Hat tip-POU
From Mother Jones:
“We Just Feel Like We Don’t Belong Here Anymore”
Think it’s hard for the white working class in rural America? Try being a person of color.
BECCA ANDREWS
AUG. 16, 2017 6:00 AM
……………………………………
Since Trump’s election, there has been ample coverage of white people—the rise of white nationalism, the white working class that makes up Trump’s core constituency, the 53 percent of white women who voted him into office. Much less has been written about the people of color who live and work amid the rising tide of white nationalism in rural red states.
I grew up in a town called Bells, one of the five small towns that make up Crockett County in West Tennessee. The county is 83 percent white—I am also white—14 percent black and 10 percent Hispanic. (For comparison, according to 2016 Census data, Tennessee’s population is only 17 percent black and 5 percent Hispanic.) The median household income is $35,000, and 19 percent of the county’s 14,411 residents live below the poverty line. Most of the people I went to school with are still there. The area is deeply rural—the main highway that winds through the county is framed by cotton fields and pastures where cows keep a lazy watch over passing cars. Friday night football reigns supreme; game attendance is only second in importance to church. Many families have been here for generations, passing down their farmland and businesses to their children and grandchildren.
It can be a lovely place to live, but in counties like Crockett, it’s hard to be anything other than white. So I decided to go back home, and talk to the people I should have been talking to all along—people of color who live and work and go to school with white Trump supporters. They told me how it feels to live among neighbors who voted against their best interests, and—worst case—their basic existence.
………………………………………………………Madyson Turner: “With the way it’s going now, I’m actually scared that I won’t make it.”
I remember high-school Madyson Turner as a vibrant young black woman with a sense of humor that could dissipate tension in any room. (Turner’s name has been changed here to protect her privacy.) But when we meet up in a Subway sandwich shop in Alamo, there’s a new weight to her shoulders, and her infectious laugh doesn’t come quite so easily.
When she first began to see reports about the violence in Charlottesville, Turner thought it was a tasteless joke. Then she saw videos of the clash on Saturday, and her phone rang—her boyfriend was calling to check on her and process what was happening. He sounded upset. What he said tore at her: “I would rather the world end instead of us having to keep dealing with this stuff.” What hurt her more was the realization that she agreed with him.
“With the way it’s going now, I’m actually scared that I won’t make it,” she said to me in a text message.Turner tells me in the past year, life for her family has changed. She hints that her parents have been in West Tennessee long enough to know which families fought against civil rights “back in the day.” Since Trump’s election, they’ve warned her to steer clear of a list of people that is too long for comfort.
The day after the November presidential election, Turner went with her mother to the store, and they both kept their heads down. “We just feel like we don’t belong here anymore,” she says.
Turner’s mom, who cleans houses in town for a living, went to work a couple days after that, and her employer, an older white woman, brought up the results of the recent election. The two had talked politics before—Turner’s mom is a Democrat, and her employer is a Republican. “Well, you might as well come and live with me now,” the employer said. “You gonna be mine eventually.”
She called her daughter in tears. Turner immediately got in her car and picked her mother up to bring her home.
Last year before the election, a young woman Turner described as one of her best friends casually mentioned she hoped for a Trump victory so that he might “do away with some of these African-American people.” She quickly clarified that she wasn’t referring to Turner’s “type,” but when Turner sharply asked her what she meant, she couldn’t answer. Another friend assured her that it would be OK if Trump won the election because she would convince her parents to purchase Turner’s family as their new slaves. In a place where a few large plantation-style houses remain scattered through the county, the “joke” feels a lot like a threat.
“I saw a lot of true colors from a lot of people since the election—down with African Americans, down with Hispanics, build the wall, even for the legal ones,” she says. “It really hurts.”
I don’t want to read anymore articles about ‘ understanding’ Dolt45 voters.
I have never cared about them.
They made their choice. They showed their LACK OF CHARACTER through their vote for him.
And, it will forever define them.
So, spare me one more article about them.
I want more articles like THIS – exposing the hatred that others suffer being near the Dolt45 voters.
Reading this story just enraged me and disgusted me.
But, I’ll say it again…
NOBODY is playing them.
Cover of The New Yorker for August 28. 2017:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHdop4JVwAAEO6K.jpg
Cover of The Economist for August 19, 2017:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHbMcySXsAIJoCB.jpg
An interactive Dolt45/Russia timeline. The author was on LarryO tonight
http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-russia-timeline/
She;s going to be in someone’s HBCU Marching Band in a few years.
https://twitter.com/iDO_me2/status/897947732354007041
She is so very TALENTED! Amazing!
https://twitter.com/darrensands/status/898350184580739072
https://twitter.com/Russian_Starr/status/898190217294860288
https://twitter.com/20committee/status/898177282443026432
@thehill
Kevin Durant won’t attend NBA championship reception at White House because he “doesn’t respect” Trump http://hill.cm/fvULXpV
I hadn’t seen the picture…I thought someone was joking when I saw the REtweet.
