Connecting the dots: CPAC, AFPAC, Christianity, and how Vladimir Putin is now a "Far-Right Savior"

Trump's stoking white nationalist fears into his supporters' lives and bodies over the trumped-up lie that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is something to be feared even unto the point of death is not just hyperbolic, but also garish and profoundly offensive (i.e., "Trump calls on supporters to 'lay down their very lives' to defend US against Critical Race Theory").

That said, his shrill screams against that which he believes interrupts whiteness —as if white supremacy should not get interrupted—nevertheless thoroughly rhymes with the piece below on Putin's appeal to the extreme right in the U.S. 

We would all do well to not dismiss these characters as a "fringe group" when what they're normalizing is white supremacy within the Republican party, as a whole.

Rather their angry, defensive, off-putting white nationalist vibe found a home with otherwise similarly fear-mongering, "stop-the-steal" republicans attending this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event, including Josh Mandel (R), Candidate for the Senate from Ohio; Congressman Jim Banks (R) Indiana; Josh Hawley (R) Missouri; and Gov. Kristi Noam (R) South Dakota that you can read about in this Rolling Stones piece titled, "White Nationalists Raid CPAC But Find Themselves Right at Home."

CPAC ran adjacently to America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) held in Orlando, Florida organized by white supremacist, anti-Semitic Nick Fuentes who expresses with glee on his face that the "secret sauce here is our young, white men" who then, at Fuentes' behest, loudly applaud Russia for their actions followed by jeers for Putin, all of which you can see and hear for yourselves here. In attendance were Congressman Paul Gosar, (R) Arizona; and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) Georgia, legitimating such extremism. 

The word, "fringe," clearly loses its meaning in a context where the authoritarian, strong-man, by-any-means-necessary, version of history is the preferred one. Read here from this piece below what the offspring is of this kind of thinking:

"Burghart says some extremist rightwing militias even see Ukraine as a potential scenario to discuss how to prepare for urban warfare and a future insurgency in the US itself. Instead of horror at the outbreak of brutal urban warfare, some US extremists are obsessed with the idea of a coming civil war in America.

“They see a societal collapse and need to prepare for an impending civil war, and their focus is on preparing for the battles of that here in the US,” Burgheart added."

What makes this also a Christian ideological agenda is how extremist thought conflates with some interpretations of the book of Revelation that point to Armageddon and end times such that supporting Putin is not only ideologically resonant, but a hastening of the apocalypse. For example, read "Religious Views of Some Extremists May Fuel More Violence : Terrorism: Theologians say apocalyptic visions in Bible’s book of Revelation are being misinterpreted by some right-wing paramilitary groups."

Of course, violence, racial hatred, and war are diametrically opposed to Jesus Christ's call for us to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

It should concern us all that today's Republican Party is leaning heavily in the direction of fascism, endorsing patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, racial violence, totalitarianism, and war, thusly jeopardizing democracy everywhere. 

I hope that people realize this and call it out like I am doing here and vigorously oppose it everywhere—especially at the ballot box. Thanks to Dr. Rudy Acuña for sharing this must-read piece below.

-Angela Valenzuela

‘Key to white survival’: how Putin has morphed into a far-right savior

The Russian president’s ‘strong man’ image and disdain for liberals has turned him into a hero for white nationalists

Sergio Olmos

Sat 5 Mar 2022 02.00

Putin is now seen as the upholder of traditional Christianity. Photograph: Sputnik/Reuters

“Can we get a round of applause for Russia?” asked Nick Fuentes, on stage last week at a white nationalist event. Amid a roar of applause for the Russian president, just days after he invaded Ukraine, many attendees responded by shouting: “Putin! Putin!”

It would be easy to dismiss the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Orlando, Florida, as a radical fringe. But speeches by two Republican members of Congress – one in person, the other via video – guaranteed national attention and controversy.

The backlash showed how the war in Ukraine has exposed the American far right’s affinity with Putin. That affinity is complicated by the tortured relationship between Russia and former president Donald Trump, whose rise Moscow supported with a covert operation to undermine US democracy.

Fuentes, a notorious antisemite, created AFPAC to coincide with the more mainstream Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where Trump was the headline speaker last Saturday.

