Rinehart, netball & genocide

Rinehart, netball & genocide

- by Ranting Panda, 6 November 2022

'Those that've been assimilated into, you know, earning good living or earning wages amongst the civilised areas, that have been accepted into society and they have accepted society and can handle society, I'd leave them well alone. The ones that are no good to themselves and can't accept things, the half-castes, and this is where most of the trouble comes, I would dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future and that would solve the problem'. 

- Lang Hancock 1984 (Australian Screen Office 1984).

These are the words of the late Lang Hancock, mining magnate, founder & former CEO of Hancock Prospecting, speaking of the so-called 'aboriginal problem'.  Upon Hancock's death in 1992, his daughter Gina Rinehart was appointed Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a position she continues to occupy. Rinehart, who has a majority ownership of the company. is currently Australia's richest person and among the 10 richest women in the world, with net worth of around $30.2 billion (Sandler 2022). 

In September 2022, Rinehart offered a $15 million sponsorship deal to Netball Australia. Part of the deal included listing the Hancock Prospecting logo on the players jerseys. Donnell Wallam, an Indigenous player for Australia's national netball team, the Diamonds, objected to wearing the logo of a company whose founder had proposed genocide of Indigenous people. The Diamonds stood behind Wallam and protested the sponsorship deal with Hancock Prospecting. As the furore erupted, Wallam decided she would wear the logo on her uniform for the sake of Netball Australia (News.com 2022).

Even with Wallam's concession, Rinehart threw a temper tantrum that a 4-year-old would be proud of. She immediately withdrew her $15 million sponsorship. To make things worse, Rinehart knew that Netball Australia was in dire financial straits and her withdrawal of the sponsorship deal could have caused the organisation to collapse, potentially resulting in significant disadvantage to netball players across the country. One of the world's richest women acted like a bully and a petulant child who can't handle criticism. Rinehart clearly showed she wanted to hide the ugly history of her company and her father's genocidal racism at the expense of a sport that does so much to benefit young women in Australia. 

Rinehart's puerile withdrawal of the sponsorship deal only made her look like a racist who agreed with her father's disgraceful statements. However, had she been willing to discuss the issue like an adult, she could have handled this easily by distancing herself from her father's comments. She wasn't asked to apologise for the comments because it wasn't her who said them. However, the statements by Lang Hancock are directly associated with the company she runs. Rinehart could have stated that she didn't agree with the comments and certainly didn't believe in genocide of Indigenous people. In fact, Rinehart had several cards she could have played here, including showing that her actions over the years have demonstrated she has never agreed with her father's proposed genocide. Rinehart has undertaken many philanthropic activities, including sponsoring scholarships for young, under-privileged girls in Cambodia to help them get an education, supporting some of Australia's Olympic athletes, sponsoring programs for domestic violence and at-risk youth, contributing to redevelopment of hospitals, and importantly funding social and education initiatives in Indigenous communities (Hancock Prospecting n.d.). 

In the wake of the Netball Australia sponsorship fiasco, it appears that Rinehart's philanthropy is just a smoke-screen to hide her ingrained racism. 

Why hasn't she ever disavowed the comments of her father? Particularly considering she sits at the helm of the company he founded and which still carries his name.

Not surprisingly, the issue galvanised Australia. Many conservative commentators, politicians, and sportspeople supported Rinehart. Apparently, the Diamonds should be grateful for the handouts; bowing down and kissing the feet of Rinehart, regardless of the abhorrent history of Hancock Prospecting. Many other people however, saw Rinehart as a petulant, entitled autocrat who expects sycophantic fealty in return for her self-serving philanthropy.

Immediately following Rinehart's withdrawal of the sponsorship deal, the Diamonds played a game against England in Newcastle, with debutante Wallam scoring the winning goal. Days later, the Diamonds played England at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Wallam was critical in this victory, scoring 25 points from 26 shots on goal, and securing Australia a 3-0 victory over England in the best-of-three series (AAP 2022).

As Netball Australia came to terms with the loss of the sponsorship deal, the Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews stepped up to the plate by generously providing a $15 million sponsorship from Visit Victoria (Hytner 2022). This deal will both support the game at elite levels, while encouraging grassroot participation, particularly in culturally diverse communities. Andrews' moral fibre is in direct contrast to the selfish and petulant Rinehart's lack of moral commitment.

Rinehart considered the stance by the Diamonds to be 'virtue-signalling' and that it was 'unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as a vehicle for social or political causes' (Whiteman 2022). Conservatives like to throw around pejoratives, such as virtue-signalling, whenever their myopic, racist, bigoted views are challenged. Why shouldn't athletes be involved in raising social and political issues? They have the public platform and profile to ensure they are heard. They represent their communities and their country. 

Australia is a multi-cultural and highly diverse country. Unfortunately, many conservatives have this naïve view that to be 'Australian' means everyone acting and thinking the same, without ever acknowledging the diversity of the population or daring to challenge Australia's history. Indigenous people are often told to stop living in the past by conservatives who are too gutless to acknowledge some of Australia's unsavoury and racist history. Conservatives certainly have a hard-time of saying sorry, so it is no surprise that they hide their cowardice and racism by hurling insults, such as 'virtue signalling' or 'do-gooders'. They fail to understand that there is still systemic racism in Australia's health, education, employment and legal justice systems. 

Athletes aren't there to be voiceless court jesters, entertaining the rich and privileged. They should speak up whenever they see injustice ... as should anyone. Virtue-signalling? Do-gooders? It is better they have virtue than bigotry. It is better they do good than do nothing, or worse, do harm. 

Source and references

Australian Associated Press, 2022, Wallam puts off-court drama behind her to lead Australia to England sweep, 4 November, viewed 6 November 2022, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/nov/03/wallam-puts-off-court-drama-behind-her-to-lead-australia-to-england-sweep

Australian Screen Office, Couldn't be fairer,  the clip is taken from the documentary Couldn’t Be Fairer (1984), a collaboration between prominent Aboriginal activist Mick Miller and filmmaker Dennis O’Rourke, https://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/couldnt-be-fairer/clip2/#. 

Hancock Prospecting, n.d., Philanthropy - Education and Community, viewed 6 November 2022, https://www.hancockprospecting.com.au/projects/philanthropy/education-and-the-community/.

Hytner, M, 2022, Victoria to sponsor Australian Diamonds netball team after Hancock Prospecting exit, 31 October, viewed 6 November 2022, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/oct/31/victorian-government-to-sponsor-australian-diamonds-netball-team-after-hancock-prospecting-exit.

