Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 8-9-19

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W e should have known this would happen. As soon as Donald Trump's "Send Her Back" attack on 4 congresswomen of color began to pick up steam among his supporters, it was inevitable that one of his MAGA-hat-wearing minions would leap at a chance to im- press the resident racist-in- chief by acting on his rhetoric. This appears to be exactly what transpired in, at least, the first of two mass shoot- ings that took place within 13 hours of each other last week- end. A right-wing extremist, so worked up about keeping America white, drove almost 1,000 miles from his home in Allen, Texas to a Wal-Mart in the border town of El Paso for the sole purpose of killing Mexicans. And, unfortu- nately, he accomplished his
goal.
Twenty-three innocent
people lost their lives in hor- rific fashion because an easily influenced bigot believed that they didn't belong inside of "his" country. The irony of this maniac's delusion is that, if he would have taken the time to do some research, he
would have discovered that the soil he was so willing to kill for technically belonged to the individuals he wanted to keep out.
Anyone who says that Trump can't be held, at least partly, accountable for this atrocity is lying to themselves. Even though he may not have planned the ambush or pulled the trigger, there's no denying that his constant berating of immigrants, and insistence on building a wall, over the last three years leaves as much of his DNA on the crime scene as the actual killer's.
Of course, it would also be foolish to lay all of the blame at Trump's feet. The reality is that, even with the amount of influence Trump wields among his white supremacist leaning base, his hate-filled speeches wouldn't be nearly as effective if it weren't for the high level of ignorance, on is- sues such as race, culture and this nation's history, that ex- ists within the thinking of the individuals who commit these horrendous acts of violence. The problem just becomes significantly worse when someone in Trump's posi-
tion allows himself to remain equally misled and brain- washed.
People can point to high- powered rifles, violent video games and mental illness all they want as the reasons for what we've been witnessing for years now. But, the bot- tom line is that, as long as white children are raised to believe that their "whiteness" somehow makes them special and that this land is their en- titlement alone, events of this magnitude will continue to occur as America's popula- tion, predictably, becomes darker and darker.
What no one seems to want to acknowledge is that white nationalism and white supremacy are ideals based on fallacies that have been, in- tentionally or not, given legit- imacy through a U. S. educational system that has long been guilty of white- washing or blatantly omitting historical truths.
Unless that changes, America will continue to be a nation where public bloodlet- ting is a part of everyday life and, 30 years from now when it's still happening, the blame will continue to fall on every- thing else but the deliberate mental poisoning of its own seeds.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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A Massacre In The Land Of The Free
e extend our profound condolences to the victims
and families of the massacre in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. We cannot help but wonder, ‘could it hap- pen here?’ Seemingly, America has caught cold, an incur- able cold almost whose name is white racism.
According to research, this term white racism, or white nationalism is nothing new in the world. We have seen it play its dirty hand in nations in Europe particularly in for- merly Nazi Germany when the comments made about Jews and communists seemed really similar to comments recently made about Mexicans and immigrants.
Indeed, we have listened to words from our President that seem similar to the words once spoken by a man who was called the Fuhrer and by another man whose name was Mussolini.
Some folks in El Paso and Dayton recently asked our President Trump not to visit their city. He came anyway as would any president to lend his voice hopefully to the healing of the situation. The only problem is, his voice is part of the reason the situation exists at all. And now we see the truth of the matter.
As he traveled to these cities, we’re the people who live there, who bled there, and whose family members died there. Are we to believe that he came as a man of peace? Are we to ignore his assault against a peoples' heritage, or for calling their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters murderers or rapists, etc.?
Was that all a politically motivated mistake? We can only shake our heads and explain our current president's comments as the comments of an initiated fool.
Yet and still, what will history say about this buffoon? Furthermore, what will history say about the so-called Re- publican Party that not only stood silent in all of their leaders' hijinks, but when asked to turn their backs on his racist accusations, they walked lock-step with him? Should we forget that the Republican Party began as the party of President Abraham Lincoln?
Could it happen here, or anywhere else? Will govern- ment officials ban the purchase of military-styled guns and high capacity magazines, and enact legislation requir- ing universal background checks?
You, the voter, hold the answers to these questions when you vote in 2020 to clean house of any Congres- sional leader who fails to support these measures.
Our goal should be to make sure mass killings never take place anywhere in America again.
W
FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A