Posts Tagged ‘ralph northam’

On Establishment Democrat Hypocrisy and the Ralph Northam Scandal

February 2, 2019 11 comments

While I prefer to write on topics which are more intellectually satisfying than some stupid piece of current news, there are times when the later have some relevance to former. Most of you must have heard that the current governor (as of the time of writing), Ralph Northam, posed as either a blackface character or KKK klan member for some photo taken at some party in his mid-20s. It does not help that he selected that photo as one of four to appear on his personal page in 1984 yearbook of his class. And let us be clear about something.. wearing either blackface or KKK klan garb at any public occasion in USA was a bad idea, even in 1984. Having said that, let us look at this mini-scandal from a different angle- especially at establishment democrats feigning outrage.

But before we go there, let us quickly talk a bit about why wearing either of those two costumes is a bad idea. To make a very long story short, the history of reprehensible institutional racism in USA make any attempt to celebrate or glorify that period highly unpopular in the contemporary era. That is why, for example, we saw all those recent agitations against continued public display of confederate statues in certain southern states. That is also why people see the confederate flag and other symbols of the “old south” as racist. The confederacy and its symbols occupy the same space in post-1965 american history as Nazis and their symbols in post-ww2 Germany. Everyone knows what happened, but only idiots wish to glorify and celebrate the worst part of their history.

Which brings us to Ralph Northam and his lack of judgement in playing racist dress-up in 1984. The very recent leak of those photos appears to have been timed to hurt him because of his pro-choice stance, however the reaction of establishment democrats says a lot more about their own hypocrisy than this poor cosplay choice in 1984. Let me explain that point in some detail. A lot of establishment democrats from Bill Clinton and Joe Biden to Kamala Harris have done far more to perpetuate the inequities and suffering caused by racism than putting on a highly racist costume for drunken cosplay. Bill Clinton, as many of you know, was instrumental in passing laws which perpetuated structural racism such as Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act aka the 1994 crime bill and Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act aka welfare “reform”.

Did I mention how he gave an important campaign speech in 1992 using the background of a few hundred incarcerated black men at Stone Mountain, Georgia? Or remember how he showboated the execution of a mentally retarded black man to increase his support among potential white voters in 1992 presidential election? Meanwhile the 1994 crime bill, which he strongly supported and signed, caused the largest sustained increase in number of jailed black men in american history. And yet somehow he was the first “black” president according to some cock-sucking loser in the mainstream media. Moving on.. did you know that Joe Biden was the leading proponent of the 1994 crime bill and he spent a lot of effort making it as punitive as possible for black people?

But we are supposed to believe than an idiot wearing a racist cosplay costume in 1984 is far more worthy of public damnation than two people who have screwed over the lives of millions of black people. What about Kamala Harris, who spent her whole career enthusiastically prosecuting tons of poor and usually nonwhite people for minor “crimes” and then laughing about it? Of course, her alleged zeal for fighting crime did not extend to rich white criminals especially those who donated to her political campaigns. And somehow, the democratic establishment sees her as a viable presidential candidate. My point is that establishment democrats have perpetuated structural inequities of racism almost as much their republican counterparts in post-1965 era.

But that idiot wearing blackface/ KKK outfit in 1984 is the source of all our problems *sarcasm*.

What do you think? Comments?