Trump and His Hordes: Contributors to Hatred and Violence
Ideas, actions, customs, traditions, and social-political policies can have a perpetual impact upon those who are the most vulnerable in society. According to Edward Said (1993), “. . . there is no just way in which the past can be quarantined from the present. Past and present inform each other, each implies the other . . .” This country was founded on slavery and white supremacy and no matter how hard the governor, Trump, and his political hacks try to prevent it from being taught we will still get it done. The past is never complete, nor can it be ignored, for white supremacist forces, and Trump racists in the Texas Legislature, are trying to shape the present and the future by removing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from university campuses.
White supremacist structures have always sought to control the presence of truth in the social and political arenas, part of the control was to deny access to education as proposed in the Supreme Court case of Plessey vs. Ferguson. Now, a racist Supreme Court has ended Affirmative Action all the while making the false claim that white supremacy has suddenly disappeared. Thanks to Trump, we can expect his hordes to develop others actions that seek to sabotage civil rights and civil liberties. His hordes are contributing to violence as witnessed by threats directed against teachers, activists, and universities. We have seen an increase in bomb threats including one directed at St. Philips College recently.
Recently, bomb threats were made to Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) across the country. This is all associated and linked to the gutting of Affirmative Action by a Trump Supreme Court. Black schools have traditionally been a safe haven where many students of color choose to embrace and be grateful for their shared understanding of oppression and rich cultural contributions. HBCUs are among America’s most trusted higher education institutions. Look at the target list by Trump fanatics: Black schools, civil rights, civil liberties, education and teaching the true history of the United States, attacks on women’s rights, and many other white supremacist methods of rolling back the clock to the days of Jim Crow, ignorance, and barbarism.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), “Recent news reports revealed that the FBI identified the suspects accused of making these hateful, violent threats against HBCUs as being six radicalized, tech-savvy youths whose timing appears to have been set to disrupt Black History Month. One of the young offenders admitted his connection to the Atomwaffen Division (ADW) – a terroristic, neo-Nazi organization and SPLC-designated hate group that we have been tracking for nearly half a decade. . . .” The FBI and the media have the names of those associated with this group in San Antonio and it seems obvious that someone connected to these fascists ideas are behind local threats.
Critical race theory (CRT), slavery, white supremacy, Alamo myths, Jim Crow and other targets are at the top of the hit list for white supremacists connected to the Trump horde machine, who wrongly label everything for attack having to do with race, equity, inclusion or teaching parts of history that they do not wish to acknowledge. These ignorant inspired attacks are being carried out across the country, up South and down South, by those inspired by hate and racism. History has shown that white supremacist extremists often wind up in prison while their acts of violence increase opposition to them, ultimately going nowhere in stopping the struggle against racism and hatred.
