Thank you for this. I think Democrats have let the right gaslight them into equating any stand against police brutality with an attack on law enforcement as a whole. Unlike Republicans, who rarely back down from a fight, Democrats too often shy away from confrontation instead of responding with conviction—though there are a few notable exceptions. We’re not going to make real progress if Democrats keep self-censoring.
Many white Democrats believe they have a working-class problem. When they say things like "we're losing the working class to the Republicans," you know they're talking about the *white* working class. Many law enforcement officers come from the working classes. So I suspect that the Democrats in general are trying to appeal to, or at least not antagonize, the white working class -- while taking Black voters of all classes for granted, which they've been doing for decades. (Also the perennial Republican accusation that Dems are "soft on crime" is a racist dog-whistle.)
I so appreciate your clear and thorough framing of an issue, it’s true, that keeps getting moved to the back burner. Most of us will never forget George Floyd and his suffering. Yet how we go about bringing the necessary reparations going forward seems to be a huge challenge as yet unsolved. It is an American tragedy, ongoing. I am so sorry.
FYI: I was unable to forward this important newsletter (despite forwarding others) and received the following non delivery report:
"Your message was believed to contain questionable content, and therefore was not delivered to the intended recipients. The information above will help Xfinity with any questions you may have. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the issue, please reach out to our Customer Security Assurance Team at 833-501-0837. Thank you for being an Xfinity customer."
After I called, they did whatever they do, and when I tried again, I was able to send. Comcast had a long list of reasons that items are deemed undeliverable - none of which seemed to apply to this email. This is alarming and I will be following up with Comcast to register my objections to whatever AI tool they are using to determine "questionable content".
Thanks for the heads-up on this. At first glance at your post I thought "Facebook strikes again" and was shocked to see that Xfinity/Comcast was the offender. They're my internet/phone provider too. I'm going to try occasionally forwarding emails (I subscribe to quite a few with "questionable," i.e., political, content) and see what happens.
I understand and agree with your assessment that Democrats shy away from the issue of police brutality despite it being a critical issue for maintaining our democracy. Unfortunately, I similarly see the Democrats shy away from publicly supporting immigrants and publicly denouncing the Administrations cruel and illegal actions.
Thank you, Ms. Ifill, for reminding us again of the way we continue to turn away from fixing our nation's racial justice problems. For the Republicans and their voters, maintaining the white Christian patriarchy is the most important goal possible. So they love tying CRT and DEI and Defund to Dems, in order to hobble us in our racial justice efforts, and every time we seem to fall prey to their machinations.
We need the courage that you continue to demonstrate. We must not continue to let ourselves be terrorized. As one of your many Substack colleagues often says, we need to punch these bullies in the nose (figuratively, with our words, not literally!). Fighting back is all a bully understands. And so we need courage; thank you for sharing yours.
This violent imbalance is core to the original sin of this nation's founding. It seems to me that addressing it in real time is tantamount to acknowledging the deep inequality embedded in the white American concept of law as protecting only them. I hope that we can begin reckoning with this as we overthrow this current administration.
I agree with your argument, but this struggle is not ours alone, and we are not new to it. Since the era of slavery, Black Americans have been fighting for our lives against various forms of oppression. This struggle has included enduring lashings and death during slavery, lynchings that were treated as family entertainment, and de jure segregation, such as Jim Crow laws. During the Civil Rights Movement, we faced bombings, water hoses, and killings, and even today, we contend with law enforcement racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration.
However, this raises the question: Who is holding the door open? As you pointed out, the issues did not begin with Trump's administration, but he has undoubtedly worsened the situation.
The institutions tasked with safeguarding democracy are Congress, the Judicial Branch, and the Executive Branch. Slavery was abolished in 1865, and the last Jim Crow laws were overturned in 1965. In 2001, President George W. Bush formally banned racial profiling, as stated in the Department of Justice fact sheet on the topic. Despite the brutal murder of Emmett Till in 1955, it wasn't until 2022 that Congress passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Meanwhile, the George Floyd Policing Act remains stalled in the Senate.
I made recommendations to then-Senator Kamala Harris regarding the George Floyd Policing Act while she was advocating for it on the Senate floor. I urged her to consider Senator Tim Scott’s input for the passage of the Act.
Once again, I ask: Who is the gatekeeper, and why hasn’t the door been firmly closed? As Dr. King stated, without law, there can be no enforcement.
I so appreciate your clarity on this very important topic and issue for our people and our democracy. Lest we all forget that unaccountable policing will not stop with Black men and women, but spread to all within reach and none will have recourse.