News.com, 2022, ‘Really naive’: Lisa Wilkinson drops netball truth bomb, 24 October, viewed 6 November, https://www.news.com.au/sport/netball/really-naive-lisa-wilkinson-drops-netball-truth-bomb/news-story/cab88ba5e7536a285d5fd824672ff1a9.

Sandler, R, 2022, There aren’t many women billionaires, but the 10 richest are worth $401 billion, Forbes, 5 April, viewed 6 November 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2022/04/05/the-top-richest-women-in-the-world-2022/?sh=5d8c0514446a.

Whiteman, H, 2022, Billionaire dumps Australia netball team in dispute over father’s racist comments, 24 October, viewed 6 November 2022, CNN, https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/23/sport/australia-netball-rinehart-diamonds-sponsorship-spt-intl-hnk/index.html.

Critical Race Theory - the importance of truth-telling history to address racist systems

Critical Race Theory - the importance of truth-telling history to address racist systems

By Ranting Panda, 21 November 2021

Are you woke? You know, alert to the needs of others and, in particular, to the discrimination or persecution that others may be experiencing. Of course, if you're right-wing, you probably disparage those who are woke as being politically correct do-gooder snowflakes who are trying to take away your right to discriminate or persecute others. Many right-wingers will blurt out the old dog-whistle, 'Wake Up, Australia' ... or whatever their country of choice is. They want others to wake up but not be woke. 

Woke is often used in relation to racism, which seems to trigger those right-wingers who like to portray themselves as never being offended by anything. Yet, the moment that someone criticises one of their sacred cows they splutter and choke like an old hand-cranked car trying to start on a cold morning. Case in point is the removal or criticism of statues of prominent people from days gone by. Many of those people were slave-traders or slave owners, massacred innocent people, or committed other human rights abuses. The woke who raise these issues are accused of 'rewriting history'. The offended conservatives who make this accusation conveniently ignore or are ignorant of the fact that this isn't rewriting history, it is telling history as it was. Removal of a statue is acknowledging the real history, not rewriting history, not glossing over or sanitising it like naïve conservatives would like.

Confederate statues in the United States are treated as sacrosanct by many conservatives. Yet, these statues were not installed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War that raged between 1861 and 1865. They were installed during three critical periods in US history in which racism and slavery were revered. The first period was in the 1880s to 1890s, some 20 years after the civil war, in order to crush reconstruction efforts and continue the disenfranchisement of black people following the end of slavery. The second period was from the 1900s to 1920s, following the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan, which saw a dramatic increase in lynching of black people and the establishment of Jim Crow laws that legitimised discrimination on racial grounds. The third period was in the 1950s and 1960s, which coincided with the centennial of the civil war and was used to counter the civil rights movement that was fighting for equal rights for black people who still suffered from racist laws and institutions in the US. This period celebrated white supremacy and installed further confederate statutes. 

The civil war was fought over the right to keep slaves. Conservatives don't like to hear that, so will often argue that any teaching otherwise is rewriting history. However, they are the ignorant ones who refuse to face facts. In defending confederate monuments, they are defending racism, slavery and murder. In 1931, sociologist and civil rights campaigner, W.E.B. Du Bois, commented that monuments to Confederate leaders should be inscribed with 'sacred to the memory of those who fought to Perpetuate Human Slavery'. (Palmer & Wessler, 2018).

This acknowledgement of history is an important element of Critical Race Theory. It challenges the sanitised version that has been taught in schools and which national pride is often based upon. It's obviously much easier to have pride in the nation if it was founded on a wholesome and benevolent settlement in which native populations welcomed colonial settlers with open arms, where everyone was invited to work in harmony for the betterment of a society based on love, equality and unity. Of course, the reality is that most colonisation was based on rape, massacre, subjugation, racism, and white supremacy, often in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, whose teaching of 'love thy neighbour' seems to have been confined to the four walls of church buildings and never applied in the actual encounters with others who may have been of different cultures, beliefs or colour. 

So, what actually is Critical Race Theory (CRT)? It is the telling of history as it actually happened and it goes further to explain the origins and perpetuation of racism in society to identify solutions to dismantling racism. While some may like to think that everyone is treated equally, the fact is that there is still significant racism, and rather than being non-existent, it has been normalised. Australian politician, Pauline Hanson, is one who regularly spouts racist, and often highly inaccurate, vitriol against indigenous Australians and other minorities. It's no great surprise that Hanson put forward a motion in Australian parliament to reject CRT. Disturbingly, the motion succeeded (Anderson & Gatwiri, 2021).

CRT is not just a matter of studying history, but in studying the impacts of it in the context of structural and institutional racism. It originated in the 1960s and 1970s by scholars researching the cause and continuance of racial disparities in the areas of legal and criminal justice, education, employment, and wealth (Anderson & Gatwiri, 2021). Anderson & Gatwiri (2021), describe some of the principles of CRT as being:

• Race is a social construct, rather than a genetic one. That is, racial differences are based on social experiences, rather than biology.
• Systemic racism perpetuates white supremacy through practices of people and institutions, whether deliberately or not.
• People are not defined by one aspect of their identity, but instead by multiple, intersectional aspects, such as race, gender, religion, age, class, disability, nationality and so on. 
• CRT aims to educate people about discrimination and privilege, to question who benefits and who suffers from existing systems.

Many on the right-wing oppose CRT because they claim it is aimed at making white people hate themselves, or as historian Geoffrey Blainey once described this approach, as a 'black armband view of history'. CRT is not trying to demonise white people, which would be counter-intuitive to its purpose. It aims to address existing racist structures and practices, and identify ways to address them. 

It is also important to understand what CRT is not. After all, opponents of CRT will often make outlandish claims about what CRT is trying to achieve. Trump inaccurately described CRT as a '... Marxist doctrine holding that America is a wicked and racist nation, that even young children are complicit in oppression, and that our entire society must be radically transformed' (Karimi, 2021). The following list describes what CRT is not (Ketchell 2021). 

• CRT does not assert that 'one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex'.
• CRT does not assert that 'an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously.
• CRT does not assert that 'an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual's race or sex.
• CRT does not assert that 'an individual's moral character is determined by the individual's race or sex'. 
• CRT does not assert that 'an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.
• CRT does not assert that 'an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual's race or sex'. 