Then I saw this…
BWA HA HA H AH AH HA HA HA HA
https://twitter.com/FOX10Phoenix/status/898262302788526080
https://twitter.com/AdrianXpression/status/897978833151852544
https://twitter.com/fawfulfan/status/898302635521921025
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/898339964928245761
Update on my sister.
She’s out of ICU.
She’s in a regular room.
Yes, she has issues that they have to get under control, but they’re working on it..and she’s out of ICU!
Thanks for all the prayers. Please keep them coming.
Oh Rikyrah, what wonderful news you have shared about your sister. I am so relieved to hear that she is out of ICU and that they will get her kidney issues under control.
Thank you Lord!
I will continue to keep your sister in my prayers.
So good to hear that, Rikyrah. Sounds like she’s in good hands.
Great news…thank God!
Thank you, God, for your everlasting tender mercies.
this is a READ.
https://twitter.com/_hoemo/status/898020441809399809
I’m thinking the dolt will resign this weekend…I don’t know how he stays in office…unless he thinks the presidency is the only way to stay out of jail.
He won’t resign…
He and his various puppeteers and racist cohorts with their various evil and greed agenda will have to be dragged kicking and screaming from the People’s House..
He’ll burn the White House down and wreak unbelievable havoc before he ever think of resigning..
What do you think his loud white supremacist proclamations and very vocal siding with the racists and neo nazis are all about..
It’s about whipping them up and ensuring they are on his side and come to his aid by rampaging on his behalf if and when he is asked to leave..
That’s how he’s always operated…align with and cultivate dubious characters to fight his battles..
**thinks..
My goodness u are probably spot on with this. What are we to do?
Very important article:
Baltimore’s Confederate Monument Was Never About ‘History And Culture’
Why would a city in a state that sat out the Civil War erect a monument to Confederate generals in 1948?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/confederate-monuments-history-trump-baltimore_us_5995a3a6e4b0d0d2cc84c952
“KING: In the eyes of our justice system, a black life means less than a white statue”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/king-justice-system-values-white-statue-black-life-article-1.3419928
“PayPal Shuts Down Access For Richard Spencer, Other Right-Wing Extremists
The online payment company is cracking down after a new report found hate groups used their services to raise money for the Charlottesville rally.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paypal-charlottesville-hate-groups_us_59949563e4b0acc593e4ac94?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
Excerpt:
LOL Love it, that Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy calls POS #45!!!!! What do you think Chris Cumo?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJypwCfj6cc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCvodt90blQ
CHECK YOURSELF, BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF!
Please pray for my daughter. Hospital here is transferring her to Women’s Hospital in Houston.
Oh, SG2, I am so sorry to hear that she is in the hospital. I immediately said a prayer for her and will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.
I also am saying a prayer for you that you will feel God’s presence watching over you and your daughter.
I’m praying, SG2. They’ll take care of her, she’ll be alright.
She was flown on a copter to Houston. Right now they’re doing an ultra sound. Drs may have to do a C-Section. It’s too early for baby. Poor little baby.
SG2, is she at about 28 weeks? Maybe they will just keep her there and get her farther along. Do you have an update?
Not yet.
I think she might be there for about 3 weeks or maybe more.
Okay, that’s a relief. If they keep her there everything will be fine. Best for both her and the baby. They’ll be fine, don’t worry.
Daughter is feeling a little better. They’ve given her medication and something to develop the baby’s lungs but she will be hospitalized for about 3 or 4 weeks. Total bed rest.
That’s good news, SG2. That means everything is okay with the baby, placenta, etc…and they are able to give the baby more time. They’ll take care of her and your grand baby. Don’t worry.
Thank you, Liza. Love you to pieces.
:)
Sending positive thoughts and prayers🙏🙏
Just got here SG…had no idea ..
Take care love…she’ll be ok…
Sending lots of hugs and prayers up..
Thank you so much, Eliihass.
Hope she and the baby are doing better SG…
And you take care of yourself too mama-nana,…no stressing…she’ll be ok…and when the time is right, baby will arrive…happy, healthy…hearty and so, so beautiful..
