The Pivotal Issue in the 2024 Presidential Election IS Racism
I am convinced that (in general), former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Late Thomas "tip" O'neill was correct regarding a phrase that he popularized, e.g., "all politics is local." Yet, we should pay close attention to the developing 2024 Presidential Election campaign—not necessarily because there are viable choices. As it relates to the likelihood of adequately or fully addressing long-standing, festering issues and problems faced by the vast majority of Black folks in this thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based nation-state, I really haven't seen any viable choices.
It is becoming crystal-clear that race, and more specifically, individual, institutional, and structural racism will be THE pivotal issue in the-next election (much more so than usual). And because this is true, it will be brought into sharp focus that the great, Late Malik El Shabazz was absolutely correct 60 years ago when he warned us that the top leadership of neither of the two historically racist, mainstream, major political parties have our best interests at heart.1 They never have, and still don't. Instead, as Brother Malcolm had noted, they are two sides of the very same racist coin, which is comparable to the political "wolf and fox." 2
A classic example that makes it crystal-clear exactly how pivotal racism will be in the upcoming Presidential Election, is a wild and crazy statement made by a Euro-Indian woman (not a native "American"), but one whose immigrant Sikh parents are from Amritsar, Punjab, in the country of India. She is the former Governor of South Carolina, and is currently a Republican Presidential candidate, who poses as a pseudo European, as opposed to her full identity, e.g., Nimarata Nikki Randhawa Haley, and is one who Donald Trump routinely refers to as Pocahontas. Nikki, as she is known, had the unmitigated gall, raw audacity, and intestinal fortitude to actually twist her racist mouth, and make it spew the utter nonsense that the thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based U.S. of A. "is not a racist country [and has] never been a racist country." 3 According to one news report, even after being questioned about her assinine assertion, and given five opportunities to correct it, the hard-core, racist Indian woman still stuck to her racist guns.4 Actually, this is not really all that surprising. After all, she, as well as the other two former contenders for the Republican nomination (Desantis and Ramaswamy) were also talking out of their heads about racism, and denying its existence. They were all attempting to outpace the racist-of-all-racists, Donald J. Trump, e.g., attempting to appeal to Trump's HUGE, racist, political base. What we're currently witnessing is Nimarata 'shooting' herself in her own desperate, political-foot by continuing to spew racist rhetoric that's getting her nowhere. She's digging the hole of defeat deeper and deeper. We can be fairly certain that it's just a matter of time before Trump eliminates her, and sews up the Republican nomination.
However, an outstandingly interesting political twist is that there are Democratic Party operatives who have also begun to play the REAL RACE CARD, e.g., the one that many white folks are always talking about. It is so very important for Black folks to understand that the Democratic Political Party, which so many Black folks are completely wedded to (as somehow being fundamentally different from the Republicans), is also attempting to appeal to Donald Trump's massive, racist, political base. It's just that they are using an approach which is not easily detected, unless you're paying very close attention. It is literally a case of that which Malcolm mentioned 60 years ago (the political wolf, as in Republicans, and political fox, as in Democrats). For example, and it's only ONE example, but a very clear and blatant one - it became evident via a recent CNN report in which Karren Finney, a "Democratic Party Communication Strategist [,and] Political Commentator for CNN and MSNBC," a bi-racial woman (Black father, white mother), addressed Haley's asinine comment by answering the question - "Is the U.S. a racist country" - in the most convoluted, contorted, disingenuous, and/or ignorant manner imaginable. Her answer to the question was as follows: "No, but I think we have - I believe that systemic racism, which is an outgrowth of white supremacy, which came out of - auh, you know Reconstruction and the Civil War and became the lost cause mythology, which justified white supremacy, which created racist systems - absolutely - just like there's still sexist systems. It does still exist. That doesn't mean that what's in ..., and I know this in my own life as a person who's bi-racial - right? That does not mean that what is in people's hearts is always that they are racist, or that they have hate - for some it is, but for others it means maybe they just don't have a way to see the other side, or have a way to understand how we all live differently, and experience this world differently."5 WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THIS WOMAN BABBLING ABOUT??? THERE'S JUST NO WAY IN THE WORLD THAT SHE COULD POSSIBLY, ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT THE FOOLISHNESS QUOTED ABOVE REPRESENTS A VIABLE AND/OR LOGICAL EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THE U.S.A. IS