One of the many arguments put forward against Critical Race Theory, or for that matter, any attempt at addressing systemic racism, is that people of today are not to blame for the actions of people a century or more ago. However, if those systems are still in place, then they should be dismantled. This can be challenging for some people, particularly those who benefit from those systems. Just because one person has the privilege of not experiencing racism or discrimination, does not mean that others don't experience it. When indigenous people in Australia campaigned for land rights so they could restore their connection with their traditional lands, there were many conservatives who sincerely believed that indigenous people would be legally granted the right to throw them off the land and to take over people's dwellings. You know, just like white settlement did to indigenous people. This acknowledgement of massacres, slavery and displacement is not rewriting history, it is the correct telling of the history of Australia. Some of the racist laws in Australia have been removed, such as the policy of Terra Nullius that was used to displace indigenous Australians, the White Australia Policy that actively segregated and disenfranchised indigenous people, and many other laws and policies (Pearson & O'Loughlin, 2021). Racism continues in the way that policing is conducted, in recruitment practices of some employers, in the attitudes and casual racism of many non-indigenous Australians, as well as in the language used by certain politicians to further their racist agendas in order to secure conservative votes.  

Another argument by opponents of CRT is that people should stop living in the past. Hmm ... those same people usually make a big deal of commemorating Anzac Day, Remembrance Day or other national days of significance. It's not those who which to discuss history who are rewriting history, it's those who refuse to discuss it outside their myopic knowledge of the past. Discussions around Australia Day, usually result in conservatives white-washing history, refusing to acknowledge the past or wanting to understand why anyone is still upset with forced displacement or racism. When Yassmin Abdiel-Magheid dared to raise some less than savoury elements of Australia's military past on Anzac Day, she was literally driven from the country following threats of rape and death by conservatives who refuse to acknowledge that perhaps there have been some unsavoury events in Australia's military history. 

Australia may no longer have a White Australia Policy and terra nullius may have been over-ruled, however, that doesn't mean that racism no longer exists. Racism isn't only confined to indigenous people. For instance, the political discourse in Australia, and for that matter in the United States and many European countries, is full of xenophobic fear-mongering and racist dog-whistling. The danger of this is that it empowers casual and overt racism. For example, Australian senator, Mehreen Faruqi, has described the horrendous racist abuse that she has experienced in Australia, even though as a senator, she is working hard for the betterment of Australian society (Faruqi, 2021). Mehreen is Muslim and was born in Pakistan. She isn't the first or only overseas-born politician in Australian parliament. However, politicians such as Julia Gillard, Larissa Waters, Tony Abbot, and Mathias Cormann, have not suffered the racism that Mehreen suffered. Those politicians are white and born in western nations. Another Australian politician, Anne Aly, is a Muslim who was born in Egypt. She has also reported horrendous racism in Australia. She was called an 'ISIS whore', and threatened with being 'gassed in ovens like Holocaust victims' (Christmass 2021). 

Racism is not something that exists only in the past. It is very much alive in today's society. The first principle mentioned above, regarding race as being a social construct, is extremely important to understand. It considers that while geography does help shape a person's identity, it isn't the only thing. However, we often see racists judge people based on their nationality, colour or religion. They may label black people as lazy, Muslims as terrorists, or, as we saw with former President Donald Trump, label Mexicans as drug dealers, criminals and rapists. Trump got away with it because racism is normalised and accepted. 

A high-profile example of systemic racism was that of Kyle Rittenhouse, a then 17-year old boy who crossed state-lines to attack Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was armed with an assault rifle, which he used to shoot protesters; killing two and severely injuring a third. A few days ago, Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges, including murder. Disturbingly, many conservatives supported Rittenhouse, seeing him as a patriot. Had it been a Muslim who fired shots, it would likely have been treated as terrorism. Meanwhile, there have been thousands of examples of black people who have been shot dead, simply for the crime of being black. Rittenhouse was white, affording him the privilege of benefiting from the systemic racism inherent in the criminal justice system of the US. Rittenhouse has been photographed with white supremacist group, the Proud Boys, giving the white power hand signal (Hayne, 2021). In the trial, the judge banned referring to Rittenhouse's victims as protesters, and stated that they were to be referred to as 'looters, arsonists, or rioters' (Hayne, 2021). This immediately validated Rittenhouse's actions as self-defence. If it was truly self-defence, if the protesters were truly the ones doing the attacking, then how come it was only Rittenhouse who fired on them? The judge was biased and did not afford an objective trial, even allowing Rittenhouse to select his own jury; a job usually left for a clerk of the court (Graham, 2021).

It is clear that systemic racism still exists in Australia, the United States, and other countries. It is important to acknowledge our racist history and the consequences of it, in order to stop the perpetuation of racism. It isn't just that certain individuals are racist, it is the systems that normalise that behaviour, and perpetuate racism and injustice throughout the criminal justice system, education and employment. 

References

Anderson, L, & Gatwiri, K, 2021, The Senate has voted to reject critical race theory from the national curriculum. What is it, and why does it matter?, Southern Cross University, 22 June, viewed 21 November 2021, https://www.scu.edu.au/engage/news/latest-news/2021/the-senate-has-voted-to-reject-critical-race-theory-from-the-national-curriculum-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-matter.php. 

Christmass, P, 2021, Muslim PM Anne Aly details horrific stories of racism, sexism and death threats, 7 News, 19 March, viewed 21 November 2021, https://7news.com.au/politics/muslim-pm-anne-aly-details-horrific-stories-of-racism-sexism-and-death-threats-c-2388662. 

Faruqi, M, 2021, For eight years I’ve served Australia. The racist hate and disgusting abuse still crushes me, The Guardian, 30 June, viewed 21 November 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/30/for-eight-years-ive-served-australia-the-racist-hate-and-disgusting-abuse-still-crushes-me.

Graham, J, 2021, Was it fair to have Kyle Rittenhouse pick the numbers that determined his jury?, Deseret News, 17 November, viewed 21 November 2021, https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2021/11/17/22787727/kyle-rittenhouse-selected-his-own-jurors-in-a-lottery-is-that-fair-or-a-form-of-punishment-kenosha.

Hayne, J, 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty of killing two people at Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, ABC News, 20 November, viewed 21 November 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-20/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-protest-shooting-kenosha/100603512. 

Karimi, F, 2021, What critical race theory is -- and isn't, CNN, 10 May, viewed 21 November 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/01/us/critical-race-theory-explainer-trnd/index.html.

Ketchell, M, 2021, Critical race theory: What it is and what it isn’t, The Conversation, 30 June, viewed 21 November 2021, https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752.

Palmer, B, & Wessler, SF, 2018, The costs of the confederacy, Smithsonian Mag, December, viewed 21 November 2021, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/costs-confederacy-special-report-180970731/.

Pearson, L, & O'Loughlin, M, 2021, 10 things that you should know about systemic racism, Indigenous X, 2 February, viewed 21 November 2021, https://indigenousx.com.au/10-things-you-should-know-about-systemic-racism/. 