At AFPAC, Fuentes introduced the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who would this week interrupt the State of the Union address, rising to yell “Build the wall!” as an objection to Joe Biden’s immigration policy. But here she did not interrupt to object to the chanting of the Russian president’s name.

“Ukraine was a place where the same perceived downfalls of western society existed and Putin embodying a strong man authoritarian-type figure stepping in and inflicting suffering on Ukraine was viewed in a positive light

Jared Holt

“I don’t believe anyone should be canceled,” Taylor Greene told the attendees of the white nationalist conference. She lashed out at a wide range of topics from Marxism to cancel culture but avoided the invasion of Ukraine, saying even less on the topic than Russian state media.

Devin Burghart, executive director of Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, said: “In the world of the white nationalists, you are seeing a lot of support for Putin, as expressed by the cheerleading at AFPAC over the weekend.”

Others agree, pointing to a shared socially and culturally conservative ideology, disdain for democratic systems and appreciation for a “strong man” form of government. There was also the fact that it was the current Ukrainian government whom Trump attempted – and failed – to bribe to investigate his political rival Biden: actions which led to his first impeachment.

Jared Holt, a domestic extremism researcher with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, said: “When Russia invaded Ukraine, large parts of the far right were supportive.”

Nicholas Fuentes flanked by anti-vaccine protesters at a demonstration in New York. Photograph: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

“The common thread is this idea that because of western European and US influence on Ukraine, Ukraine was a place where the same perceived downfalls of western society existed and Putin embodying a strong man authoritarian-type figure stepping in and inflicting suffering on Ukraine was viewed in a positive light.”

Fuentes is certainly the real deal of white nationalism. He attended the deadly “Unite The Right” rally in 2017 and was recently subpoenaed over his involvement in the pro-Trump insurrection on January 6 2021. He now carries on that effort with AFPAC, aiming to create a kind of far-right archipelago by bringing together white nationalists, fascists and Trumpist crowds talking only to each other in their own islands.

The three-year-old conference sees itself as part enfant terrible, piquing the genteel wing of the Republican party, and part Weimar-era beer hall organizing before the putsch. It is far right, but no longer on the fringe of Republican politics.

Taylor Greene was condemned by some in her own party for speaking at AFPAC but is unlikely to be disciplined. And she was not alone. The Arizona congressman Paul Gosar made a video address. A lieutenant governor from Idaho and state legislator from Arizona also spoke at the event, which also attracted figures such as Gavin McInnes, the founder of the violent extremist gang the Proud Boys, which currently has more than three dozen members under indictment for the insurrection.

This represents a disorienting shift for a Republican party once staunchly opposed to communism and the Soviet Union, which President Ronald Reagan dubbed “the evil empire”. But Trump, who in 2015 ran for president promising to build a wall and impose a Muslim ban, stoked the party’s nativist elements.

Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida. 

Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

And as America and the world grow more diverse, critics say, Russia has come to be seen as a beacon of salvation by white nationalists. In 2004 David Duke, a longtime leader of the Ku Klux Klan, described it as “key to white survival”. In 2017 Ann Coulter, a rightwing author and commentator, opined: “In 20 years, Russia will be the only country that is recognizably European.”

Researchers who monitor far-right groups agree that the moment of Putin enthusiasm in the US has intellectual underpinnings with deeper roots. Burghart said: “For almost a decade the work of Russian fascist Alexander Dugin has found a home in American white nationalist circles.”

Dugin’s ideology is steeped in Russian Christian nationalism and has chimed with Putin’s world view. At the same time, it echoes much of the Christian nationalist activism in the US, where liberal values, gay rights and a desire to keep religion out of the state, are seen as decadent and responsible for American decline.

Burghart added: “There’s an attraction to Putin’s hardline authoritarian stand, his aggressive policies, they are attracted to his brand of traditional Christianity that Putin’s expressed. Some have liked Putin’s attacks on the Russian LGBTQ+ community.”

On the eve of the Russian invasion, former Trump aide Steve Bannon hosted private security head Erik Princ, founder of the Blackwater military contracting group, on his popular War Room podcast. The two men – who are highly influential in Trumpist circles – praised Putin as “anti-woke”.

“After four years of praise for the Russian leader there’s a large swath of the right that has internalized that message.

