By AL CALLOWAY

White nationalists (so-called “racists”) believe that democracy and a class society are complementary not contradictory because they see themselves as those for whom democracy was created. If you are not white then you are not to receive the same opportunities and protections. Furthermore, only by professing the Christian religion will you be accepted in any of the other (lower) classes if you are non-white.

For them the brutal beating of Rodney King by a gang of uniformed white cops was justified because he was an “intruder” of the democratic white culture, a sub-cultural nuisance (three fifths human according to the U. S. Constitution) for whom society no longer had any use. Various modes of avoidance, discrimination and extermination of blacks and poor people have always been an American social norm.

Wherever Western Civilization prospers, people of color – especially black people — regardless of income, education and profession, and poor people in general, are downtrodden and powerless. (Unfortunately, this seems to be a trait among most modern day cultures.) However, it is the American duality called democracy exported around the world through hegemony whose cracks and strains forewarn fascism that frightens populations everywhere.

For black America, the Rodney King debacle reminded of plantation life and sharecropping, of sheriff poses, of being falsely accused and imprisoned, and of vigilante terror including public lynching. But what galled America’s puny black activist core back then was the empathetic yet do-nothing response of so-called white liberals. White America overwhelmingly supports police brutality of black people, and liberals basically acquiesce.

Black civil rights leaders and poverticians went into hustle mode over Rodney king, exhorting funding from local, state and federal governments, foundations and rich white folks of “conscience” to stem poverty and crime. Meanwhile, white liberals organized clergy, intellectuals and social engineers to promote civility including support of the judicial system to mete out democratic society justice. Did the majority of black America believe that the Rodney King cops would go to jail? They wanted to believe.

The Rodney King injustice took place twenty-six years ago, March 3, 1991. George H. W. Bush was President and democrats controlled both houses of the U. S. Congress. Later that year Thurgood Marshall, the lone black Supreme Court Justice retired and Bush nominated Clarence Thomas, a controversial black conservative. Thomas was confirmed after a contentious Senate Confirmation Hearing by a vote of 52 for and 48 against. (Of the eleven democrats that voted for Thomas, only two were from the north.)

I cite the Rodney King injustice as the seminal event that white America hailed as open police state action against black people and the poor. Since 1991, the steady escalation of police shootings and other violent acts against blacks and poor people is phenomenal. So also are the number of hate groups and negative social comment aimed at black and near black people.

Buried under the rubble created by this great American lie called “democracy” are legions of poor and near poor white communities, now being hit by a tidal wave of heroin and other opiate addictions, coupled with unemployment and underemployment, poor education, housing and health care. Will these people ever awake from the stupor of divisiveness fed to them through a psychological vapor called racism?

Both blacks and poor people have little chance in this capitalist society whose political elite likes to extol its virtue as a “democracy.” Blacks and poor people form a collective; they all misunderstand the politics and economics not only of America, but of Western Civilization, as well! As a result, these populations do not, and, in most instances cannot, engage in capital formation of any and all kinds.

But these populations actually love to be ruled by the elite, the great exploiters. Most black voters supported rich and powerful Hillary Clinton and black politicians love being led by Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, one of the richest persons in the U. S. Congress. Mostly white poor and near poor voters helped to put rich Donald Trump in the White House. So there you have it: those most in need accede to wealth and power, hoping something trickles down from the overfilled coffers of the elite.

Al.Calloway715@gmail.com