Koup Klutz Klan

 Koup Klutz Klan

By Ranting Panda, 13 June 2021

6 January 2021. The date that traitors stormed the US Capitol in an effort to usurp democracy and keep Donald Trump as President. Trump was resoundingly defeated in a valid election, but neither he nor his supporters could accept the truth. Even today, Trump still believes that he won the election. 

Trump's followers, gullible and gutless, refused to take responsibility for the insurrection, and instead blamed Antifa for it. The FBI, however, confirmed that it was Trump loyalists who staged this coup attempt (Anderson 2021, Sadeghi, 2021). Antifa isn't a threat to democracy. The real threat is the MAGA cult, with its inability to grasp truth, its willingness to rewrite 'facts' to suit its ignorance, its hatred of anyone who is different, its twisted religious fervour, and violent nationalism. They wanted to kill the Vice President during the coup attempt. They'd bought wrist ties & built a noose. These people are not right in the head.

There's no point arguing with MAGA cultists. It doesn't matter what facts are presented, they are so brainwashed that they can't accept truth, fact or reality. Just like cult-members, the MAGAs need de-programming, otherwise they stick with their self-pitying, paranoid, victimhood talking points that Trump cultivated and nourished. 

Trump deliberately attacks truth in order to create doubt about facts. He once admitted to a journalist that he attacks the media to, 'discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you' (Applebaum, 2020). This is one thing that Trump has been very successful at. His supporters lack the critical thinking skills to challenge Trump's blatant lies; they believe everything he says. The real danger of this is that despots are renowned for their propaganda, manipulation of media and use of falsehoods and fear to manipulate the populace. 

When Twitter purged its platform of Trump and many of his adherents because of their flagrant lies, conspiracy theories and hate speech, the MAGAs claimed it was an attack on their freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech doesn't mean that others have to listen to it. Twitter was cleaning house ... as anyone can if some racist fool comes into their house and starts spewing vitriol. MAGAs can get their own soapbox and head down to the local corner to spew their vile hate-speech, ridiculous conspiracy theories, and victim-mentality rubbish.  

Freedom of speech only goes one way for the MAGAs; the moment anyone has a contrary viewpoint, the MAGAs screech socialism and 'Reds under the bed' conspiracy theories. They believe that if someone challenges them, they are victims of 'cancel culture' ... yet, the MAGAS tried to cancel an election because they didn't get their own way. They only believe in freedom of speech for themselves, not for anyone else.

Stripe Inc ceased processing payments for the Trump election campaign because of the 6 January insurrection (Andriotis, Rudegeair, & Glazer, 2021). Ever portraying themselves as victims, the Pity Party MAGAs claimed it was yet another attack on their freedoms. However, the action by Stripe was similar to the action that financial institutions took in dealing with terrorism. And the Trump cult is a terrorist organisation, evidenced by their violent attack on the very heart of US government.

Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection. It needs to be kept in mind, that he did nothing during this riot to quell it. He was hoping that the coup would succeed and install him for another term ... perhaps a perpetual term in which he never loses (Applebaum, 2020). Trump is anti-democratic and only interested in his own power. Despite significant evidence of Trump directly inciting the coup attempt, the Republican Party voted against convicting him at his second impeachment trial (Holpuch, 2021). This says a lot about how anti-democratic the Republican party is. They try to claim they are patriotic defenders of democracy, but they value power over free and fair elections. Republicans value authoritarianism over liberty.

During riots following Black Lives Matter protests, Trump big-noted himself by dog-whistling to his racist followers that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' (Burns, 2020). Trump incited violence with this tweet. A couple of months later, a gutless piece of shit named Kyle Rittenhouse, shot dead BLM protesters. Trump and his followers supported these killings (Wilson, 2021). Yet, when it came to the Capitol riots, Trump didn't threaten to shoot the protesters, instead, he supported them and even told them how much he loved them (Caldwell, 2021). Although he eventually told the rioters to go home, he did it under duress. Trump had an expletive-laced argument with House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, after McCarthy told Trump to call the rioters off because they were Trump supporters. Trump abused McCarthy, telling him that the rioters cared more about the election than McCarthy did (Gangel et al, 2021). Republican senator, Ben Passe, claimed that Trump was delighted that the Capitol was being stormed (Papenfuss, 2021). 

Prior to the riot, Trump gave a speech in which he told his supporters to 'fight like hell' or they would lose their country because, according to him (and in keeping with his admitted attacks on truth mentioned earlier), the election was corrupt. He then told his supporters to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to 'try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country' (Blake, 2021). Trump directed conspiracy-theorist, Alex Jones, to lead the march that stormed the White House (Linge, 2021). It took six hours for the situation to be brought under control. This period revealed Trump's leadership to be paralysed, to be no more than a passive viewer who stood back as five people, including a police officer, were killed by his supporters (Parker, Dawsey & Rucker, 2021). 

Only weeks before the riot, Trump the Grand Traitor, directed the neo-Nazi Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' (Pilkington, 2021). Now we know what he was asking them to stand by for. 

This isn't the first time he has supported violence. In 2017, he condoned white supremacist violence that culminated in the killing of an innocent woman. He even went so far as to describe the white supremacists as 'very fine people' (Coaston, 2019). Throughout his presidency, he directly incited violence by white supremacist groups (Pilkington 2021). 

The traitors who stormed the Capitol included Nazis wearing shirts such as 'Camp Aushwitz - Work brings freedom' and '6MWE', which stands for Six Million Were Not Enough ... in reference to the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. These are the extremist groups that Trump claims are 'very fine people' (Kessler, 2020).

Trump and his followers are white supremacists. They believe in fascism, not democracy. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a mass casualty event every single day of the final year of Trump's presidency, culminating in more than 420,000 deaths by the time he was finally removed from the White House. The deaths were directly caused by Trump's lies, inaction and incompetence. This puerile moron was more interested in shoring up his own power, while spreading lies, hatred and division, than in saving his fellow Americans. His incompetence was on a genocidal scale.

Republicans claim they are the 'law and order' party, yet they've let Trump get away with murder ... literally: around 420,000 deaths from his ineptitude in addressing Covid-19, five deaths during the insurrection he orchestrated, and several executions that he directed in the final days of his presidency (Honderich, 2021). They have let him get away with his threats and cheating over the election, such as when he rang the Secretary of State for Georgia and demanded more votes be found to overturn the election results (Morris, 2021). Does this seem like the leader of the free world, or the tyrannical dictatorship of a far-right murderous despot in a banana republic?

The Republican Party  condoned Trump's treason, by voting against holding an inquiry into the Capitol insurrection (Fandos, 2021). The Republicans are not defending democracy, they are defending the traitors within their own party. They are defending Nazism, white supremacy, and fascism. 