Thank you so much
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/898225656865148929
https://twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/898225676523843584
Breaking News….
https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/898225845004890112
The world takes note of Trump’s ‘failure of character’
08/17/17 12:48 PM
By Steve Benen
…………
The Economist, based in London, published a brutal piece in its new issue on Trump’s “failure of character,” featuring a cover in which Trump is depicted shouting into a white megaphone – which also happens to be a Klansman’s hood.
The Washington Post reported that the American president’s latest offense “earned him another wave of backlash from world leaders.”
Some of the most heated criticisms came by way of Berlin, where German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement, “It is unbearable how Trump is now glossing over the violence of the right-wing hordes from Charlottesville. No one should trivialize anti-Semitism and racism by neo-Nazis.”
There was even a demonstration yesterday at the Brandenburg Gate. Foreign Policy reported, “Hundreds of protesters gathered at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate Wednesday to denounce white supremacy and express support for victims of the recent violence in Charlottesville.”
The article added, “The crowd chanted ‘Nazi scum go away,’ and volunteers collected donations for the victims of Charlottesville.”
There’s already ample evidence that Trump is woefully unpopular across much of the planet, with American allies, who applauded Barack Obama, rejecting his Republican successor in overwhelming numbers. That, of course, was before Trump started defending torch-wielding bigots – a development that will likely push his global standing down even further.
Ben Rhodes, a former foreign policy adviser in the Obama White House, added this morning that it’s “hard to overstate the impact that Trump’s response to Charlottesville will have abroad causing people to question basic assumptions” about the United States.
Some modern presidents have struggled with the title of Leader of the Free World. Donald J. Trump has taken the mantle and thrown it away.
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/898226460368011264
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 8/15/17
Trump is lying about Charlottesville, says witness
According to Rev. Traci Blackmon, who protested the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, the president was lying when he defended the behavior of the alt right marchers and blamed “both sides” for the violence
Rev. Blackmon was on fire!
Explosive @harvard study skewers the NYT on its unethical treatment of Hillary Clinton. This is brutal, folks. https://t.co/0B9WCIY5Vv pic.twitter.com/O2x0MEn5CJ
— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) August 16, 2017
Exclusive: Jack Posobiec, Controversial Conservative Navy Intel Officer, Opens Up To T&P About His Military Service https://t.co/eNavxB4Y5K pic.twitter.com/nKS4DSXsJa
— Task & Purpose (@TaskandPurpose) August 16, 2017
Or How a racist ideologue could infiltrate Office of Naval Intelligence w/o detection & run proRussian information ops in USA & France. https://t.co/9k1ZQNlAUZ
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) August 17, 2017
As Trump’s problems mount, the media’s obsession with Clinton’s email server–literally the most-covered issue of 2016–
looks worse & worse.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 17, 2017
This was too long to tweet so I had to screenshot it. pic.twitter.com/a7o1jvSV9w
— Saren Arterius (@SowaTheArrogant) August 16, 2017
Sen. Kamala Harris Shut Down Trump’s “Many Sides” Comment About Charlottesville Violence https://t.co/npoyBlgkxv
— Backstorymom1 (#44) (@Backstorymom1) August 17, 2017
According to my source-Mueller now has Deutchbank records. https://t.co/NhwLIa7B9X
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) August 17, 2017
It just broke that the leader of the Nazis in Charlottesville is from Indiana and was employed in Pence’s Dept of Family Services. pic.twitter.com/ukxsvkTjNn
— Indiana Joan (@gouldjm16) August 16, 2017
I read about this last year. Matthew Heimbach was employed as a social worker but was fired shortly after taking the job because of his mouth. The department has rules and policies he needed to follow when dealing with clients. He replaced the rules with his opinions of the clients and denigrated them. He was also reported for being abusive toward them. It wasn’t long after they began to report that that racist lost his job. I read an article a few months ago about where he lives in Indiana and based on it, it’s a real dump located in the middle of nowhere, with junk spread throughout the property—an unkempt lawn/property. It’s what is sometimes called a “white trash” property. In spite of living in these conditions, he has the gall to think he’s superior because he has less melanin in his complexion than others.
Daily Caller: Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher met with Julian Assange for 3 hours. https://t.co/Fb8r07dDaU
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 17, 2017
No Russian connections? Americans associated with a Putin-friendly oligarch have given over $1 million to Trump. https://t.co/ksGOmBX0jM
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 17, 2017
Beauty??? You are a full-on confederacy apologist at this point. How can you be the commander in chief and revere literal treason? https://t.co/E38cOUxaQy
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 17, 2017
Donald Trump is politically inept, morally barren and temperamentally unfit for office https://t.co/xLDMtLclUw
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) August 17, 2017
Thanks Twitter: “The Other Inconvenient Truth” is trending! Read the column here —> https://t.co/HcI4u46yCv
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) August 17, 2017
THIS. Beware the animal lovers…… watch their actions towards POC.