Thank you for this. I think Democrats have let the right gaslight them into equating any stand against police brutality with an attack on law enforcement as a whole. Unlike Republicans, who rarely back down from a fight, Democrats too often shy away from confrontation instead of responding with conviction—though there are a few notable exceptions. We’re not going to make real progress if Democrats keep self-censoring.
Many white Democrats believe they have a working-class problem. When they say things like "we're losing the working class to the Republicans," you know they're talking about the *white* working class. Many law enforcement officers come from the working classes. So I suspect that the Democrats in general are trying to appeal to, or at least not antagonize, the white working class -- while taking Black voters of all classes for granted, which they've been doing for decades. (Also the perennial Republican accusation that Dems are "soft on crime" is a racist dog-whistle.)
I so appreciate your clear and thorough framing of an issue, it’s true, that keeps getting moved to the back burner. Most of us will never forget George Floyd and his suffering. Yet how we go about bringing the necessary reparations going forward seems to be a huge challenge as yet unsolved. It is an American tragedy, ongoing. I am so sorry.
FYI: I was unable to forward this important newsletter (despite forwarding others) and received the following non delivery report:
"Your message was believed to contain questionable content, and therefore was not delivered to the intended recipients. The information above will help Xfinity with any questions you may have. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the issue, please reach out to our Customer Security Assurance Team at 833-501-0837. Thank you for being an Xfinity customer."
After I called, they did whatever they do, and when I tried again, I was able to send. Comcast had a long list of reasons that items are deemed undeliverable - none of which seemed to apply to this email. This is alarming and I will be following up with Comcast to register my objections to whatever AI tool they are using to determine "questionable content".
So appreciate your newsletter - thank you.
Thanks for the heads-up on this. At first glance at your post I thought "Facebook strikes again" and was shocked to see that Xfinity/Comcast was the offender. They're my internet/phone provider too. I'm going to try occasionally forwarding emails (I subscribe to quite a few with "questionable," i.e., political, content) and see what happens.
A much needed lesson on the reality of how we fix what led us to our current threat.
I understand and agree with your assessment that Democrats shy away from the issue of police brutality despite it being a critical issue for maintaining our democracy. Unfortunately, I similarly see the Democrats shy away from publicly supporting immigrants and publicly denouncing the Administrations cruel and illegal actions.
Thank you, Ms. Ifill, for reminding us again of the way we continue to turn away from fixing our nation's racial justice problems. For the Republicans and their voters, maintaining the white Christian patriarchy is the most important goal possible. So they love tying CRT and DEI and Defund to Dems, in order to hobble us in our racial justice efforts, and every time we seem to fall prey to their machinations.
We need the courage that you continue to demonstrate. We must not continue to let ourselves be terrorized. As one of your many Substack colleagues often says, we need to punch these bullies in the nose (figuratively, with our words, not literally!). Fighting back is all a bully understands. And so we need courage; thank you for sharing yours.
This violent imbalance is core to the original sin of this nation's founding. It seems to me that addressing it in real time is tantamount to acknowledging the deep inequality embedded in the white American concept of law as protecting only them. I hope that we can begin reckoning with this as we overthrow this current administration.
I agree with your argument, but this struggle is not ours alone, and we are not new to it. Since the era of slavery, Black Americans have been fighting for our lives against various forms of oppression. This struggle has included enduring lashings and death during slavery, lynchings that were treated as family entertainment, and de jure segregation, such as Jim Crow laws. During the Civil Rights Movement, we faced bombings, water hoses, and killings, and even today, we contend with law enforcement racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration.
However, this raises the question: Who is holding the door open? As you pointed out, the issues did not begin with Trump's administration, but he has undoubtedly worsened the situation.
The institutions tasked with safeguarding democracy are Congress, the Judicial Branch, and the Executive Branch. Slavery was abolished in 1865, and the last Jim Crow laws were overturned in 1965. In 2001, President George W. Bush formally banned racial profiling, as stated in the Department of Justice fact sheet on the topic. Despite the brutal murder of Emmett Till in 1955, it wasn't until 2022 that Congress passed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Meanwhile, the George Floyd Policing Act remains stalled in the Senate.
I made recommendations to then-Senator Kamala Harris regarding the George Floyd Policing Act while she was advocating for it on the Senate floor. I urged her to consider Senator Tim Scott’s input for the passage of the Act.
Once again, I ask: Who is the gatekeeper, and why hasn’t the door been firmly closed? As Dr. King stated, without law, there can be no enforcement.
I so appreciate your clarity on this very important topic and issue for our people and our democracy. Lest we all forget that unaccountable policing will not stop with Black men and women, but spread to all within reach and none will have recourse.