Devin Burghart

Bannon declared: “Putin ain’t woke.” Attacks on wokeness were also a constant thread running through CPAC, which this year had the official slogan: “Awake not woke.”

The legacy of the Trump years shapes the perception of Putin among the right in the US as Trump demonstrated a clear affinity for the Russian leader, even as details emerged of the Russian attempt in the 2016 election to disrupt US democracy. Trump himself praised Putin as “genius” and “smart” as the invasion began only to change his tune later as the military action faltered and casualties mounted.

Even then, while condemning the assault, Trump told CPAC: “The problem is not that Putin is smart – which of course he’s smart – but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb.”

The same was true of America’s most popular conservative broadcaster, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. Right up to the invasion Carlson was lambasting Ukraine as “not a democracy” and a puppet state of the US state department. He also praised Putin, saying: “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia?”

That sort of language – contrasting Putin favorably against Democrats on mainstream US television – has an impact.

Burghart commented: “After four years of praise for the Russian leader there’s a large swath of the right that has internalized that message. Some of the right have embraced Putin while others have been slow to denounce the invasion of Ukraine.”

Burghart says some extremist rightwing militias even see Ukraine as a potential scenario to discuss how to prepare for urban warfare and a future insurgency in the US itself. Instead of horror at the outbreak of brutal urban warfare, some US extremists are obsessed with the idea of a coming civil war in America.

“They see a societal collapse and need to prepare for an impending civil war, and their focus is on preparing for the battles of that here in the US,” Burgheart added.

Western Imperialism, Globalization and The real reason why critical race theory is under attack

Thoughtful piece by University of Milwaukee Wisconsin Associate Professor Dr. Javier Tapia who places the current attack on CRT against the backdrop of globalization that tracks back to Western imperialism. Great for the college classroom, he references the following pertinent readings:

• I. Wallerstein, “The Modern World-System” 
• Eric Wolf, “Europe and the People without History” 
• Edward Luce, “The Retreat of Western Liberalism” 
• Ian Bremmer, “Us vs Them”

Dr. Tapia is correct in saying that the facts of history about which he writes are scarcely taught in K-12 schooling anywhere and not even fully throughout the academy. Instead, he suggests, this extremism exists because of an enduring "mindset" made for another time but with a long reach into the present.

While this is manifestly true, what should not get lost his how this mindset finds expression in fascist logics of imminent concern as well expressed in this recent piece by Paul W. Kahn titled, Opinion: Texas bounty hunters, or a private army?

-Angela Valenzuela

#SayNoToFascism

OPINION: The real reason why critical race theory is under attack

July 6, 2021 by Dr. Javier Tapia | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

Editor’s note: Have something on your mind? “Community Voices” is the place to let Milwaukee hear what you have to say. To be considered, we need your name, email address and phone number for verification. Please email your submissions to info@milwaukeenns.org.

Five states (Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Tennessee) have passed laws against the teaching of critical race theory while similar bills have been introduced in 19 other states, including Wisconsin.

A common element in these bills is that public schools should not present the foundation of this country in a negative light nor discuss how the white/Caucasian (white from now on) population has benefited at the expense of racial/ethnic minority populations. Critics further argue that critical race theory is divisive.

Critical race theory can be defined as an intellectual framework used in academia to explore and analyze racial inequality in society. A key element of the theory is that society’s legal, economic and educational institutions operate (often in subtle ways) to marginalize racial and ethnic minority populations. As such, this process of marginalization tends to benefit the white population, primarily the wealthy class. Along with critical theory and multicultural education, critical race theory promote equity in society.

We can trace critical race theory to the ‘70s when a number of scholars like Derrick Bell, Richard Delgado and Kimberlé Crenshaw pointed out that the legal system has played a key role in maintaining racial inequality in society in a systemic and pervasive way. Thus, the negative effects of systemic racism is not confined to the legal system, but it is also present in unequal access to jobs, housing and health care as broadly discussed by Diana Kendall in her book “Social Problems in a Diverse Society.” The effects of systemic racism became very visible when the African American and Latino communities were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was crucial in its attempt to end discrimination, current events (as discussed below) indicate that we still have work to do. When we take a closer look at the criticisms against critical race theory (and multicultural education) we find them lacking in substance and critical analyses.

