The Looter of the American Spirit; the Arsonist of American Liberty

Dear grandsons,

There are days when I so dislike writing this blog that I feel sick. This is one of those days. It’s not the writing, nor the topic (equity for those not paying attention). I wanted to puke because of Americans' willingness to accept those politicians who pander to the lowest common denominator of American society. They don’t respect women, the right of dissent, and minorities.

I will start with the simple, as in simplest to explain.

• When the COVID-19 virus was first being discussed in the administration, Donnie thought it might be a good thing. He wouldn’t have to shake hands with people any longer.
  
  
• Former model Amy Dorris accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her. The attack reportedly happened at the 1997 US Open. She was attending the match. She and her boyfriend were guests in Donald’s private box. She went to the bathroom, and he is said to have groped her and stuck his tongue down her throat. Read more in the Guardian exclusive.
  
  She is the 26th woman to accuse Donald of sexual misconduct. His first wife, Ivana, used the term “rape” to describe an encounter with the  man. That’s more than two dozen women, most offering some kind of evidence of the encounters.
  
  He surrounds himself with women, primarily his wife, daughter, and his sons’ special others, who look and stand as if they were animated Barbie dolls. At some point, one must wonder about his relationship with his mother and father. It borders on the sick. “
  
  “In the almost 20 years since, Mr. Trump has called his eldest daughter ‘voluptuous.’ He’s said it’s OK to describe her as ‘a piece of ass,’ though she is a senior executive in his business empire. And he’s said that, if she wasn’t his daughter, ‘perhaps [he’d] be dating her.’” Does this man, who interrupts female journalists more often than males, respect women?
  
  Let’s compound the cruelty to women. Dawn Wooten, a nurse at an Irwin county immigrant detention center run by the LaSalle Corporation, blew the whistle. In a report, filed by the Government Accountability Project and Project South, she noted there was a high rate of hysterectomies on women who complained of heavy menstrual cycles. Most victims spoke little or no English and didn’t understand what was being done to their bodies. Trump’s administration is responsible for these centers and the people within their walls.
  
  
• He retweeted an altered video, first sent out by Donald the Lesser, that accused Biden of being a pedophile, implying that he was part of a cabal, identified by QAnon conspiracy followers, as being a cult of devil worshipping pedophiles. Donald the Bigger does several things with the retweet. He gives thumbs up to Little Donny. He lends the credibility of the presidential office to a conspiracy theory that has repeatedly been shown to have no foundation and whose “leader” does not exist. Finally, the retweet shows his deranged preoccupation with his sexuality and that of others. Remember the big hands-little hands debate during the 2016 Republican debates?
  
  
• His AG, William Barr, instructed US attorneys to find ways of charging protesters accused of looting and arson with sedition. This is the same man who encouraged federal forces to fire tear gas on Washington protesters so Donnie could pose with a bible in front of a church. (He held the bible upside down.)
  
  This is the same AG who claimed recently that only Donald Trump stood between America today and chaos and socialism of the Democrats. The prosecutorial powers of the US Attorney General are wide and powerful, as upheld by the Supreme Court, but those nine justices never said he (or she) has the right to be stupid. The young looters and arsonists were overwhelmed with anger.  Such immaturity jeopardized or destroyed life and property. The guilty violated a primal law of humankind, and they should be prosecuted—as looters, as arsonists, not as seditionists.
  
  I have yet to meet an individual of any race who wants to incite people to rebel against the authority of a state (that’s the dictionary definition, not the legal). Most looters were opportunists, taking advantage of the chaos for personal gain.  Barr politicized a criminal activity.
  
  He also tried to stigmatize the BLM movement as being seditious, which it isn’t. (After asking for four centuries, it’s not surprising that people get pissed off when they must ask or demand their rights as citizens.) Every African American I’ve talked with about this subject has no desire for the destruction of the US. They have one simple and centuries-old request: Treat me with the same dignity that you treat White folks. Nothing tremendous about that. It’s theirs according to the 13, 14, and 15 amendments as well as several federal laws. It’s theirs by rights of their citizenship.  If Barr wants to arrest people for sedition, try white supremacists who want to alter the fabric of American society by ignoring those very amendments and laws.
  