Nothing was done about the deadly 2017 white supremacist protests in Charlottesville ... and this culminated in the storming of the Capitol by Nazis. The Trump presidency wasn't the first time that white supremacists were incited to violence by a megalomaniac. Another leader also incited mobs to violence by using racist dog-whistling and bigoted fear-mongering ... and nothing was done to stop it! That leader was Hitler and we saw how that went. Many of the Capitol insurrectionists were Christians who believed they were doing God's will to keep Trump in power (Green, 2021). They claimed that God was telling them to 'let the church roar' (Posner, 2021). This has an eerie resemblance to Nazi Germany. Throughout his rambling manifesto, Mein Kampf, Hitler stated numerous times that he was doing the 'work of the Lord'. Not surprisingly, this galvanised Christians to support Hitler and incited them to violence and, ultimately, genocide. 

Today's United States faces the same threat of Nazism that Nazi Germany did (Brenner, 2021). The Republican Party has links to many far-right extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and QAnon (Broadwater & Rosenberg, 2021).

No leader has damaged the US as much as Trump has. All the efforts by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to bring down the US never undermined democracy as much as Trump. It's not surprising then, that Trump is alleged to have been cultivated by Russia to undermine US democracy. An ex-KGB spy claims that Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset for 40 years (Smith, 2021). A book by journalist, Craig Unger, entitled American Kompromat, states that the spy alleged there were celebrations in Moscow as Trump parroted anti-Western propaganda (Smith, 2021). 

Trump did significant damage to US democracy, however, what may have saved it was Trump's mental instability and his complete ineptitude as a leader. This ineptitude however, killed more Americans than World War 2. 

Meanwhile, Republicans continue supporting Trump. There's even talk that he will run for president in the 2024 elections. This is a clear indication of just how morally bankrupt the Republican Party is, and by extension, the Christians who continue supporting and defending Trump in the face of significant evidence of his genocide, treason and white supremacy. 

In 1993, musician Frank Zappa, made the prescient observation, 'There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitude here, most of them being helped along by the Republican Party' (Ouellette, 1993). 

Nothing has yet been done to hold Trump to account for the Covid genocide in the US, that is directly attributable to him. Nothing has been done to stop Trump inciting Nazis and conservative Christians to violence, so we have not seen the end of extreme right-wing blood-shed, insurrection, and treason. Allowing Trump to continue empowering these extremists could signal the end of democracy and the rise of fascism in the United States. 

References

Anderson, M 2021, Antifa Didn't Storm The Capitol. Just Ask The Rioters, NPR, 2 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972564176/antifa-didnt-storm-the-capitol-just-ask-the-rioters.

Andriotis, A, Rudegeair, P, & Glazer, E, 2021, Stripe stops processing payments for Trump campaign website, The Wall Street Journal, 10 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-stops-processing-payments-for-trump-campaign-website-11610319116. 

Applebaum, A, 2020, Trump won't accept defeat. Ever., The Atlantic, 7 November, viewed 13 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trumps-forever-campaign-is-just-getting-started/617021/.

Blake, A 2021, What Trump said before his supporters stormed the Capitol, annotated, The Washington Post, 11 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/annotated-trump-speech-jan-6-capitol/.

Brenner, M 2021, Pre-Nazi Germany tells us the fight to save American democracy is just beginning, The Washington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/09/pre-nazi-germany-tells-us-fight-save-american-democracy-is-just-beginning/. 

Broadwater, L, & Rosenburg, M 2021, Republican ties to extremist groups under scrutiny, Hartford Courant, 29 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-gop-extremist-groups-20210129-fstili3spvea7fss3mdsobu5eu-story.html.

Burns, K 2020, The racist history of Trump’s “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” tweet, Vox, 29 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/29/21274754/racist-history-trump-when-the-looting-starts-the-shooting-starts. 

Caldwell, T 2021, Trump's 'We love you' to Capitol rioters is more of the same, CNN, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/trump-history-comments-trnd/index.html.

Coaston, J 2019, Trump’s new defense of his Charlottesville comments is incredibly false, Vox, 26 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville.

Fandos, N 2021, Democrats failed to get enough votes for an independent inquiry into the Jan. 6 riot, The New York Times, 28 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/capitol-riot-commission.html.

Gangel, J, Liptak, K, Warren, M, & Cohen, M 2021, New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters, CNN, 13 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html. 

Green, E 2021, A Christian Insurrection, The Atlantic, 8 January, viewed 7 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/evangelicals-catholics-jericho-march-capitol/617591/. 

Holpuch, A 2021, 'White supremacy won today': critics condemn Trump acquittal as racist vote, The Guardian, 14 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/14/trump-acquittal-white-supremacy-racist-vote. 

Honderich, H 2021, In Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions, BBC News, 16 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55236260.

Kessler, G 2020, The ‘very fine people’ at Charlottesville: Who were they?, The Washington Post, 8 May, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/.

Linge, M 2021, Alex Jones claims he funded rally that led to Capitol chaos, The New York Post, 9 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/alex-jones-claims-he-funded-rally-that-led-to-capitol-chaos/.

Morris, J 2021, Georgia secretary of state's office launches investigation into Trump's phone call, CNN, 16 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/georgia-secretary-of-state-trump-investigation/index.html.

Ouellette, D 1993, Frank Zappa, Pulse!, August 1993, sourced from https://www.afka.net/Articles/1993-08_Pulse.htm.

Papenfuss, M 2021, Trump Was 'Delighted' His Supporters Stormed The Capitol, Says GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, Huffington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ben-sasse-delighted-trump-capitol-attack_n_5ff93b1bc5b6c77d85e6df60.

Parker, A, Dawsey, J, & Rucker, P 2021, Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol, The Washington Post, 12 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mob-failure/2021/01/11/36a46e2e-542e-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html.

Pilkington, E 2021, 'Stand back and stand by': how Trumpism led to the Capitol siege, The Guardian, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/donald-trump-armed-protest-capitol.

Posner, S 2021, How the Christian right helped foment insurrection, Reveal News, 30 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://revealnews.org/article/how-the-christian-right-helped-foment-insurrection/.

Sadeghi, M 2021, Fact check: What's true about the Capitol riot, from antifa to BLM to Chuck Norris, USA Today, 14 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/14/fact-check-truth-capitol-riot-antifa-chuck-norris/6653343002/.

Smith, D 2021, 'The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy, The Guardian, 29 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book.

Wilson, J 2021, US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals, The Guardian, 16 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/16/us-police-officers-public-officials-crowdfunding-website-data-breach.

All Lives Matter ... except for lives of black people, Asians, Muslims, homeless, refugees, LGBTIQ+, socialists ...

All Lives Matter ... except for lives of black people, Asians, Muslims, homeless, refugees, LGBTIQ+, socialists ...

By Ranting Panda, 11 July 2020

Picture this: you're walking down the street and hear someone screaming for help. What do you do?

(a) Ignore them
(b) Run the other way
(c) Help them

This is pretty easy, right? Most people would offer help.

Yet, this simple act of compassion and concern seems just a little difficult for some people to comprehend. The Black Lives Matter movement started because people of colour were screaming for help as they suffered under systemic racism manifesting itself through police brutality, deaths in custody, and disparities in health, education, employment, and wealth.

A lot of people who oppose Black Lives Matter protests are trying to change the narrative from justice for people of colour to being an anti-white movement. Instead of black lives matter, they are trying to make it about white lives and white guilt. Apparently, white privilege and white guilt are worse than the systemic racism that black people experience. What privilege to be able to do this. There was even a claim that white people who side with BLM are the real racists, because somehow this means they feel superior to black people. White people who support BLM acknowledge that white privilege was built on white supremacy, they are not saying that white people are superior. Yet, anti-BLM people somehow think that solidarity equals superiority ... perhaps they are just projecting their own white supremacy.

People committing crimes should be arrested, but black people are often arrested for crimes that white people are never arrested for, and they are treated worse when being arrested. The over-representation of black deaths in custody is testimony to this. On average, Indigenous Australians account for around 20% of deaths in custody, yet are only 2% of the Australian population, so have a one in 10 chance of dying in custody (Doherty & Bricknell 2020). Non-indigenous people account for 98% of the population, but 80% of the deaths, so have less than one in 100 chance of dying in custody. Can you imagine the outrage, the anger, the demands for justice, if non-indigenous people were dying in custody at such a rate? In the United States, black people are twice as likely as white people to die in police custody (Tucker 2020).

Even though Aboriginal people are only 3% of the population of New South Wales, they account for 12% strip-searches conducted by New South Wales police (Wellington 2020). However, legal experts believe these figures are greatly understated, as Police often don't record strip-searches. Even more disturbing, is whether the strip-searches are being conducted lawfully. For instance, there have been strip-searches conducted on children as young as 10 years old (Wellington 2020). In response to this information, the Redfern Legal Centre and the legal firm, Slater and Gordon, have commenced a class action lawsuit against the NSW Police.

People oppose Black Lives Matter claim that they aren't racist because they believe 'All' lives matter ... yeah ... about that ... these same people who claim that All Lives Matter, also oppose rights for people of colour, Asians, refugees, LGBTIQ+, Muslims, women, the poor, the homeless, Palestinians, the unemployed, the drug users ... you know, basically everyone who isn't a white Christian. In fact, ALM advocates tend to hate everyone who white Christians have attacked and subjugated for centuries.

Some of the racism from ALM advocates is demonstrated in their histrionic claims that black communities have significant social problems and that black people only want hand-outs. There are social issues in many black communities, but is that the fault of the residents or the policies, actions and inactions of government ... e.g. Stolen Generations, Stolen Wages, White Australia Policy ... you know ... the systemic racism that Black Lives Matter is drawing attention to. And hand-outs? What hand-outs? The 'hand-outs' that black people get, are no more than the same welfare that anyone is able to claim if they are out of work. They do not get free university, or free home loans, or free cars, or any other benefit that non-indigenous people don't get (Carlson 2016).

The media and certain politicians often inflame these racist stereotypes and enforce the concept of white victimhood. After all, if a white person is called out for racist behaviour, then the white person is the victim ... according to anti-BLM people. ALM logic is that the victims of racism are not the people who continue to be oppressed by the systems that were instituted by white settlement, but that white people are the victims because black people want equality and justice. This helps serve the myth that black people are living in the past and the world is now some racist-free utopia ... even though racism continues to oppress people to this very day.

What was the purpose of right-wing sites claiming that no media outlet reported a group of men of African appearance assaulting a 16 year old girl at Southern Cross Railway Station? The purpose was to demonise black people, inflame white victimhood and make it appear as though black people get away with serious crimes ... even though black people are over-represented in the justice systems, often arrested for things that white people are never arrested for. But back to this dreadful attack at Southern Cross Railway Station. The claim that it wasn't reported is garbage. It was reported in the Herald Sun, The Age, and even in British papers, the Daily Mail and the Independent.

Have a look at the track record of the Herald Sun. It has been voracious in its reporting of 'African' gangs, to the point where the police issued a statement saying that the reporting was misleading and over-represented the amount of crime being perpetrated by 'African' gangs, as well as ascribed some of those crimes to African gangs when they were committed by white people and often, not even by gangs (Dinham & Baker 2018). The purpose? Racist fear-mongering and dog-whistling.

Ironically, it is this very vilification of people of African appearance that is actually making the situation worse. By exaggerating the problem, the media has caused an entire community to be ostracised and rejected. Many businesses are refusing to employ people with African names. People who thought they were Australian, are isolated, demonised, and unemployed, making some of them vulnerable to recruitment by organised crime gangs which, by the way, are not necessarily African (Chiengkou & Dexter 2019). Want to reduce crime? Be more welcoming and inclusive.

Racialising crime creates in people's minds that there is a link between race and crime, which ignores the actual causes of crime, such as socio-economic factors (Budarick 2018). This indicates that either people are naively ignoring the real causes of crime, or they don't care about the real causes because they want an excuse to hate black people, to hate migrants, to hate refugees ... they want to justify their racism. While people are demonising 'African' gangs, people of African appearance have experienced an increase in racism and violent attacks against them (Budarick 2018; Diversity Council Australia 2018).

Interestingly, the media portrays Victoria as being in the grip of a crime wave, yet statistics show that youth crime has fallen by 40% over the last 10 years, with total crime experiencing its biggest decline in 12 years, with a 6% fall (Day 2018).

All Lives Matter advocates often share incidents of crimes committed by people of colour and then belligerently ask, 'where are the protests now?' Well, cabrón, the reason there are no protests is because these are isolated, individual incidents; they are not part of the systemic racism that people of colour experience every single day.

Hand-wringing ALM advocates will attempt sincerity in the claim that all lives matter, but it doesn't take much to expose their thinly veiled racism and bigotry. They'll try to hide it by saying that they have black friends or gay friends, or whatever. ALM advocates often roll out a person of colour who disagrees with the movement or who claims that they don't experience racism. This is typical of conservatives though: if it doesn't affect them, then it doesn't matter if it affects someone else. Instead, BLM is not about one individual's personal experience, but the systemic abuses, discrimination and subjugation that most people of colour do experience. Having said that, based on the conservative logic that a black person denying racism invalidates BLM, then white people acknowledging racism must validate BLM. Hmm ...

