Fox News trotted out Alveda King, the nutty, conservative niece of Martin Luther King, to argue that Americans should embrace Jeff Sessions as Donald Trump’s attorney general, despite a history of racism, by comparing him to one of the most famous racists of all time, George Wallace.
From my post for Liberal America:
KING: George Wallace … was one of the most racist people in our history. And yet, through love, through communication, and through resisting nonviolently, George Wallace repented.
[…]
What would Jesus do? What can I say that will heal? So I’m encouraging Mr. Trump and his picks not to go on the defensive but to assert that we want to heal America. We want to work together for America.
You got that? Trump should tell us he wants to heal America by pushing a racist as attorney general and we should do our part by loving Sessions until he repents.
Read my full post, including the astounding comments of host Abby Huntsman, at Liberal America.
As far as politics are concerned, we seem to be past the trickle-down nonsense that infected the world 30 odd years ago, and these days both main parties would be considered well to the left of even your Democratic Party. We’ve got the more conservative of the two in power now, but they’re not unacceptable. Since we adopted a Proportional Representation system with MMP (same system as Germany), every significant section of the community has a voice.
Come on down – lots of great Americans already have :)
Sessions’ priorities will have nothing to do with protecting the civil rights of anyone other than whites. His emphasis will be greatly increased and visible law enforcement presence wherever possible – including what they will say are operations to fight crime in places like Chicago. A lot of resources will be redirected to targeting and deporting as many undocumented immigrants as they can – look for them to set high goals here that they can point to every 100 days of how many people they’ve thrown out of the country.
And don’t think that Sessions has forgotten his animus against liberal organizations like Planned Parenthood, which are likely to be targeted as promised by the Right Wing for years.
And let’s not forget that Sessions is both motivated and enthusiastic about pursuing an aggressive criminal case against the Clintons, their charity and their associates, as threatened by Trump throughout the campaign. They weren’t all yelling “Lock Her Up!” for show. They meant it, and they intend to see how much political theater they can make out of this moment.
The alt-right wants to return America to the world of Archie Bunker. Except Archie isn’t just a bigoted, know nothing crank to be laughed at. No, Archie is in power calling the shots.
We’re witnessing the alt-right revolution where whites who can’t adapt to a modern economy blame people of color and women who they imagine are holding them back along with big government who props up everyone except white men, our embattled superior human speciman.
Trump is going to ‘tell it like it is’. Political correctness must cease to coddle a diverse work and school environment. ‘Mexicans’ (Trump speak for Hispanics) are scary criminals. Blacks are scary criminals. Women need to become one of the boys or stay the f—k home raising the kids.
Now you know why I want to retire overseas. I’ve seen this day coming since the ‘90s. I have nothing in common with this America which isn’t going away quietly or anytime soon.
PUBLICLY.
In 1979. (Sessions was still calling Black men “boy” several years later.)
He also appointed more African-Americans to State offices than at any time in Alabama’s history (as well as having two African-American Cabinet officers at the same time—something that had never occurred before).
It’s also worth noting that, during his first gubernatorial race (in 1958), he was endorsed by the NAACP while his opponent was publicly endorsed by the KKK. Wallace’s racist views were largely the result of that race—Wallace reportedly answered a supporter who’d asked about the racism by saying “I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about [n-words], and they stomped the floor.”
As for Sessions, he’s never done anything except get offended when he’s called a racist and deny the accusation.
Perhaps Alveda might want to reflect on a couple of ideas: one, an old adage; the other, the words of Jesus. First is “Actions speak louder than words.” Sessions through his votes as Alabama’s Attorney General and later as US Senator prove his lack of repentance. Second is “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20, KJV). One final thought for her: “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”