A) He is clearly much younger than me. The segregated schools, the entire segregated world Dr. King described in his Letter is the world I blithely grew up in and belatedly learned to recognize. That world, and all its codes.I don’t like Robert Reich or Mitch McConnell but I think the harsher interpretations of their words are not the most plausible ones. Reich probably meant “back of the hand” in the sense of contempt, and McConnell probably meant “all Americans” or “other Americans.”
— MinorIncursionHat (@Popehat) January 20, 2022
B) The issue is regional. I grew up in the South Mitch McConnell grew up in. He’s only 13 years older than me. I grew up as that world changed. He grew up in it. It started changing when I was 9; McConnell was 22. We both know exactly how the codes work.
C)
McConnell didn’t “misspeak,” and he wasn’t misunderstood. He also wasn’t speaking from a position of objective neutrality. He meant what he said. He meant what everyone heard. He said it for his voters, in Kentucky.🛑 Stop pretending bad faith is good faith for the purposes of “politeness” or “dialogue.”
— MinorIncursionHat (@Popehat) October 16, 2020
D) I learned not to talk like that. Why hasn’t McConnell? Or did he mean what he said, with the habit of “plausible deniability” about race matters we both grew up with?
E) I recognize the deniability. I know it’s not plausible.
People have as much nuance in their language as their thinking leads them to have. His assertion that "white" equals "[real] Americans" is absolutely in line with his behavior and that of every other Republican in the Senate, including the odious Tim Scott, and almost every one in the House and on the Supreme Court. That the present day Supreme Court is entirely more racist than even the George W. Bush regime shows how fast things unravel while the polite and nice aren't paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI’ve learned it’s a very white perspective to say: “Oh, it’s not that bad!”
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