Some ALM advocates have complained that if they claim 'white power' or 'white pride', they are accused of being racist, whereas black people can have 'black power' and 'black pride', and it isn't considered racist. The difference is that black power and black pride are not about subjugating other ethnicities, but in claiming the same rights that white people have. White power on the other hand, is often used as an excuse to subjugate other ethnicities. Black power, black pride is not about black supremacy; white power, white pride is often about white supremacy.

Pauline Hanson's billboard in Rockhampton (Stunzner & Colliver 2020) 

Take Australia's perennial racist politician, Pauline Hanson, who funded a billboard in Rockhampton, Australia, with the words, 'All lives matter or bugger off' (Stunzner & Colliver 2020). Hanson founded a political party called 'One Nation'. However, her 'achievements' in parliament have indicated that she isn't interested in Australia being one nation, but that it should be a white nation. She has attacked indigenous people, Muslims, refugees, LGBTIQ+, migrants, socialists ... basically anyone who doesn't look, speak or sound like her. She is the epitome of a bigot. When she put up this billboard she clearly showed that all lives don't matter. She is a waste of political space, only interested in division, race-baiting, fear-mongering and dog-whistling.

All lives matter ... but some matter more than others ... to paraphrase Orwell. For BLM, it's not that black lives matter more than anyone else's, they just want to matter as much as everyone else. For ALM advocates, white lives matter more than black: they try to look like they care by claiming ALL lives matter to them, when clearly they don't.

Howtofightantisemitism.com (2020)

In the United States, President Donald Trump had the opportunity to unite his nation during the Black Lives Matter protests which followed the police killing of George Floyd. Instead, Trump created division, stoked the flames of fear and racism, and threatened to shoot protesters. But what can one expect from such a racist president. This is a man who labelled Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan as 'good people' after one of them murdered a woman who was protesting against their racism and hate. Trump's election campaign utilised Nazi imagery in attacking anti-fascists, by overlaying the Nazi symbol for political prisoners with the words Antifa.

During Trump's election campaign in 2016, he espoused 'America First'. Seems innocuous enough, right? He isn't the first American leader to claim that. In fact, the saying goes back at least 120 years, to President McKinley in 1896. However, the saying was also appropriated by the Ku Klux Klan. Surely any decent politician would avoid being associated with a hate group ... but not Trump, after all, he thinks the Klan are fine people. The Anti-Defamation League even advised Trump that he shouldn't use it because during World War II, the slogan was appropriated by an isolationist political party with pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic tendencies (Emery 2018). Trump obviously did not desist from using it, so clearly doesn't mind the connection with Nazism, anti-Semitism, racism or fascism ... which could explain his unjustified attacks on anti-fascist activists.

(Emery 2018)

Following on from this, the Trump campaign sold shirts that utilised Nazi imagery, by displaying an eagle with talons wrapped around a US flag in a circle. This bears remarkable similarity to the Nazi symbol that featured an eagle with its talons wrapped around a swastika in a circle.

Trump continues with his fascist, racist, white supremacist attacks on Black Lives Matter. Trump used his fourth of July 2020 speech at the foot of Mt Rushmore, to perpetuate divisions and social discord, to demonise his opponents, and to vilify Black Lives Matter. He even compared BLM to totalitarianism by portraying activists as violent mobs out to 'destroy justice and society' by unleashing a 'wave of violent crime' in order to dominate their political opponents (Nakamura et al 2020). Yeah, nothing like taking a leaf out of the Hitler playbook to stoke the fires of fear and animosity against minorities. What next? Will Trump start his own version of Hitler Youth by indoctrinating young people with his hate-speech and lies, simply because any school teaching facts is too left-wing for him. He is already setting the stage for this by declaring in that same speech, that 'children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe the men and women who built it were not heroes but villains'. This statement is blatantly false and dog-whistles to his racist supporters, cementing their fear of BLM and turning them against teachers, education, and historical facts.

Just like the rise of Hitler, many Christians support Trump, his lies and his hate-speech. God knows what bible they read, but clearly not the one that says to do the following (just for clarity, the typical Trump-supporter response is in italics):

Yeah, it seems that Christians who stand with Trump, actually stand against Jesus!

There is nothing Christian in opposing Black Lives Matter.

There is nothing Christian in demonising BLM activists.

There is nothing Christian in defending systemic racism or denying that it exists.

There is nothing Christian in opposing anti-racism, because openly opposing anti-racism means you are blatantly racist ... so why do church leaders feel they need to oppose BLM? Why do church leaders share racist information that denies racism exists, or frame it as white victimhood? 

This is not Christianity and those church leaders and pew-warmers who do this, clearly have no concept of Christianity.  

To paraphrase John Heywood: 'There are none so blind as those who will not see'. Church leaders who vilify Black Lives Matter are clearly not Christian. Which begs the question about why they are leading churches and influencing people's faith. The character, Kristian Schaefer, in episode 2 of the TV show, Warrior Nun, nails it: 'You've built a career using faith as a stepping stone to personal power'. Church leaders who support Trump, who defend or deny racism, who facilitate fear-mongering and bigotry, are obviously not serving Christ or serving 'the least of these', but instead are serving themselves, their own power and wealth, and racist systems of black oppression.

Trump supporters spread false claims that BLM makes white people the enemy, rather than systemic racism, and incredibly, even claim that systemic racism is a hoax (Seitz 2020). These deliberate campaigns of misinformation demonstrate that Trump and many of his supporters do not lack knowledge of racism, but have deliberately chosen to vilify BLM through blatant lies and dog-whistles to the gullible, fear-driven, victimhood of many conservatives who lack the willingness, cognitive skills, critical thinking or emotional intelligence to fact-check these obvious falsehoods. It seems that no matter how obviously untrue these ridiculous claims are, many conservatives will believe them because they serve to confirm their racist biases.

Many opponents of Black Lives Matter claim it is a socialist ploy aimed at overthrowing society as we know it to implement a Marxist agenda ... whatever that may be! Clearly these critics do not understand Marxism, socialism, or racism. They clearly do not understand that it is they who are the biggest threat to the fabric of democratic society, as they embrace fascism ... or perhaps they do understand that, which is even more concerning; perhaps the racists are running a fascist ploy by weaponising hate to implement a Hitlerian agenda of ethnic cleansing and racial 'purity'.

The ALM propaganda is a wolf in sheep's clothing: it claims to value all lives, but clearly only values white lives.