In order to understand the current context for this debate, we need to go back to the rise of the European powers in the 15th century. Immanuel Wallerstein’s “The Modern World-System” and Eric Wolf’s “Europe and the People without History” illustrate how the British, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese empires exploited human and natural resources in Asia, Africa and the Americas for their enrichment. A common element in these colonization practices was the idea that European values and practices were better, and this justified their exploitation in those areas of the world.

A similar mindset was present in the first white-European settlers who arrived into what today is the United States. The white population generated their economic growth by taking land away from Native Americans (and sending them to reservations), importing Black slaves from Africa and by taking land from Mexico. The actions of the white population were guided by the idea of manifest destiny present in the 19th century. According to this belief, God gave white Europeans the right to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific and all across North America. This view “justified” the dispossession of Native Americans, the U.S. invasion of Mexico and the expansion of slavery territories.

The critics of critical race theory and their efforts to ban its teaching through state legislatures make it seem as if it is rampart in K-12 schools. This is false! A more accurate discussion on European imperialism and U.S. history are present only in certain courses at the university level and a few courses that incorporate aspects of multicultural education at the high school level.

In my view, the efforts to ban critical race theory reflect changing demographics and the struggle for political control of the country. Reports from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that whites will become a minority by the year 2045. We see a clear pattern of white population decline and an increase in the number of racial/ethnic minorities. In the year 2000, whites represented 75% of the total population followed by Hispanics (12.5%), African Americans (12.3%) and Asian (3.6%). In 2020, we have Whites (60%), Hispanics (18.5%), African Americans (13.4%) and Asian (5.9%). Projections for 2060 are White (44.3%), Hispanics (27.5%), African Americans (15%) and Asians (9.1%). Of great importance is the fact that the white population is aging, and racial/ethnic minorities will become the engines of economic growth.

Critics of critical race theory cherry-pick information to argue that racism is no longer an issue and often point out that Asian Americans have a higher level of educational attainment than whites. This view ignores the different ways in which the various racial/ethnic groups have been incorporated into the U.S. and how they are viewed by white society. Thus, we have Vietnamese people incorporated as U.S. allies during the Vietnam War. Globalization has led to the expansion of middle class people in China and India, and many have migrated to the U.S. with a college degree. Nevertheless, the political climate in the last four years indicate the prevalence of racism and prejudice toward all non-white people. Thus, we have seen the murder of George Floyd, efforts to stop the Black Lives Matter movement, attacks toward Mexico, Mexicans, Muslims and also toward Asian Americans, who have been blamed (without basis) as being responsible for COVID-19.

Edward Luce’s “The Retreat of Western Liberalism” and Ian Bremmer’s  “Us vs Them” illustrate the factors leading to economic stagnation for a segment of the white population (primarily blue collar without a college degree). Resentment in this population led to the rise of populism and paved the way to victory for former President Donald Trump. In this context, it is easy to blame racial/ethnic minority people for the problems of the country. For many people, MAGA represented Making America Great by making it white. At the end, attacks against critical race theory and multicultural education are efforts by a sector of the white population to maintain control of the schools and society. This is un-American! Critical race theory and multiculturalism promote “Liberty and Justice for All.”

Dr. Javier Tapia is an associate professor of educational studies and community studies at UW-Milwaukee with a specialty in public anthropology, Latino affairs and global educational studies.

This is who we have as our Lt. Governor. An unabashed white, tiki-torch ethnonationalist. Not only is this a reckless and flagrant rallying cry to provoke fear of "the other," but it is also a "dog whistle" or bull horn to fascist militias and organizing. This piece should be read closely in tandem with this one by Paul W. Kahn titled, "Texas bounty hunters, or a private army?" 

This is not at all the Wild West, but rather a tactic of failed states.

-Angela Valenzuela

#SayNoToFascism

Texas Lt. Guv Spews Racist ‘Great Replacement’ Theory on Fox: ‘A Revolution Has Begun’

DANGEROUS

“So this is trying to take over our country without firing a shot. That is what is happening,” Patrick dramatically warned Fox viewers on Thursday night.

Republican Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick unabashedly hyped the white supremacist “Great Replacement” theory on Thursday night, ominously warning Fox News viewers that Democrats are using immigrants to “take over our country without firing a shot.”