Must read. From expert on authoritarian states @SarahKendzior: Why Trump Blames “Both Sides” For Charlottesville https://t.co/x9yOGfXvhF
— Kathleen Craig (@Kathleen_Craig) August 17, 2017
What Will Republicans Do Now?
by Nancy LeTourneau
August 16, 2017
Let’s be clear about something: the current president of the United States is a white supremacist.
An awful lot of people have been equivocating about that one. The issue is not that he is pandering to white supremacists in order to secure their support…he agrees with them. Based on his history before and after running for the presidency, he simply put an exclamation point on that yesterday. But it’s even more serious than that.
If we were to do a Venn diagram of people who are narcissists, paranoid and white supremacists, I suspect that there would be a fair amount of overlap. And right in the middle of that would be the man who has been elected to lead the most powerful nation on earth—Donald Trump. Combine those things and you have a recipe for disaster.
………………………
For a while now I’ve been saying that, left to his own devices, Trump will not get better. As a matter of fact, the pressures and public exposure that come with the presidency will only make things worse. That is what Tony Schwartz (ghostwriter for The Art of the Deal) was addressing in this tweet following the press conference yesterday:
He’s right, we must stand in opposition to this president every day. But we also have to recognize that until 2020, the only people with the power to remove this threat from the White House are members of his Cabinet and/or congressional Republicans…who have an even closer look at how this president is unraveling.
If they can’t make a move to do anything out of a desire to save our country, then they could simply look at it from their own self interest. It must be clear to them by now that either they do something about this president or the entire Republican Party goes down with him. In addition, they have an agenda that is even less likely to go anywhere as long as Trump is the leader of their party.
https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/898178592152145921
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 8/16/17
Frederick Douglass: How to deal with ‘treacherous president’
Frederick Douglass, who according to Donald Trump is being ‘recognized more and more,’ wrote an essay re-published by The Atlantic today on how to deal with ‘A Treacherous President who Stood in the Way.’
Trump, Joint Chiefs have very different responses to Charlottesville
08/17/17 09:22 AM
By Steve Benen
How isolated is Donald Trump in the wake of his public defense of bigoted activists? Even U.S. military leaders are making clear their reactions to violence in Charlottesville are not in line with the president’s.
At face value, seeing U.S. military leaders denounce racists and their twisted ideas may seem obvious and unremarkable, but the broader context is important. For one thing, service chiefs do not always weigh in publicly in response to national events. On the contrary, their goal is generally to remain as apolitical as possible.
……………………………………………………..
Slate’s Fred Kaplan had a good piece on this late yesterday, calling the services chiefs’ statements “stunning,” and the result of a leadership vacuum created by the collapse of the presidency.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
Alabama AG sues Birmingham over covered Confederate memorial
Mayor William Bell of Birmingham, Alabama talks with Rachel Maddow about his decision to cover up the city’s Confederate Memorial and the legal pushback from the state for doing so.
Ms. Ifill was on point last night. Speaking the truth.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
Trump race crisis a test for Congress to take real action
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Congress can do more than the bare minimum of tweeting condemnation of racism to address the actual problem with legislation.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
A plan to resist emboldened racists: keep Trump small, use laws
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about how best to anticipation and counter the political ambitions of racist groups emboldened by succor from Donald Trump.
Ms. Ifill was SO GOOD last night. A voice of reason.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
Russia still helping Trump, hacked mail story suggests
Rachel Maddow looks at the timeline of a Trump-promoted, hacked e-mail-driven conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton collusion with Ukraine as it made its way through the White House, a Russian web site, and Fox News on its way to Trump supporters.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
Prominent investigator exits Mueller Trump Russia team
Rachel Maddow reports on the surprising departure of Peter Strzok, a prominent counter-espionage investigator who had been working on Robert Mueller’s Trump Russia investigation.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
Lots of talk, no resignations over Trump racist rally remarks
Rachel Maddow notes that contrary to expectations and the indications of a lot of sternly worded condemnations, no members of the Trump team actually resigned in the wake of his comments on the racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/16/17
Trump lawyer not helping with pro-Confederacy e-mail
Rachel Maddow shares a new report from The New York Times that Donald Trump’s lawyer forwarded an e-mail arguing no difference between Robert E. Lee and George Washington.
GOP senator ready to ‘move beyond’ Trump’s racially charged comments
08/16/17 04:53 PM—UPDATED 08/16/17 05:14 PM
By Steve Benen
In the wake of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) condemned white nationalism as a “completely evil ideology.” As the Cap Times reports today, however, the Republican senator is less firm when it comes to Donald Trump’s defense of racist activists.
