Red America Backs the Blue, but Only If It's White

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of the most striking things to come out of this week's opening session of the House committee charged with investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol was the virulent racism expressed by many of the Trump mob as they attacked members of the Capitol Police Force.  The racial epithets directed toward black officers (who were trying to protect Congress, democracy, and our way of life) were insidious and plentiful.  The "N" word was often used when "sir" would have sufficed.

And what made all of this racism so striking, even from Trump supporters, was the fact that it was being directed toward uniformed members of the police by people who generally self-identify as conservatives and Republicans, a constituency that is always highly vocal in support of the police in cases where white officers stand accused of denying the civil rights of Black Americans - often through serious personal injury and even death.

When white officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on the neck of an already subdued black man, George Floyd, for nine-and-a-half minutes until he finally died, the good, ol' Trump slobbering White Americans rose en masse to let the rest of America know that they back the Blue.

What they were really saying was that they back the White elements of society that helped to restrain Black America, and if those White elements happen to be wearing police uniforms, so much the better.

But if the man or woman in the police uniform is Black, well . . . that's a different story.  Their skin color overshadows the authority of their uniform, and once again they are targets of the unhinged mob.

The Redneck roar about backing the Blue is really about attacking the Black.  

And it's not patriotism, it's racism.