Facts from the Front – November 2016

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by Moe White –

Mississippi

A black church in Greenville, Mississippi was burned one week before the presidential election. Investigators have strong indications it was an act of arson, and the words “Vote Trump” were spray-painted on the side of the building. For those with memories of the “old South” of white supremacy, the KKK, the murders of civil rights workers and innocent teenagers, and decades of lynchings and church bombings, the act was all too recognizable: political terrorism by segregationists and bigots getting back at “uppity” people who want to vote.

According to Mississippi’s Republican Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, however, it’s a tempest in a teapot. Members of the congregation shouldn’t be that concerned; after all, nobody was killed. And anyway, Hosemann said, he had concluded that the burning and vandalism had nothing to do with politics, after discussions with “authorities in Greenville” and the state Highway Patrol.

“The initial work here indicates this is not of a political nature even though there may be something that says ‘Vote Trump’ on the side of the church. So everybody needs to calm down here until we get to the bottom of this.”

Alabama

Another Secretary of State, this one in Alabama, doesn’t think today’s potential (black) voters are living up to their forebears. That’s why John Merrill—yes, another Republican—has tried to make it more difficult for people to register and to vote. Thus requiring elderly poor and black people to get a special ID, but opening the one office for getting it only one day PER MONTH—and challenging thousands of others’ right to vote, is actually designed to benefit the memory and legacy of civil rights leaders.

“These people fought—some of them were beaten, some of them were killed—because of their desire to ensure that everybody that wanted to had the right to register to vote and participate in the process. I’m not going to cheapen the work that they did. I’m not going to embarrass them by allowing somebody that’s too sorry to get up off of their rear end to go register to vote,” he said.

That’s quite a rationale for denying people the right to vote.

Virginia

In Staunton, Virginia, Robert E. Lee High School Principal Mark Rowicki and school secretary Stephanie Corbett decided to appear as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the school’s “festive” Halloween celebration. Then they posted the pictures on the public school’s Facebook page. What’s the problem? Well, for one thing, Ms. Corbett wore an orange prison uniform, echoing Trump’s (and apparently Rowicki’s) belief that Mrs. Clinton should be imprisoned as soon as Donald Trump takes office.

For another, in the words of one parent’s Facebook post, “What message are you sending … when their high school principal dresses up like a man who wants to deport them, says things like “such a nasty woman” and ‘grab em by the p—–’?”

The school quickly deleted the photos, but the damage has been done, not only to the children who witnessed such immature, unethical, and (possibly) illegal behavior by public employees, but to the school itself and the school system. Both of these people should be relieved of their jobs immediately, and not allowed anywhere near a public school, or a taxpayer-funded paycheck, ever again.

What is it with people of a certain political persuasion that they feel such behavior is appropriate? I would ask, “What are they thinking?” but they clearly don’t think. People entrusted with the education of children, well-educated people entrusted with the well-being of a state, of its voters, of democracy itself, have joined the throng of those who are willing and eager to undermine the norms of behavior that have kept our nation united for 150 years.

These three men and one woman, along with thousands of their counterparts in other states, including our own North Carolina, are the true danger to America.

America, the Beautiful

Nationwide, Republican nominee Donald Trump apparently debased himself by his willingness to become the nation’s leader. “Running for president,” according to his son Donald, Jr., was a “step down” for his father.

A step down apparently means into the muck and grime of the political arena, where you have to answer to actual people instead of the yes-men and lackeys you’ve surrounded yourself with for 70 years.

Well, the Donald has certainly stepped down. He’s gone lower than any candidate in history, including Richard Nixon, Strom Thurmond, and George Wallace. If elected, he would stand beneath Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears. Fortunately, as of Nov. 9, he will have to literally step down from his role as de facto leader of the Republican Party.

So, goodbye, Donald (and Junior, and Eric, and Ivanka, and Barron, and Tiffany, and Melania). Take your next step—up into the witness box at one of the several trials you’re facing for fraud and statutory rape.

 


Facts From The Front is a monthly column by copy editor Moe White in which America’s Constitutional democracy is defended against ongoing assaults by those who prefer less palatable alternatives: oligarchy, autocracy, theocracy, feudalism, fascism, and other nondemocratic methods of government. Among the qualifications for White’s commentary and ridicule are hypocrisy, dishonesty, corruption, unbridled greed, flat-out lies, and sheer idiocy on the part of public figures.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in “Facts from the Front” are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Urban News.