militarized police, and a race war...

8/9/2016 0 Comments   by E.L. Christianson Jr. The United States of America is all about race.  Policing and 'law enforcement' is all about race.  Those two statements summarize the past, present and the future in this country.  It has always been about race, it is about race today, and it will be about race as far into the future as anyone can imagine.  Starting with the earliest European experience on the American continents and examining every aspect of history, the separation of races and domination of one race over the other races has driven every social event, every piece of legislation and virtually every thought in this country. The 'civil rights movement' made some small progress toward removing some institutional barriers to the tremendous disadvantages Blacks face in this country (Native and Hispanic People may have received a small boost also).  But, the cry that minorities then had an advantage could only be imagined by the truly deluded racist who wanted to relegate minorities back to 'their place'.  These people rebelled against whatever social progress was made. Gone is the provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that prevented states from passing voting laws without approval from the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that we were past and the need for such approval... as if to say, race no longer matters.  However, some recognize the truth and this year, a North Carolina federal court overturned the state's voter ID law, ruling that it targets African-Americans "with almost surgical precision." And now, from the governor's office we have a call for a race war.  In truth, the civil war has never really ended in this country. On the positive side, there is a generation of young people in this country who never really saw minorities as chattel and/or less than human.  But the rest of this society wants to return to the 'good old days' that they rally around... the rally is gaining energy and momentum. The militarization of the police and the equipping and training of the police force as an occupying force are good indications of exactly which direction we are heading in this country.  War and more war. It looks as if our country will be engaged in war abroad and war at home... and that's the truth !!! Maine's Governor Is Openly Calling for a Race War Against People of Color ​ Governor Paul LePage referred to "people of color or people of Hispanic origin" as "the enemy." By Sarah Lazare /  AlterNet Calls are mounting for Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) to resign after he doubled down Friday on openly racist statements by calling for a race war against people of color. LePage made the remarks during a press conference at which he sought to defend himself against accusations of racism. During those comments, he indicated that people of color are the enemy and should be shot. “A bad guy is a bad guy,” he said. “I don’t care what color he is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red… You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.” Those remarks followed statements last Wednesday at a town hall meeting in North Berwick, where the governor errantly stated: Let me tell you this, let me tell you, explain to you: I made the comment that black people are trafficking in our state. Now, ever since I said that comment, I’ve been collecting every single drug dealer who has been arrested in our state … I don’t ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come. And I will tell you that 90-plus percent of those pictures in my book, and it’s a three-ring binder, are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut, the Bronx and Brooklyn. I didn’t make the rules, I’m just telling you what’s happening. Of course, the governor's claims are incorrect. Mark Potok is a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups in the United States. He told AlterNet, “On top of everything else, LePage is making a claim that is simply false. The fact is that most drug dealers and consumers in the United States are white.” On Thursday, the Maine ACLU filed a public records request demanding access to the alleged three-ring binder the LePage referenced. Yet, in response to public outcry, as well as objections from some Maine lawmakers, LePage lashed out. Following a news report that State Rep. Drew Gattine (D) had criticized the governor’ racist remarks, LePage left a violent rant on the lawmaker’s voicemail, stating: Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage. I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you cocksucker. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son of a bitch, socialist cocksucker. You … I need you to … Just friggin’. I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you. He appeared to threaten the life of Gattine in remarks made later to the Portland Press Herald, in which he declared: "When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I’d like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825. And we would have a duel. That’s how angry I am. And I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you; I would not be [Alexander] Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he’s been in this legislature to help move the state forward." This is not the first time LePage has made openly racist or violent statements. In January, he blamed the state’s opioid epidemic on "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" who are from New York and Connecticut and "half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave." And in 2011, LePage toldthe Maine NAACP to “kiss my butt.” According to Potok, LePage’s latest comments are “par for the course. He has made plain his antipathy to black people. To me, his latest remarks are utterly unsurprising. Are they racist statements? Yes.” Teddy Burrage is a community activist and participant in Black Lives Matter protests who has organized with the Portland, Maine Racial Justice Congress. He told AlterNet that LePage is “putting people in danger. It’s not just a political gaffe or something that came about because he is unstable. The governor has potentially empowered dangerous people to hurt people of color.” On Saturday night, Democratic leaders in the legislature wrote a letter to their Republican counterparts calling on them to rebuke the governor’s statements and press him to either get help or resign. In addition, the letter states that LePage “appears to be unfit to hold office at this time.” Burrage cautioned, “It would be easy to say Paul LePage is crazy or unstable, but the reality is that he is a manifestation of the people who put him in office. This is an issue in the governor’s office, but it’s a larger issue as far as racism being acceptable.” While Donald Trump-style racism may embolden figures like LePage, Burrage emphasized that the Maine governor's racism predates the 2016 presidential election cycle. "It's doesn't feel new to me," said Burrage, "and I am not shocked." Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare.