Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

We still have time to mess this up!

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Republicans do not trust women.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Books are my comfort food!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / The Fear Is the Point. The Cruelty Is the Way To Make That Point.

The Fear Is the Point. The Cruelty Is the Way To Make That Point.

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In October 2018, Adam Serwer wrote an excellent essay in The Atlantic entitled “The Cruelty Is the Point”. As good as the essay is, Serwer’s conclusion was just a little bit off. The cruelty is the means, the fear is the point.

There are a lot more in Adrian Carrasquillo’s thread if you want to click across.

As I wrote here a few weeks ago, this year is the 100 year anniversary of the Red Summer of 1919, which, if it is remembered at all, is usually referred to as widespread race riots across the US. The Red Summer was not, in fact, a series of race riots across the US. Rather, white Americans, using almost anything as a justification, began localized campaigns of white supremacist terrorism targeting the African American communities in their cities and towns. African Americans, especially newly returned home African American veterans of WW I, quickly organized themselves and their communities f0r self defense. These acts of self defense, of course, further enraged and infuriated the white supremacists attacking the African American communities. As a result, because African Americans defended themselves, the Red Summer of 1919 is often referred to as race riots, when it was really no such thing.

The Red Summer is important. The African American communities in 1919 were terrorized by white supremacists. The point was fear, the means to achieve it the cruelty of the violence directed at them. The African American communities, or some within them, quickly moved past fear to resolve and a determination to defend themselves. Right now the President’s immigration policies, his rhetoric, the rhetoric of his supporters and surrogates, and that of almost all of the Republican Party and the conservative movement that sustains are all intended to generate fear. The actions and rhetoric are cruel, but cruelty is the means to the end. And that end is terrorizing Hispanic and Latinx Americans. The question, calling out to all of us Americans across 100 years from the Red Summer of 1919, when will the fear give way to resolve? And what action will result from that resolve?

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

104Comments

  2. 2.

    lamh36

    Was reading that thread most of the morning, along with this thread from Maya Rupert, Julian Castro’s campaign manager.

    Do yourselves a favor and read the ENTIRE thing!

    @MayaRupert
    Last night after a bunch of people feigned outrage over – from best I can tell – @castroforcongress seeing public information and tweeting about it – someone found my personal cell phone number and texted me a series of racist, misogynistic and anti-fat threats and insults.

    @MayaRupert
    4h4 hours ago
    This, by the way, is the impact of false equivalence. The Trump campaign deliberately lied & called what Joaquin did doxxing, and because that blatant lie was allowed to circulate unchecked, a narrative took hold, and the result is that his supporters targeted me for retribution

    4h4 hours ago
    I don’t expect any of the concern trolls who spent yesterday wringing their hands in performative anger will be as loud about what happened to me. But I’m not writing this for them.

    @MayaRupert
    4h4 hours ago
    I’m writing this because the question I get asked the most often by young women of color who want to work in politics is how to handle moments like this…

    twitter.com/MayaRupert/status/1159198815498510337

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    Hey Adam, did you see this?

    @MysterySolvent
    Follow Follow @MysterySolvent
    More
    Here is a pic of National Hero Glendon Oakley. Trump forgot his name and never said it on tv. I’m sorry the pic isn’t the best. Glendon needs to know, America knows his name, and appreciates his courage in the face of an active shooter with an Assault Weapon! ❤️

    twitter.com/MysterySolvent/status/1159241067822231552

    He’s miliatry, so I assume he was maybe obligated or felt obligated to go? He does have that “I’m just here…” look on his face

    But apparently chump told him something bout him being able to go on to do movies after this…and Mr Oakley was not amused by that.

  4. 4.

    Dan B

    Great value to your post to show the link between terrorizing immigrants and how it moves into demonizing and terrorizing others. 90% of our neighborhood is Black, SE Asian (immigrant and 2nd gen), and Muslim – east African, and Filipino.

    My partner’s family have turned into Trump / racist conspiracy believers. We have tried to tell them that we, as gay men, feel afraid. They believe we should love Trump because immigrants and Muslims hate gays. I’ve got half a dozen Muslim friends and know more who are very pro-LGBT.

    They’ve told us that Marriage Equality is settled law as if that matters with our current judiciary. Anticipating the persecution generates dread. Our dread is dismissed.

  7. 7.

    Ladyraxterinok

    The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot was part of this. When armed black vets showed up downtown, whites freaked out. Many blocks of the black community were destroyed . A group bombed the area from a plane they had.

    The are known as Black Wall Street that was a beacon of black economic status was destroyed. That winter many Tulsa blacks lived in tents, a group of white tried to take over the whole area and develop it. That was stopped, I forget how.

    There is an ongoing controversy over how many blacks were killed–a hundred? 1000s? Many blacks were rounded up and held in ‘camps’ at the fairgrounds east of town.

    John Hope Franklin, the famous black historian , was small child living with his family in Tulsa at the time. His father moved the family away. Many other blacks left as well.

  10. 10.

    lamh36

    So apparently Fox News must have done a segment on Julian and Joaquin. So of course Chump as digusting as ever tweeted some dumb bullshit that I guess was supposed to be pitting brother against brother…smh

    @JulianCastro
    9m9 minutes ago
    More
    Joaquin and I will keep fighting. The American people will fight every day for our nation, against your hate, your corruption, and your ego. And we’ll win. #AdiósTrump
    twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1159266849965711361

    Trump is disgusting… KEEP ON FIGHTING Castro Bros!

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ladyraxterinok: I separated them out because, you know, the Red Summer was 1919 and the Tulsa Race Riots were 1921. Very similar, almost identical, types of events separated by two years.I’m not trying to pick favorites between them.

  14. 14.

    debbie

    It’s been very dispiriting to see Jews supporting Trump and these behaviors, even as they are always ready to rub someone’s nose in the Holocaust. “Never forget,” my ass.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @HalfAssedHomesteader: Did a post on that a while back too.

    I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve either already done a post on that or will be doing a post on that is my new existential experience.

  20. 20.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Ladyraxterinok: Interesting that Daniel J Boorstein’s father moved his family to Tulsa in 1916? to escape the Georgia where Leo Frank, a Jewish man, was lynched in 1915 on the belief that he had murdered a 13 yr old white girl (‘Jewish blood libel’ claim was involved , I believe) . The family did quite well in Tulsa, and Daniel went on to become another famous historian.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    African Americans, especially newly returned home African American veterans of WW I, quickly organized themselves and their communities f0r self defense. These acts of self defense, of course, further enraged and infuriated the white supremacists attacking the African American communities. As a result, because African Americans defended themselves, the Red Summer of 1919 is often referred to as race riots, when it was really no such thing.

    So the answer is for people of color to fort up en masse and prepare for a whole bunch of white folks to try and kill them? //

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    Twitter freezes McConnell campaign account for posting video of protester’s violent threats

    Good news.

  28. 28.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @lamh36: Remember the other young black man James Shaw Jr who saved numerous people at the waffle House shooting shortly after the massive school shooting in FL?

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    Rep. Lucy McBath, whose son was fatally shot, accused by Republicans of politicizing shootings

    Not so good news.

  30. 30.

    dimmsdale

    I’m sitting here looking over a leaflet from the American Friends Service Committee called “Do’s and Don’ts for Bystander Intervention,” which is all well and good. At the moment, though, I’m feeling temperamentally woefully ill-equipped to actually step in (or even to document, in situations where white assholes go off on people of color) should an incident occur (and I’m anticipating about a 99% certainty that they will).

    Years ago I took a terrific self-defense course given by Prepare, Inc. that included some boundary-setting exercises under somewhat adrenalized conditions, so that one kind of got used to keeping on task, keeping boundaries tight and keeping focused, even when nerve-jangled by catcallers.

    Anybody know if that type of training is offered for dealing with potential bystander-intervention situations?

    (I will now go voyaging through the internet to check it out. Anyone has any ideas, they’d be welcome!)

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The question, calling out to all of us Americans across 100 years from the Red Summer of 1919, when will the fear give way to resolve? And what action will result from that resolve?

    You did beg the question.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    What’s this? New player?

  34. 34.

    A Ghost To Most

    @TenguPhule: Probably that we should realize that everyone is exposed to the dangers of fascism, some much more than others, and we should stick together as Americans. Score keeping is not helpful.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    @Adam L Silverman: I am loving that it went to Judge Jackson. It would seem Strzok has a very real case.

    I was sickened by how the Trump admin forced him and Andrew McCabe out.

  37. 37.

    Mike in DC

    @Adam L Silverman: Prior to the 1960s, most “race riots” involved whites going apeshit and beating and murdering nonwhite citizens, be they black, latinx(zoot suit riots) or Asian.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike in DC: I’m aware. I’m just trying to be explicit here that what are deemed riots were really domestic terrorism sometime met with a self defense response.

  44. 44.

    Jay

    The bloody history of lynchings of Mexicans in the Southwest is often forgotten, but recent research from Bill Carrigan reveals that Mexican workers and landowners were the targets of mob lynchings.

    Carrigan, a history professor at Rowan University in New Jersey, says these murders were motivated by racism and greed for land, and the victims were often accused of theft or other crimes to motivate the mob. Anglo-Americans claimed that the lawlessness of the region forced them to take the law into their own hands.

    latinousa.org/2016/03/11/the-history-of-anti-mexican-violence-and-lynching/

  49. 49.

    Chetan Murthy

    @debbie: With respect, It’s not “Jews”, but -some- Jewish people. And it’s correlated with a particular …. political party and movement in Israel, which, sure, is on the ascendant. But there are lots of Israelis who aren’t racist assholes, and FOR SURE there are a ton of American Jews who aren’t racists — indeed, I think it’s a minuscule minority who are racist.

    I myself have encountered ONE such Jewish person so far. He was …. pretty outrageously racist, both against Muslims and (when I -gently- pushed back, hoping he was just overwrought) American Black people. At which point I let him have it with both barrels, b/c it was clear he was just a stone racist. To be clear, I have family who are African-Americans, so it’s personal for me.

    But I don’t generalize from him to all Jewish people, or even to nontrivial percentage thereof, b/c I know from experience and lots of studies, that MOST Jewish people I’ll meet are the opposite of racist.

    BTW, would you say this about Italians and the Mafia? They’re all criminals, aren’t they? I mean, look at John Gotti, amirite?

  52. 52.

    JanieM

    @dimmsdale: Green Dot training has gotten a bit of press where I live, in Central Maine. The Lewiston-Auburn group seems to be a subset of this. I haven’t had any personal experience with them, and at the moment it looks like they do trainings only when requested by a specific business or group. I don’t know if it works that way in other locations.

  53. 53.

    debbie

    @Chetan Murthy:

    With equal respect, you haven’t met my family members who support Trump. Perhaps you don’t know many Republicans who are also Jewish. I do.

    And just to be clear, I say all this as a Jew.

    P.S. It is YOU who inferred I meant all Jews.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    Her husband was at the community pool and a group of white men said they thought the killing went too far but they agreed with some of the stuff the shooter stood for, like making sure whites aren’t wiped out and Hispanics take over. This was in the ruby red city of…Los Angeles

    At some point in the not-too-distant future, those motherfuckers will become a 21st-century version of “good Germans.” Of course, instead of “Juden ‘raus!”, they’ll probably go with “M****os afuera!” [I prefer not to write out the M-word, because my understanding is it’s as bad, or almost as bad, as the N-word.]

  56. 56.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Omnes Omnibus: @debbie: debbie, O.I.C. OK, I get your point now. And yes, it’s dispiriting, isn’t it? As a South-Asian American, to learn that there are Indian-American associations here-and-there that hosted Trump fundraisers is ….. awful to contemplate. They’re so bound up in their Islamophobia (from back in India, I suppose) that they can’t see straight. And then there’s D’felon D’vorce D’Spousa, and Nikki Haley, Raj Shah, Ajit Pai, Seema Verma, and on and on and on. Traitors to America and America’s values ALL.

