If George Floyd had been killed by a single — or multiple — gunshots to the back, as other persons of color (as well as the occasional white youth) have regularly been slain by law enforcement, the numerous Black Lives Matter organizations around the country would have remained relatively obscure. But that brutal death has turned it into a movement with a more clearly defined mission — one with strong support from fair-minded whites. The vast difference between a virtually instantaneous gunshot death and an eight-minute and forty-six second strangulation killing has forced many Americans off the fence and onto the side of right.
Nonetheless, those on the far right — who, for generation after generation, all the way back to the founding of the Republic — been consistently lying to themselves about their central role in creating and maintaining an American form of apartheid, still solely focus on the protests that such extra-judicial police killings spark and are always dismissive of the murders that caused the protests in the first place. There’s a pervasive and deep-seated belief on the part of those wishing to prevent “the other” from fully participating in our so-called democracy that these victims only got what they deserved, and further (and more diabolically) that whites have a natural-born birthright to mistreat — even to the point of killing — anyone who doesn’t look or think exactly like them under the rubric of “keeping the peace” or “protecting white womanhood.”
As the presidential election draws closer and closer, and the leader these bigots have chosen to follow appears to not be gaining ground on Joe Biden, the kooks and wingnuts on the right are going to — out of desperation — try everything within their power to up the ante and cause white suburban voters to turn to and support a dictatorial strongman out of fear — fear of their fellow Americans of color.
Indeed, fear is the only thing Republicans (as usual) have left to peddle, and to some extent it’s working. The crowds we see stampeding to rush into tRump rallies sans masks and ignoring social distancing requirements obviously are more fearful of living in an America that respects the rights of all citizens than they are of death itself. Never in the history of the Republic has anyone ever witnessed this much unrestrained hysteria on such a massive scale. Never.
These poor demented souls are so fearful of a reckoning that will at last call the country to account for the four hundred years of ill-treatment of citizens of color — black, brown, and red citizens whose ancestors fought bravely and shed their blood in every war since the Revolution — they will tolerate (indeed, even encourage) any tactics that they think will keep the monstrous cult leader they idolize in power.
The most likely tactic they will seek to utilize will be to stoke fear by precipitating more civil unrest, and the most convenient and sure-fire way to accomplish getting protesters back out into the streets is for more killings of unarmed black and brown men under color of law to occur. Yes, if the streets of America have always been dangerous for minority men, they’re about to become far more treacherous.
More police killings of unarmed minorities will spark more protests, which will, in turn, give the government the reason it needs to become more repressive, thus igniting a vicious cycle of street violence that will be met with tear gas until parts of the country are placed under martial law — which will allow law enforcement to round up protesters wholesale and throw them in detention camps, all in the name of “law and order.” The police will set the country ablaze so that tRump can claim he put the fire out. This scenario is entirely within the realm of possibility.
For those who still view this scenario as far-fetched. overblown rhetoric, simply watch a newscast as a sea of red hat-wearing Americans who wrap themselves in the flag as they court death by streaming into indoor arenas where they dutifully sit cheek-by-jowl to listen to a manipulative megalomaniac who knows he can never catch COVID-19 simply because he’s not going to get close enough to any of these idiots to become infected. When is the last time anyone has seen him working the crowd and shaking hands like he loves to do? No, he’s not about to ever get that close to these fools ever again; he’s not nearly as dumb as his stupid followers.
The last time so large a group of mesmerized people blindly followed a demented leader, the world was plunged into an abyss that took the bloodiest conflict in the history of mankind to pull civilization out of the madness, while costing untold millions of lives. Yes, we very well could be headed down that sick path once again if right thinking people remain silent.
Make no mistake — as I’ve written before — these rabid tRump supporters obviously don’t care about their own lives, so of course they don’t care about the lives of other citizens, especially those of color. This could get real ugly before it’s over.