Appearing on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, Patrick discussed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency order shutting down six points of entry along the southern border amid a renewed surge in migrants. In the border community of Del Rio, U.S. Border Patrol says there are more than 9,000 migrants crowded into a temporary staging area, with thousands more expected to cross the border soon.

It didn’t take long for the lieutenant governor to liken the massive wave of migrants to an invasion of the country and the destruction of the GOP.

“Let me tell you something, Laura, and everyone watching: The revolution has begun,” Patrick told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “A silent revolution by the Democrat Party and [President] Joe Biden to take over the country.”

Calling on “every red state” to invoke Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution—which guarantees the nation “shall protect” each state from being invaded—Patrick said that an invasion is defined as “an unauthorized, uninvited, unwelcome incursion” into a territory.

“This is not authorized by the state of Texas, it is not welcomed by the state of Texas or any other Republican state I know, and they are not invited,” he fumed. “Every red state should invoke this clause because every red state is being impacted and the blue states reportedly don’t care.”

At that point, Patrick then went full “Great Replacement” theory, which has been described as a “white supremacist tenet that the white race is in danger by a rising tide of non-white” and a belief that liberals are replacing white voters with Black and brown immigrants.

“When I say a revolution has begun, they are allowing this year probably 2 million—that is who we apprehended, maybe another million—into this country,” Patrick dramatically exclaimed. “At least in 18 years, even if they all don’t become citizens before then and can vote, in 18 years every one of them has two or three children, you’re talking about millions and millions and millions of new voters, and they will thank the Democrats and Biden for bringing them here.”

He added: “Who do you think they are going to vote for? So this is trying to take over our country without firing a shot. That is what is happening.”

Patrick concluded the interview by saying “this is denying us our government that’s run by our citizens with illegals who are here, who are gonna take our education, our healthcare.”

The conservative Texan is essentially echoing the same extreme rhetoric—which has been the inspiration behind several racist mass shootings—that’s become increasingly common on Fox News and within the Republican Party.

Fox News star Tucker Carlson, for one, has repeatedly advanced the replacement theory, prompting the Anti-Defamation League to call for his firing this past spring. The network, however, waved off the ADL’s complaint and stood fully behind its host.

News21: Hate in America - This documentary covers the legacy of hate, and how it shaped America

I strongly recommended folks to see this documentary that, among other things, illuminates the connection between fundamentalist Christianity and violence. This is not unlike the kind of violence and terror that people in our country more commonly associates with Islamic extremism. In this case, what we are seeing is homegrown extremism, unfortunately, connected to a long legacy of settler colonialism and white supremacy.

-Angela Valenzuela

How Can I Have a Positive Racial Identity? I'm White! | Ali Michael | TEDTalk

Great Ted Talk by Ali Michaels that addresses whiteness. Drawing on psychologist Janet Helm, she offer the following definition of what a positive racial identity means for white people:

“A positive racial identity [for a white person] is not about feeling good about being white.  It’s also not feeling bad about being white. It’s about understanding what it means to be white in this context of a heavily racialized society that has historically—still today—distributes resources and opportunities inequitably, favoring white people against people of color. Understanding what it means to live in a society that teaches people of color internalized oppression and teaches white people internalized superiority. And dealing with that sense of internalized superiority so that I can show up and be and live in a healthy multi-racial community with people of color in which we work against racism and other oppressions, knowing that all oppressions are connected.”

I like how she framed her own transformation as a result of taking an African American Studies course. This is why so many of us who are teachers advocate for Ethnic Studies. The criticality that such courses provide bring justice and new ways of knowing and being in the world that no longer reinscribe white privilege and white supremacist ways of knowing and being, helping us to live together peacefully in the world.

-Angela Valenzuela

Inside the three hours it took to get Trump's 'white power' tweet deleted Laura Clawson Daily Kos Staff

Said by the person who says he's the "least racist person in the world."  He should just own being a white supremacist.  As mentioned in my previous post, it has certainly been obvious to Europeans. 

After all, fascism and white supremacy are European inventions that are not of this continent. These false ideologies come from another land and they have been poisoning humanity for a few centuries now, dating back to 1492 when Columbus first set sail.  It's entirely synchronous that on this very day, the Columbus statue in Columbus, Ohio, just came down. 