    I just remember that no race has a monopoly on assholes, nor on decency. And that at least, South-Asian-Americans, by and large, have been pretty good.

    Also, it helps that I remember those interviews with Latinx and even Black people, who were Trump supporters, and not even insane nutjobs. Normal, somewhat same people of color, and they’re Trump supporters. It’s nuts, but then (again) I look at the numbers, and realize that they’re just a vanishing minority.

  58. 58.

    Jay

    On the bright side, our two Nazi terrorists have been found, dead in the bush. Apparently their survivalist cosplay didn’t provide the skill set needed.

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    @JanieM:

    The first time I heard someone up there refer to “the LA area” — I think I was listening to ‘TOS or something similar — I was confused. Of course, not as confused as the Mainiacs who call it that, but still …

  61. 61.

    Jay

    Who gets ripped off for $46 million yet doesn’t go to the authorities?Leslie Wexner of LaneBryant/Victoria’sSecret/TheLimited.Next question: what are the reasons Wexner didn’t turn on Jeffrey Epstein? Criminal investigator should be asking: t.co/XVX9RYWCQP— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) August 8, 2019

  62. 62.

    Jay

    It’s like when the NRA goes dark briefly after every mass shooting, there’s too much of a spotlight on white nationalism right now so they’ll return it to the subtext of their programming for a while. But it’ll be back. t.co/PqE0U9Q1Ua— Jason Karsh (@jkarsh) August 8, 2019

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    Good post. Knowing history, it’s why I always took Dolt45 seriously.
    Outside of our slave catchers…the rest of the community know what time it is.

  65. 65.

    Mike in DC

    The Onion
    ‏
    Verified account

    @TheOnion
    Follow
    Follow @TheOnion

    More
    Tucker Carlson Insists Every White Supremacist In America Could Fit In Stadium But That Tickets To TuckerCon Won’t Last trib.al/OtMRiOD

    2:39 PM – 7 Aug 2019

    1,157 Retweets
    5,138 Like

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @Jay:
    One of the replies to the linked tweet suggested that Fucker Carlson’s taking tomorrow off to celebrate 8/8. Interesting

  67. 67.

    dimmsdale

    @JanieM: Thanks, Janie, I’ll look into it. Actually I’m on the American Friends Service Committee website; at the moment I’m partway thru a webinar they’ve posted; it’s bystander intervention training and seems to be exactly what I was looking for. There’s a good amount of information there, if anyone’s interested.

  68. 68.

    SFAW

    @JanieM:

    TOS: Thoracic Outlet Syndrome?

    WTOS FM = “Top Of Sugarloaf” out of Skowhegan

    ETA: Quickie quiz: What’s the big rock station broadcasting from Madawaska?
    [Trick question: there’s NOTHING in Madawaska. Or Houlton. Or Masardis.]

  71. 71.

    SFAW

    @Jay:

    I thought that tweet was joking, just riffing on the pro-Gideon ad. Apparently she really did say that.

    Good Christ, what an evil motherfucker she is.

  73. 73.

    JanieM

    @Jay: God she’s a disgrace. Good for ThinkProgress for pointing out that by that vicious logic, there’s never a time in this country to talk about gun violence.

  75. 75.

    JanieM

    @SFAW: I’m out of words to keep up with these people. I will be giving every penny I can to her opponent, plus volunteer time, letters to the editor, whatever it takes.

  76. 76.

    RedDirtGirl

    @dimmsdale: Thank you for mentioning this. I grew up in a quaker family, but often forget about some of the resources they provide.@JanieM: And thanks for your links. I’m flying to Bangor tomorrow. I’ll wave to you as I fly over.

  77. 77.

    West of the Rockies

    @Jay:

    Oh, God, Collins is disappointed yet again. No doubt her voice quavered with well-rehearsed emotion.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JanieM: Be honest. You say that you will wave at RDG’s plane. You just stand outside and wave at every plane, don’t you?

  81. 81.