SUPPOSEDLY NOT A RACIST COUNTRY. I MUST SAY THAT SHE REMINDS ME OF ONE OF THOSE BOBBLE-HEAD, WIND-UP TOYS. SHE IS A VERY POOR, ATTEMPTED-APOLOGIST FOR DEEP-SEATED, ENTRENCHED, HISTORIC, AND ONGOING, PERVASIVE, INDIVIDUAL, AND SYSTEMIC INSTITUTIONALIZED AND STRUCTURAL RACISM, WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN PART AND PARCEL OF THE THOROUGHLY RACIST U.S. NATION-STATE'S FABRIC AND FOUNDATION (PART OF ITS SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SO-CALLED "DOMINANT" CULTURAL SYSTEMS - RIGHT FROM THE VERY START - FROM DAY-ONE), AND THEREFORE NECESSARILY EMBEDDED AND REFLECTED WITHIN EACH AND EVERY MAJOR INSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY --- BAR NONE). THE REAL, OBJECTIVELY, THOROUGHLY, QUANTIFIABLE ANSWER TO THE IDIOTIC QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT THE U.S. OF A. IS A RACIST NATION IS - 'DAMN RIGHT' (THROUGH AND THROUGH). IN FACT, IT IS THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL WHITE-SUPREMACIST-BASED, RACIST NATION-STATES. Please know that it is (by far) NOT at all coincidental that Democrats are choosing the likes of negropeans with racial profiles such as Ms. Finney to spew senseless racist rhetoric, as if her half-"blackness" automatically makes her an authentic spokesperson on behalf of people of color, especially and particularly Black folks. It definitely does NOT. In order to highlight how wrong she is, It's not even a matter of needing to dissect and/or deconstruct the foolishness that she spewed - however I have chosen to do so, in order to hopefully eliminate any inconceivable, possible doubt.
First of all, she's actually correct about the common-sense-assertion that "systemic racism is an outgrowth of [belief in and imposition of the diabolical, savage notion of] white supremacy."
However, she can't possibly be serious about her assertion that systemic racism and/or the sick notion of so-called "white supremacy came out of - auh, you know - Reconstruction and the Civil War" - WHAT???!!! Surely if she THINKS about what she's saying, she would probably retract her silly statement, which, if true, would necessarily mean that prior to 1865, "systemic racism" and the sick notion of "white supremacy" did NOT exist in the thoroughly racist U.S. of A. . Surely that's NOT what she meant to say, but that's what happens when folks allow themselves to be used to try and explain and justify completely erroneous ideas and notions that can neither be logically explained, and definitely NOT justified - such as the wild idea that the U. S. is NOT a racist nation.
Next, she TALKED about a so-called "lost-cause" mythology, which justified white supremacy, which created racist systems - absolutely - just like there's still sexist systems. It does still exist." I am unable to respond to the latter gibberish - because I have absolutely no reference point for understanding what in the world she is referring to, and I don't think she does either. At that particular point in her discombobulated diatribe, she literally and clearly became nothing more or less that a "talking-head," which continued into her final "point," in which she begins to ramble about "what is in people's hearts is [not] always that they are racist, or that they have hate - for some it is, but for others it means maybe they just don't have a way to see the other side, or have a way to understand how we all live differently, and experience this world differently," which has absolutely NOTHING to do with whether or not the U.S. of A. IS, AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN A RACIST NATION.
Lastly, it is not necessary to produce evidence that the U.S. of A. is a thoroughly racist, white-supremacist based nation-state - anyone who knows the history of the nation, and is NOT in cognitive-dissonance-based DENIAL knows that it's true. However, two, among literally thousands of examples that always stand out in my mind, which clearly demonstrates the foundational nature and essence of institutional and structural racism within the U.S. nation-state, is what happened in the U.S. Supreme Court Cases of Dred Scott in which - "In its 1857 decision that stunned the nation, the United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America 6, 7 ; and the Plessy v. Ferguson landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine (under which the "separate" part had always been true, while the "equal" part was always pure fallacy).8 The point becomes, how is it possible for the nation's most powerful legal institution to make decisions that impact the entire nation, and that are clearly RACIST in nature (without the nation being racist)?
I mean are people like Haley and Finney arguing that the nation's most powerful, racist institutions somehow exist or operate outside of the nation-state? If not, then what exactly and specifically are they saying??? Finally, just in case someone is not following along - in addition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Congress; Military; Education System; Civil Service system, and each and every other major governmental system (bar none) is in fact racist in nature and essence. Again, this is necessarily so because all of those systems were developed under the racist U.S. nation-state, in which racism WAS embedded in the fabric and foundation, e.g., in the social, economic, political, and so-called "dominant" cultural systems --- right from the very start (from day-one).
