty to watch. But we are headed to a time that is much, much better. As a teacher in the South, I came to know a lot of young people. They have moved way beyond their elders’ racism, and we’ll be a better country for it.
Thanks so much for sharing that story about your uncle. It’s a great corollary of the “no atheists in foxholes” aphorism. Should it interest you, please find a copy of Stud Terkel’s “American Dreams Lost and Found” and look up the story of C.P. Ellis, a one time KKK leader who became a janitor at Duke University. I used to read it to all of my classes on MLK Day. I’m thinking it will resonate with you based on the story you shared about your uncle.
http://www.cjournal.info/2009/03/01/why-i-quit-the-klan-terkel-interviews-cp-ellis/
Great piece
I am such a Luddite. Never thought this might be on the web. Thanks so much for finding it. Now I can share with friends.
I have to share, as Paul Harvey said, “the rest of the story:” I would read this story to every class on MLK day, even if I was teaching a student a second or third time. It was my way of protesting how my schools ignored MLK day. One year, in the late 80s, one of my students, an arch conservative who always got great grades from me, went on to study at Duke. He came back the next Christmas break and sought me out to tell me that he had seen Studs Terkel speak in the previous semester, something he admitted he would never have done until he heard this story. And sitting next to him in the audience was a man named C.P. Ellis! They had a discussion about my annual readings. It was one of the best moments of my short teaching career.
Bob, I appreciate your optimism, but mine is tempered. My daughter, 26, attended a wedding of one of her peers last week in Wisconsin. She found herself greatly discomforted that nearly all the guests in her age group were proudly MAGA and FoxNews adherents.
Also, the acquital yesterday of seven defendents in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is another indicator that we have a long way down this dark road ahead of us. I believe that the jury would not have acquited under a different political atmosphere, one where Fox state propaganda is not televised day and night.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/27/499668126/defendants-in-oregon-wildlife-refuge-occupation-found-not-guilty
President Trump has an opportunity, right now, to show care for all Americans, whatever their race or ethnic origin.
In the news two days ago: Mr. Trump is being pressured by extremists in his party to end DACA–Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. News reports say that a decision to end DACA could occur as early as this week.
Now, let’s consider just what that would do.
There are about 800,000 people in the United States who were brought here illegally as small children. These folks have grown up in the U.S., learned English as their primary language, attended schools here, established friendship networks, married, gotten jobs. Some have had kids of their own who are citizens. Many are attending college. Many have brothers or sisters who are citizens. To be eligible for DACA, they have to have had no criminal records.
And these people will, if DACA ends, be deported–these teenagers and young adults who have never known anything but this country–some of whom didn’t even learn until they were almost grown that they were not citizens like everyone else. Deporting them would be no different from taking your grandchildren or mine and shipping them off to Honduras or wherever.
If this is done–and news reports say that it is likely–it will be a tragedy of profound proportions. It will destroy hundreds of thousands of families and lives.
I pray that Mr. Trump will do the right thing on this, leave the current program in place, and avoid what would be a major humanitarian crisis.
And, Congress should be ashamed for not having done something to date about these young people–often referred to as “Dreamers.”
The hits keep on coming!
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement has sought approval from the National Archives and Records Administration to destroy records on deaths and sexual assaults of individuals in its custody after a period of 20 years.”
https://t.co/YQD9bkBTtY
my God. Horrific
Bob’s story is powerful. I wonder what else works in stopping racism?
Hmmm.
Too bad there isn’t a space in our society, aside from the military, where people can come together with others who don’t look just like them, or have the same religion as they, or have the same cultural practices as they. It would be especially effective if they came together when they were very young, too, and under the guidance of trained professionals who could help facilitate conversations and understanding among peers, introducing them to democratic ideals such as all are created equal.
Could we monetize that?
LOL
I’m certain, Ponderosa, that you have your own brilliant insights into this–your own possible answers to that significant question. I would love to hear them.
One answer I would give: Knowing one another. That’s what worked in the high school that I taught in in the Deep South. The black, white, Latino, and Asian kids spent time together, and for the most part, after a while, they simply didn’t see race. I’ve seen the change in kids who came in racist and left decent. We did have few hardcore racists among the students–there was a group of boys chanting, one day, “Build the Wall; Hitler had the right idea.” Ignorant teenage boys. But other students shouted them down.
Racism comes from ignorance, from fear of what you don’t know, from having no real experience of “those people.” Of course, a sociopath like Arpaio carries his isolation from those not like him with him wherever he goes. When the disease has reached such an advanced stage, there’s nothing to be done. Often the patient doesn’t even know how sick with the disease he is.
Social sanction also works. Some of us are old enough to remember when it was OK for Saturday morning kids’ television to run Disney’s breathtakingly racist cartoon “The Dark Town Strutters Ball” and for people in public life to tell overtly racist jokes–when those were a ubiquitous genre. But look at the overwhelming response to the President’s unfortunate remarks on Charlottesville–from people in both parties. Except on isolated islands like the commentary threads on Breitbart news and other thinly veiled white supremacist sites on the Net, making racist statements in public simply isn’t acceptable in the U.S. today. When it happens, people pile on, and it stops quickly. Social sanction is a powerful force.
Interestingly, even on the Breitbart site, the racism is somewhat veiled, because of social sanction, in the stories themselves. Their tactic is primarily to cherry pick the news to find somewhere a story about something bad done by a black inner-city Mom or an immigrant Hispanic guy, which they then headline. Among millions of people, you can always find that ONE STORY to incite the crowd. But it’s only in the commentary threads on Breitbart that the racism spills out in all its sickening clarity. The readers of the site aren’t nearly as skilled as its editors are at veiling the racism.
“stopping racism”: Look ’em in the eye, shake their hands, tell a good joke bordering on the uncomfortable, and share good food. That’s always been my recipe.
awesome answer, Greg
I’m serious, Ponderosa. I would love to hear your thoughts about your own question. I always enjoy your posts and greatly admire the quality of your thinking. No pressure, but if you have ideas you would like to share about this. . . .
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
Discover the real Sheriff Joe Arpaio that Fake President, serial liar, and racist Donald Trump pardoned.
President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio during a Category 4 hurricane, saying, “I assumed the ratings would be far higher.”
Asked about the Friday night pardon at a joint news conference, Trump praised Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt after facing accusations of racial profiling and who ran an infamously brutal “Tent City” jail.
“He’s done a great job for the people of Arizona,” Trump said. “He’s strong on borders and strong on illegal immigration. He is loved in Arizona, and I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly.”
Well, I guess he just sold his name out for the award that would go to the most racist/fascist/xenophobic rascal.