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Posts from the ‘Election 2020’ Category

3
Sep

#Non-fiction White Too Long

 

Introduction:

  1. Drawing on history, public opinion surveys, and personal experience,
  2. Robert P. Jones delivers an examination of the
  3. relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy.

 

What is white supremacy?
It is not hooded men running around burning crosses.
It is a set of practices informed by the belief that
white people are valued more than others.

White Too Long is about R. Jones’s journey of gradual personal awakenings
to these realities.

What is on the line in the election 2020…in simple terms?
People are worried(white Christianity) about
— the changing face of America
— longing for a time when white Protestantism was the undisputed cultural power.

What is the current situation 2020 in a nutshell?
There are “…ripples signaling a deeper current.”
….racism, Anti-semitism, Islamophobia and tribalism politics.

Like water rushing through a failing dam…this energy represents
the cumulative claims for justice that have been held back
by the sheer dominance of white Christian America.

 

What is the core message?
This book…
— ILLUSTRATES  how the white christian beliefs and practices
are dependent on the UNACKNOWLEDGED African American presence.
— DOCUMENTS the centuries-long commitment to white supremacy within White Christianity
— CALLS FOR an honest reckoning with this complicated-painful-shameful past.

Moment of humor….had to laugh!
Page 101
“…Jesus had to be white.
No proper white christian would let a brown man into their hearts
….or submit themselves to be a disciple of a swarthy Semite.”

GOOD INSIGHT: last paragraph at the end of chapter 3
see page 105!! (..read the book!)

Chapter 4: I learned about
— the pseudo-historical negationist ideology “Lost Cause” (course in basic white supremacy 101)
— UDC (United Daughters of the Confederacy)
— they placed 780 Confederate statues/plaques/Tiffany stained glass windows in churches in local communities (….100 removed in 2015 after massacre in Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church and many more removed after George Floyd’s murder on 25 May 2020)
— history, design and deeper symbolism of the Confederate flag
— support for slavery, white supremacy and new meanings for its use today (21st century)
— I was clueless about this powerful symbol!

Strong point: up-to-date (…including G. Floyd’s murder, Trump’s assimilation with a white supremacy base)

Strong point: golden opportunity for the reader to confront a violent and unflattering past in US history

Weak point…IMO: discussion about the historical role prominent white Christians (Rev. Basil Manly Sr. chapter 3), churches and seminaries had in creating and sustaining white supremacy. It was a part of the book that did not interest me. Advice? …skim through these pages but don’t give up on the book. It gets better!

Strong point: Chapter 5
R. Jones dares to approach some very delicate questions!!
How prevalent are racist and white supremacist attitudes among white Christians today? Interesting and complex statistics are explained at a level that every reader can grasp. You’ll be surprised by the results!

Strong point: Chapter 6
Robert Jones takes the reader on a visit to inspiring new museums and memorials.
If I lived closer to Mississippi and Alabama I would love to  visit
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Macon Mississippi
The National Memorial for Peace And Justice, and
The Legacy Museum both in Montgomery Alabama (see Google for more info)

Strong point: Chapter 7
The author ends the book with a very good analysis about responsibility, repair.
He uses the Bible reference of the curse of Cain to indicate
who really bears the responsibility for reckoning the past.

Page 231:  ‘good quote’
“The challenge for white Americans today
…especially white Christians is whether
and how we are going to answer the questions:
“Where is your brother?”
“What have you done?”

Trivia: title “White Too Long”
This is a reference to James Baldwin’s New York Times Op-Ed
The Price May Be Too High February 2, 1969

Baldwin says:
“ …this country’s white population impressed me….
they have been white, if I may put it so, too long;
they have been marked to white supremacy too long….”

Conclusion:
This book is absolutely stunning
…in its honesty, analysis and writing skills of Robert Jones

I happened to watch CNN interview with Christine Amanpour and Mr. Jones.
I was swept away by the author’s  blunt assessment of white supremacy
which is based on his stellar theological credentials:
PhD in Religion from Emory College
MDiv from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

I’ve read several “tell-all” books this year about Trump and his Administration.
But this book towers above them all….

White Too Long speaks to the problems
we are facing now with all this  racial injustice in our headlines these days!
Forget Trump…he supports white supremacy, you and I both know that.
Educate yourselves….as to what we all can do to cure this cancer eating away
…at our Society.

 

 

 

 

15
Feb

#Election (3) Unmaking of the Presidency

  • Author:  S. Hennessey,  B. Wittes
  • Title: Unmaking the Presidency: Donald Trump’s War on the World’s Most Powerful Office
  • Published: 2020    (433 pages)
  • Genre:  non-fiction
  • List of Challenges 2020
  • Monthly plan

 

Conclusion:

  1. Politics is not beanbag….it’s hardball.
  2. If you want to make an informed choice at the
  3. ballot box in November 2020 start by looking
  4. under the hood of Trump and his
  5. … Administration in the White House.
  6. This is not a book. This is an achievement
  7. The Electoral College ushered Trump into office 2016
  8. …despite losing the popular vote (3-4 million votes).
  9. If Trump wins again in 2020…the question is:
  10. has the public accepted as tolerable Trump’s presidency that
  11. …is fundamentally about the vanity of one individual?
  12. Be afraid, be very afraid in these dystopian times.
  13. #MustRead

 

  1. Speech:
  2. Stream-of- consciousness, (example East Room Speech dd 07 February 2020)
  3. Proudly illiterate; misspellings, Kansas City Chiefs
  4. …Super Bowl winners…from Kansas or Missouri?
  5. Trump does not speak to persuade, never makes an argument
  6. …but constantly repeats epithets (Sleep Joe, Shifty Schiff) and
  7. …slogans (MAGA, KAGA. Do Nothing Dems, Hoax, Witch Hunt)
  8. to  keep the base mobilized and validated.
  9. Lies:
  10. Trump does not ‘tap dance around the truth….he is a pathological
  11. …liar about everything!!  (example SOTU address dd 04 February 2020)
  12. Mueller Report:
  13. Trump feels like ‘victim-in-chief’.
  14. Kingship:
  15. I have the absolute right….to even pardon myself!
  16. Management style:
  17. Governs in eruptions;  Trump attacks opponents via Dept of Justice
  18. New York Times  Editorial Board dd 13 February was very clear:
  19. TRUMP does NOT have the authority to run the DOJ
    — like a goon squad at one of his failed casinos.
  20. What has Attorney Bill Barr done for Trump?
    —misled the public about the findings from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III,
    —cleared Trump of obstruction of justice,
    —embraced Trump’s claim that the FBI was “spying” on him,
    —worked to discredit the Russia probe,
    —disputed the inspector general’s finding that the probe had a proper basis
    —commissioned another probe in pursuit of his desired outcome
    —declined to investigate the Ukraine allegations
    —announced softened sentencing recommendations for Trump pal Roger Stone
    —after Trump demanded it.
    —investigating the prosecution of another former Trump aide, Michael Flynn.
  21. Foreign Policy:
  22. Shoot-from-the-hip deal-making,  does not want to listen to his Generals.
  23. Many foreign interlocutors simply ignore what the president says.
  24. But I don’t think the Turkish President Erdogan will EVER forget Trump’s
  25. ….brash personal letter in which he warned
  26. …not to be a “tough guy” or a “fool,” and
  27. …said he risked being remembered as “the devil”.  #OUCH