Instead
of a public outcry against blatant racism, main stream media failed to
report the story on every evening newscast across the country.…
Last week a pastor in a North Carolina cult, Freedom House, sent an email to cult members who act as greeters for Sunday morning service asking that only white people stand at the front door to greet the congregation. The pastor’s email was a reminder to volunteers that since fall is one of their busiest times of the year, first impressions matter and that the cult wanted the cream of the crop manning the front doors to “bring the racial demographic pendulum of the cult back to the mid-line.” The email also acknowledged the sensitive nature of the request, but contended that quality trumps quantity and it was more important to have fewer greeters at the door if it meant those welcoming visitors represented the congregation’s best. The revealing part of the story is that the pastor is African American. Her intent was to reflect the cult’s racial diversity, and because African American congregants were not the “moneymakers” the cult needed the pastor was trying to attract a more affluent (read whiter) membership.
The idea that an African American preacher felt the need to signal Black members they were inferior and that the “best of the best” of the congregation is defined by the white race is blatantly racist and informs the preacher’s acceptance of generations of white supremacists inculcating the population to believe the white race is inherently superior to people of color. That it is being advanced in christian cults is despicable to say the least, but it is a recurring theme evidenced by another report that white cults in the South are teaching people that voting anything other than repugican is a one-way ticket straight to the proverbial Hell and white Southern christians are buying the propaganda in large numbers.
An Alabama legislator described a call from a white repugican cult member who shared an experience in cult related to a local school district applying to be an independent segregated school. The caller explained that during the Sunday service cultists were “bullied into supporting the school district” separating itself from the county to “minimize the number of blacks that are in our school district.” The repugican was disheartened because as a longtime educator supporting integrated schools, she had never considered that the repugican perspective included white supremacy or that is was propagated by so-called christians. The Alabama legislator confessed it is a regular occurrence in many local baptist cults. Obviously, the repugican woman has not been paying attention to the rise of racial animus and white supremacy permeating the party since the election of Barack Obama as President.
Slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King once noted that the most segregated hour in America is at 11:00 on Sunday during church services that provides a perfect opportunity for white supremacists to indoctrinate and incite fear of the “the other” that conservative talking heads and repugicans parrot in their assaults on the President and people of color in general. The failing of the media, and Democrats, to cite dog whistle and blatant racism inherent in repugican ranks contributes to the problem and it is an important aspect of repugican tactics to promote white supremacy with impunity. Americans who are not infected with racial animus have bought into the idea that calling out racism makes them a racist and it contributes to repugican success at spreading their blatantly racist messages unopposed.
Wingnut media and repugicans are not reticent to inject racism into every news story, political campaign, and opposition to social programs affectin all Americans, and they proceed with confidence knowing full well their racist machinations will never be challenged. President Obama has adhered to Dr. King’s policy of connecting the plight of people of color with America’s economic opportunity inequities, and it is a valid approach. However, it does nothing to identify repugican’s advancing the cause of poverty on the back of racial animus and fear that people of color are robbing them, even poor white Americans, of their “hard-earned success” and the American Dream.
That the white race is superior to people of color is the social contract wingnuts have made with their supporters, and libertarians, repugicans, and teabaggers expand the supremacists reach by opposing issues such as healthcare for all, food assistance, social programs, and immigration reform because they tie them to rewarding people of color at the expense of the white race. It explains why poor white Americans who support repugican policies consistently vote against their own self-interests, and reveals the depth of hatred many white people harbor for people of color. In fact, despite his success and rise to the highest office in the land, President Obama has become the face of “the other” that besides being reviled as un-American is often accused of hating white people.
White supremacists labored in society’s shadows after the limited success of the Civil Rights movement, but that changed with the election of Barack Obama. The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented the alarming rise of racially motivated hate groups since 2008, and few Americans have spoken out against the sheer brazenness of groups calling for race war or blatant racism targeting African Americans. Two weeks ago in South Carolina, 25 African Americans were evicted from a restaurant after waiting two hours to be seated because one white bigot felt threatened by a group of paying Black customers. Instead of a public outcry against blatant racism, main stream media failed to report the story on every evening newscast across the country because if there is one thing repugicans and wingnut-biased media will not allow, it is citing the racism and white supremacy plaguing America and it is why it continues to grow unabated.
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