Not at all a frivolous decision, as we are witnessing a symbolic re-ordering that has for too long ordered and subjugated us a peoples native to this continent. I'm just amazed that this is happening in my lifetime.

Regarding other news from today, what's this about somehow not getting the intelligence about Russia putting bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan when he had actually been briefed several times for well over a year?!  I can only imagine how angry and frustrated the intelligence and military community are with their leader, a self-proclaimed "Il duce."

Trump condemns neither white power nor Putin power. He has no ethical core.

What he is politically, however, is abundantly clear. He is a white nationalist, fascist and a traitor to our country.

-Angela Valenzuela

#SayNoToFascism

Inside the three hours it took to get Trump's 

'white power' tweet deleted

Kayleigh McEnany Getty Images

The basic facts are these: Sunday morning, Donald Trump tweeted about the “great people” in a video in which one of his supporters yelled “white power.” Three hours later, he deleted the tweet. Through the rest of Sunday and Monday, neither Trump nor any official spokesperson condemned the use of “white power” as a rallying cry. But how did it happen?

The White House continues to claim that Trump didn’t hear the white power part. It’s not that he didn’t listen to the video, aides say, he just somehow didn’t hear it. Or bother to condemn it once he knew about it. But, The Washington Post reports, “senior White House advisers say they immediately realized they had a problem” with the tweet, and it “set off a scramble.”

“Senior staffers  quickly conferred over the phone and then began trying to reach the president to convey their concerns about the tweet,” the Post reports. “White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, son-in-law Jared Kushner and other senior advisers spoke with president, said several people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations.”

And three hours later, Trump agreed to have the tweet deleted, “moved, in large part, by the public calls from Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s only black Republican, to do just that, aides said.”

In other words, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that Trump would agree to delete the tweet. It took Kayleigh and Jared and unnamed other senior advisers and someone pointing out that it’s probably a good idea to listen to the Senate’s only Black Republican on this one. 

Although NBC News reported that the delay was also because White House officials could not immediately reach Trump, who “was at his golf club in Virginia and had put his phone down.”

Sit with that a minute: The president of the United States could not be reached for permission to delete a white power tweet because he was golfing.

Since then, Trump and the White House have had ample opportunity to distance themselves from the call for “white power.” Trump’s Twitter feed, for instance. Or when McEnany appeared on Fox & Friends on Monday and said “His point in tweeting out that video was to stand with his supporters, who are oftentimes demonized.” (Yeah, for saying things like “white power.”) Or when McEnany held a press briefing and claimed “he did not hear that particular phrase,” but somehow did not get a question about whether he condemned it until she had ended the briefing and was leaving, when she ignored questions shouted after her. (Not exactly well played, White House press.) 

”A senior White House official said that had McEnany been asked, she was prepared to say that of course the president condemns white power, white nationalism and racism in any form,” the Post reports. She just … didn’t. Which is telling—although we already knew what it tells us.

Check out this excellent, critical piece by Texas Tribune's Ross Ramsey on gun violence and politics in Texas.  We are not safe with a governor who despite five, high-profile shooting incidents in his state, he has precious little to offer in response because of his own anti-immigrant rhetoric that's contributing to the problem. 

Ramsey is correct to call out the governor's words as "nativist" because like Trump's anti-immigrant politics, policies, and rhetoric, they stir up the base and encourage actions and policies that are punitive and harmful to communities that are already traumatized and vulnerable, escaping violence and poverty in their own countries.  In addition, they do  so at the egregiously, if terribly anguishing, high cost of surrendering their children to our country just to save their literal lives.

Who among us can even come close to imagining such a circumstance?  This is one where handing over one's child to the U.S. government for a trauma-filled, uncertain future is an option worth pursuing?!  

We can only conclude that for these families, their circumstances are that terrible and their options, limited.

This failure of leadership is terribly sad and tragic to witness and from a policy perspective, is not sustainable. 

-Angela Valenzuela

Analysis: Since Texas leaders aren’t doing much about guns, watch what they say

After the Odessa shootings, Gov. Greg Abbott said actions are louder than words. That may be right. But don't forget about the words.