  The AG also compared a mandate for wearing face masks as a violation of individual liberty similar to that of slavery. That doesn't even make sense. I've worn a mask ever since the CDC recommended it. Was I in shackles? Was I told whom I could marry? Were my children or wife taken from me? Was I whipped if I didn't wear a mask? Was I lynched because I looked longingly at a White woman? Barr, thy name is hyperbole.
  
  
• For more than four years, I’ve listened to Donnie talk about “the” Blacks, “the” African Americans. Normally when someone is speaking in the plural number, he or she says Blacks or African Americans. She doesn't add the article “the.” It’s to particularize the noun it modifies. There is no reason or logical to particularizing a long group. Hence, the reason people don't. Why does Donnie feel compelled to particularize African Americans (or the African Americans as he would say)?
  
  He also stumbles over phrases such as African American communities or Hispanic communities. They are not tongue twisters. Are the phrases getting stuck in his throat?
  
  It goes to the core problem with the Administration and Donnie. As the reelection campaigns have powered up, our president (I hate using that term to describe Donald Trump) has resurrected the Southern Strategy created by Nixon and pandered by Ronald Reagan. They touch on a primal fear in White communities for more than 400 years.
  
  It emerged in the slave states of the nation when the population of African slaves outnumbered European American farmers. Slaves were treated like animals (legally they were animals). As their numbers grew, White slave owners feared insurrection. (It wouldn’t have been insurrection. It would have been a revolution, with more justification than the American Revolution.) They were right. Slaves did revolt. The most famous revolt was organized by Nat Turner, a genius and a liberator, no different than John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, George Washington, or Thomas Jefferson (except for the fact that the last three owned slaves). Each leader wanted freedom for themselves and their people.

  Myths developed and European Americans spread them throughout the South. Eventually they crept North. They took hold. They didn’t vanish with the Emancipation Proclamation or the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
  
  It spread into Northern cities. As African Americans fled the South after World War II for jobs up North, European Americans fled the cities for the suburbs, towns with zoning requirements that prohibited multi-family buildings and rental properties. There were unwritten rules that prohibited real estate agents from showing property to African Americans in suburban towns. Those days are gone. Now towns keep themselves white with zoning restrictions, ensuring that whoever moves into town is a person of means. (Green always beats color.)
  
  Now Republicans are saying that if the nation elects Joe Biden, the looters and rioters of the BLM movement will invade the suburbs. There are European Americans who are buying into the argument. They are terrified of African Americans. And they are buying more than an argument. They are buying guns.
  
  It came to a head recently. Donnie retweet a video of Joe Biden making a presentation in Miami. It obviously was doctored. The original sender inserted the NWA song “Fuck tha Police.” If you know the lyrics, the video becomes just an oddity.

  Most White people don't know the lyrics. It becomes a great trope for the the Southern Strategy. First, there’s the group’s name: Niggaz wit Attitude. To the frightened individual, it sounds like a challenge. It is. They were saying we will not be pushed around. That was the attitude. After centuries of abuse, the name makes sense. Secondly, every American should agree with the sentiments of the song:

"Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect / Judge Dre presiding /In the case of N.W.A. vs. the Police Department / Prosecuting attorneys are: MC Ren, Ice Cube / And Eazy motherfuckin' E" / "Order, order, order / Ice Cube, take the motherfuckin' stand / Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth / And nothin' but the truth so help your black ass?" / "You Goddamn right!" / "Well, won't you tell everybody what the fuck you gotta say?" / Fuck the police comin' straight from the underground / A young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brown / And not the other color so police think / They have the authority to kill a minority / Fuck that shit, 'cause I ain't the one / For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun / To be beatin' on, and thrown in jail / We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell / Fuckin' with me 'cause I'm a teenager / With a little bit of gold and a pager/ Searchin' my car, lookin' for the product / Thinkin' every nigga is sellin' narcotics / You'd rather see, me in the pen

• They are complaining, back in 1988, about the same problem happening in the streets of America today. Are they using my style of argument? No. Then again, they are not me. Then again, my forebears, family, and I have not put up with the same unjustifiable violence faced by the forebears, family, and themselves of Doctor Dre, Ice Cube, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Easy E, and MC Ren.
  
  Donnie’s retweet fires up the irrational fear of European Americans. He deliberately divides America. He wants chaos. He is the looter of the American spirit. He is the arsonist of American liberty.