Left-wingers and BLM advocates are often accused of being 'snowflakes' because they supposedly take offence at so many things that are an accepted part of society. Conservatives meltdown because of 'political correctness gone mad' and will accuse politicians or other celebrities of 'virtue signalling' dare they side with minorities, or stand up for human rights or the environment. Derogatory terms such as 'political correctness', 'do-gooder', 'Social Justice Warrior' and 'virtue signalling' are thrown at people who are simply doing the right thing. Apparently, believing in social justice is something to be ashamed of, according to conservatives. This says a lot about the values and lack of morals that characterise many conservatives, because they need to justify their selfishness, racism and bigotry, by tearing down anyone who dares to challenge their degeneracy and self-indulgeness.

Within every conservative is their inner snowflake just waiting to melt. One only has to watch them hit peak apoplexy when someone dares suggest tearing down a monument to some long-dead racist or genocidal maniac. Even more entertaining is watching them completely lose their proverbial shit dare it be suggested that a lolly have a name-change ... or a football team ... or a skin cream. Burn a flag and see how they react. Seriously, anyone would have thought the flag-burner had just barbequed Bambi in front of a pack of pre-schoolers. Can you see the pattern? Conservatives care more for symbols than lives, so clearly they don't believe 'all' lives matter.

One of the defensive points that anti-BLM people will raise, is that black people are more likely to be killed by other black people. This may be the case, however, it is also the case that it is likely the killer will be arrested, charged and convicted. This is not the case in cop killings of black people. The problem with making this claim, is that anti-BLM people are trying to distract from systemic racism, thus perpetuating systemic racism without holding police to account. It also assumes that violence is the only element of systemic racism claims, when it goes much deeper to include poorer health and education outcomes, wealth inequality and employment discrimination. Another defence that anti-BLM types will raise is that some cops who kill black people are themselves people of colour. In these cases, they often get away without being charged. This does not prove that the system is not racist, rather it confirms the racist bias of the system, in that the victim's colour matters when there is a killing by cop, because of the lack of action or concern taken in regard to it, regardless of the ethnicity of the police officers involved.

Conservatives often claim to be 'pro-life' because of their supercilious grandstanding against abortion. However, their contemptuous dismissal of BLM and denial of racism, show that they aren't pro-life at all. Rather than joining in the calls to end systemic racism and the violence and deaths caused by it, some conservatives have racially abused protesters or reacted violently (BBC 2020). There has been at least 50 incidents of cars being deliberately driven into BLM protesters (Democracy Now 2020). These attacks have resulted in at least one death, and multiple injuries (Evelyn 2020). What a way for conservatives to demonstrate being pro-life.

Some BLM protests were accompanied by violence in the form of riots and property damage. Anti-BLM people furrowed their collective brows, wrung their hands, pursed their lemony lips, and stated that the protesters were only hurting the BLM cause; after all, who could take BLM seriously when there's violence.

Indeed.

Why don't they protest peacefully, these anti-BLM hand-wringers helpfully suggested.

Protest peacefully, like Martin Luther King ... oh wait! He was assassinated by a white supremacist.

Protest peacefully, like Colin Kaepernick ... oh wait! President Donald Trump and many of the conservative snowflakes melted down when he took the knee, and declared him a traitor.

While the media focused on riots as a way to delegitimise BLM, a report by nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, revealed that 93% of the protests were peaceful (Budryk 2020). 

Fredrick Douglass stated, 'Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe'.

Has BLM achieved anything? Well, yes. Sergio Tupac Uzurin, photographer and organiser, points out that "Confrontation works ... In the past 10 days, we've passed Breonna's law in Louisville. The NFL has expressed remorse for treating Colin Kaepernick like s***. The four police officers that killed George Floyd have been arrested. There was a nine-figure budget cut being proposed for the LAPD. The Confederate statues are being removed from the South. And that is in 10 days, half of those days involving rioting nationwide" (Tucker 2020).

The fake moralising of the 'All Lives Matter' brigade is misplaced. It assumes that BLM is an attack on white people. It assumes that BLM is after extra privileges that others don't have. What 'All Lives Matter' advocates miss is that BLM is not anti-white; it is anti-racism.

References

BBC 2020, 'Black Lives Matter protest disrupted by racist abuse', BBC News, 9 June, viewed 9 July 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52979267.

Budarick, J 2018, 'Why the media are to blame for racialising Melbourne’s ‘African gang’ problem',, The Conversation, 1 August, viewed 11 July 2020, https://theconversation.com/why-the-media-are-to-blame-for-racialising-melbournes-african-gang-problem-100761.

Budryk, Z 2020, 'Over 90 percent of protests this summer were peaceful, report shows', The Hill, 3 September, viewed 5 September 2020, https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/515082-over-90-percent-of-protests-this-summer-were-peaceful-report-shows.

Carlson, B 2016, 'Here's the truth about the 'free ride' that some Australians think Indigenous peoples get', SBS News, 7 December (updated 27 January 2020), viewed 16 July 2020, https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2016/12/07/heres-truth-about-free-ride-some-australians-think-indigenous-peoples-get.

Chiengkou, AD & Dexter, J 2019, '‘They are preying on these kids’: Victoria Police commander says African youths exploited by organised crime', SBS Dinka, 6 November, viewed 11 July 2020, https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/they-are-preying-on-these-kids-victoria-police-commander-says-african-youths-exploited-by-organised-crime.

Day, L 2018, 'What statistics can and can't tell us about Melbourne's African crime issue', ABC News, 17 January, viewed 11 July 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-17/what-statistics-tell-us-about-melbournes-african-crime-issue/9336604.

Democracy Now 2020, 'Black Lives Matter protesters struck by motorists in Indiana, New York', Democracy Now, 8 July, viewed 9 July 2020, https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/8/headlines/black_lives_matter_protesters_struck_by_motorists_in_indiana_new_york.

Dinham, A & Baker, N 2018, 'Police, African community leader warn against 'gang hysteria'', SBS News, 23 July, viewed 11 July 2020, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/police-african-community-leader-warn-against-gang-hysteria.

Diversity Council Australia, 2018, 'The facts on Victorian African crime', 3 September, viewed 11 July 2020, https://www.dca.org.au/position-statements/facts-victorian-african-crime.

Doherty, L & Bricknell, S 2020, 'Deaths in custody: 2017-18', Australian Institute of Criminology, Statistical Report 21, Figure 9: Deaths in police custody and custody-related operations by Indigenous status, 1989–90 to 2017–18 (%), p. 15, https://aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr21.

Emery, D 2018, 'President Trump's oft-repeated slogan "America First" was also a credo of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan organization', Snopes, 9 February, viewed 4 July 2020, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/america-first-ku-klux-klan-slogan/.

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Updated 13September 2020