BY ROSS RAMSEY SEPT. 4, 201912 AM

Gov. Greg Abbott has talked a lot about mass shootings; there have been five high-profile incidents in the state since he became governor. Jesus Rosales for the Texas Tribune.

Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here.

“We know that words alone are inadequate. Words must be met with action.” — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, after a gunman in West Texas shot 32 people, killing seven of them.

The governor, like other elected officials, is always courteously prompt with words of comfort after natural disasters like hurricanes and floods and tornados, and unnatural disasters, like the shootings in Odessa, El Paso, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe and Dallas. He answered Santa Fe and Sutherland Springs — shootings in a high school and in a church — with roundtable conversations that produced some ideas for legislation earlier this year. That round of lawmaking did not include stricter laws for gun sales, possession or use.

And he had already started another sequence of roundtables after the shooting in El Paso when the latest shooting took place. Now the House and Senate have formed a joint committee on “mass violence prevention and community safety” to make recommendations to the Legislature, much as the governor’s roundtables have done.

It’s hard to keep up, especially in cases — Odessa appears to be an example — where state lawmakers whistled past a well-known loophole in the law requiring background checks. The Odessa shooter couldn’t buy the gun he used from a dealer because of a failed background check. He could buy one, and did, from a private party — a situation the law doesn’t cover and one that has been debated for years, in Texas and elsewhere.

We have words, all over again, with action, maybe, to follow. Optimists would be well served to ignore recent history.

But the words deserve more attention. Elected officials should either go with “words matter” or shut up — because if words don’t matter, why speak?

Skip the usual griping about thoughts and prayers. It’s good to think and pray about these things, along with anything else that keeps these public safety issues front and center.

Consider the other words — the ones meant for political consumption instead of comfort. The governor, for instance, sent a provocative fundraising letter to supporters just over a month ago, conjuring the sorts of ideas about immigration and immigrants you’d expect from any nativist. And he landed that letter in El Paso, content enough with the content to stick it in the mailboxes of voters who are either of Latino descent or who are Anglos living in a city where Hispanics make up 80% of the population.

Just after Abbott's fundraising plea landed, a white supremacist from Allen drove 650 miles to the Walmart where he shot 46 people, killing 22. That was hardly the governor’s fault, but it made Abbott’s letter awkward, to say the least. It pushed him all the way from "Send it!" before the shooting, to a passive apology — "mistakes were made" — after the shooting. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others tweaked their words, with some encouragement from their colleagues in El Paso, to point out the shooter’s white nationalist motivations.

But Abbott’s letter was out of line before the shooting, just as surely as it is now. It's an indication — not the first, not the last — that the insulting, demeaning, trolling cultures of politics and social media are now marbled into the everyday language of civics.

The high officials who are supposed to represent the people who voted for them, and also the people who didn't, can't help talking to their side of the room about what they see as the problems on the other side of the room.If a governor is talking to potential supporters that way in public, imagine the private conversations. Maybe his roundtables should include some debate about how leaders should act, about toning down the racist and nativist talk, about trying to include everybody.

The governor’s fundraising letter was a big mistake. Pressed by El Paso lawmakers, he said he “emphasized the importance of making sure that rhetoric will not be used in any dangerous way.” He was right to apologize. He did an awful thing, using his high office to raise the political temperature of an already charged debate about race and immigration. And it wasn’t because of the shooting that it was a mistake, either. His words were awful before anyone ever lifted a gun, and it's a damn shame that it took a mass murder to make those words news. This was news all along. And it'll be news the next time.

White Nationalists Praise El Paso Attack and Mock the Dead

Check out this report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).  

It's atrocious. Others' bloodshed—clearly not their own—is good sport and laughable, to boot.

It's totally depending on white people NOT standing up to this violence and here's the argument in a nutshell:

“Random violence is not detrimental to our cause, because we need to convince Americans that violence against nonwhites is desirable or at least not something worth opposing anyways, because there’s no way to remove a hundred million people without a massive element of violence,” Auernheimer wrote.

I repeat what I said in my previous post: "White leadership in all places and locations, clergy and non-clergy alike, need to stand up, in a consistent manner, with well-organized responses against these extremist forces of domestic terrorism that have already taken and shattered far too many lives.  

-Angela Valenzuela

White Nationalists Praise El Paso Attack and Mock the Dead