Why top members of Trump’s team still haven’t resigned
08/16/17 01:02 PM
By Steve Benen
………………………
Whether these accounts are true or not is hard to say. It’s awfully easy for various officials – many of whom are unnamed – to quietly tell reporters that they’re uncomfortable with their boss’ racist display. It’s less easy to do something meaningful, such as typing a resignation letter.
And yet, at least as of this morning, that hasn’t happened. It’s worth considering why.
The New York Times had an interesting piece this morning on what some White House insiders were saying last night.
That’s quite an insight. It’s not that members of the president’s team were surprised to hear him make such offensive comments; rather, they were “stunned” he made these comments to a national audience.
Evidently, he’s supposed to keep these offensive rants in-house.
This helps explain why no one has quit over the last 20 hours because it’s a reminder that members of Team Trump knew what they signed up for. When they chose to work for this president, they knew about the racism. And the reluctance to condemn white supremacists. And the misogyny. And the narcissistic megalomania. And the rhetoric in support of violence. And the admiration of authoritarian dictators. And the delusional conspiracy theories. And the uncontrollable dishonesty.
Each of them – from cabinet secretaries to White House aides to interns – knew exactly who Donald J. Trump is, and they took the job anyway.
‘Wages and wives’ are a big reason the rich are getting richer
Richard Reeves, The Brookings Institution
Jul. 27, 2017, 9:44 AM
Over the past four decades, the gap between those at the top of the income ladder and everyone else has widened. The “top” here includes, but is not limited to, the top 1%. A larger group, equivalent to the top fifth of the income ladder, have seen their incomes rise faster than the majority of Americans.
The top fifth (quintile) of US households saw a $4 trillion increase in combined pretax income in the years between 1979 and 2013. The combined rise for the bottom 80%, by comparison, was just over $3 trillion. The gap between the bottom fifth and the middle fifth has not widened at all. In fact there has been no increase in inequality among the bottom 80%.
It is not correct to describe the inequality problem as a “growing gap between rich and poor.” The problem is a growing gap between “the rich” — if we are willing to accept that label for families with $120,000-plus incomes — and everyone else.
Widening income inequality reflects two trends in particular: increased gaps in earnings and greater labor-market participation for women who are married with children — wages and wives. The trend in earnings has been toward higher wages at the top, largely as a result of increased returns to human capital. While real wage rises have been sickly for those outside the top quintile, even as the economy climbs out of recession, the average salary at the top has grown by 58% since 1979. For sure, this figure includes the top 1%, who are seeing their earnings grow fastest of all. But even for the 19% below them, average wage and salary income grew by a robust 44% over the same period.
………………………………………
If high-earning women were marrying low-earning men, the effect of increased female labor-force participation on income inequality might be positive. But that’s not happening. Instead, well-educated, well-paid women marry well-educated, well-paid men, a process sociologists have given the stunningly unromantic label of “assortative mating.” This means that the growing gaps we see in earnings are magnified in terms of household income. My colleague Gary Burtless estimates that between 10 and 16% of income inequality in the US is caused by the “growing correlation of earned incomes received by husbands and wives.”
The combination of wage inequality, increased female employment, and assortative mating has therefore driven a sharp and growing income separation of the American upper-middle class.
Why does this matter? Some object to inequality on simple moral grounds (see Jeremy Waldron’s new book, “One Another’s Equals,” for a contemporary expression). My fear is that American inequality is starting to replicate itself across generations. In a society and economy where money matters a great deal — in terms of access to housing, education, and healthcare, for instance — an increase in income inequality is likely to lead to an increase in other forms of inequality, too. Upper-middle-class parents are able to invest heavily in the human capital of their children, which in turn increases their chances of remaining at the top of the income ladder — what The Economist labels as “hereditary meritocracy.”
“Hundreds hold candlelight vigil at UVA in Charlottesville”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hundreds-hold-candlelight-vigil-at-uva-in-charlottesville/
Excerpt:
Good Morning,Everyone 😐😐😐
Marcus Garvey was born on this day, August 17, in 1887.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7b/e8/8d/7be88d5896a8cc1b7b8cde0e9de2f397.png
http://wanderingeyes.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/7/3/19736919/9519167_orig.jpg
Good Morning, Rikyrah. I am continuing my prayers for your sister’s recovery. You will also remain in my thoughts and prayers.
Same here, Yahtc. I’ve been thinking about her. My prayers are with her. I’ve had family members with the same diagnoses.
Good Morning Rikyrah & 3 Chic Family. DITTO on reading articles about white tears.