    JanieM

    @Omnes Omnibus: No, only the floatplanes that buzz my house when they take off from the lake across the road. And then I’m waving only to show them my middle finger.

  83. 83.

    Jay

    "We have already indicated that the police alone are not capable of eliminating Hitlerism. We will have to mobilize and, aside from the use of police, adopt other social means as well."- from 'The Night of the 16th' by L. Eminadab in Der Yiddisher Zhurnal, 22 August 1933#antifa pic.twitter.com/W2vNb3sW1t— Bob Nesta Makhno ??? (@GilletteMachNo) July 29, 2019

  84. 84.

    catclub

    I will just note that the ICE raids in Mississippi came on … Election day – primary.
    Fucked up mississippi has governor and statewide elections on the off ODD year to keep turnout down to a minimum.

  86. 86.

    Tehanu

    @Chetan Murthy:

    even Black people, who were Trump supporters, and not even insane nutjobs. Normal, somewhat same people of color, and they’re Trump supporters. It’s nuts

    I agree with you, but… I have a colleague who’s black and who told me she thought Trump was “doing all right.” When I expressed, um, polite skepticism, she said, “Well, right after he got elected, I got a job.” I didn’t (and still don’t) know what to say to that.

  88. 88.

    StringOnAStick

    I was driving t work this morning and NPR was interviewing the brother of the guy who he and his wife were killed in El Paso, leaving behind 3 kids, including a 2 month old that they shielded with their bodies. The surviving brother is still a tRump supporter, thinks he isn’t saying racist things and that the idiot is doing good things for the country. Apparently being inside the Fox news bubble means not noticing that your community is being targeted. I was shocked to hear the guy praise the president whose racist spew just killed his older brother and wife. I was not shocked that NPR highlighted this story.

  89. 89.

    Yutsano

    @Jay: I thought that was a parody for a moment. But holy shite she actually did say that. Who’s the Democrat running against her? She needs to wrap this around Suzie Q’s neck.

  90. 90.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Tehanu:

    I didn’t (and still don’t) know what to say to that.

    I’m assuming that you find her to be an otherwise honest and trustworthy person? So not a grifter? In which case …. well, maybe she’s just really, really, really stupid? I mean, I know this is gonna come as a shock to you, but …. half the population has a IQ under 100! I know, I know …..

    *grin* Just joking! But seriously, when someone who is in the cross-hairs doesn’t realize it, and they’re otherwise honest and trustworthy, I have to conclude that they’re just an idiot.

  91. 91.

    chopper

    @lamh36:

    So of course Chump as digusting as ever tweeted some dumb bullshit that I guess was supposed to be pitting brother against brother

    does trump actually think that he has the kind of ability it takes to turn someone against his own twin brother…with tweets? in all seriousness.

  93. 93.

    Chetan Murthy

    @StringOnAStick:

    I was shocked to hear the guy praise the president whose racist spew just killed his older brother and wife.

    Sometimes, I wish I were religious, so I could pray for people like this man. The poor, poor deluded man. I think there’s a Christian phrase that I’ve heard used for situations like this: “Jesus wept”.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    They seem to be a pretty small minority. There’s also the group of mensches called Never Again Means Never Again that have been teaming up with immigrant groups to protest and get themselves arrested. They were part of the group that physically blocked off the main ICE office in DC a couple of weeks ago.

  99. 99.

    Ruckus

    @Tehanu:

    “Well, right after he got elected, I got a job.” I didn’t (and still don’t) know what to say to that.

    You could say that she got the job because she had the skills, had applied for the job and was the best candidate for the position and that the two events have nothing else in common other than timing.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    @Chetan Murthy:
    Jesus wept because there really is no explaining any rational concept to some people. And it may not be that they are actually stupid, it’s just that some people don’t grasp logic in any fashion. In some circles these are known as “Hold my beer!” people. OTOH some do lack the ability to add two plus two and get any numeral answer.

  102. 102.

    NeenerNeener

    @Jay: One of the possible answers is a rich gay man who was in love with Epstein. Nothing illegal there, just stupid. I lived in Columbus in the late 80s and heard the rumors about Wexner.

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