Earlier this week I was invited to participate in the #WalkAway campaign. I declined.
If you don’t know what that is, not that you should care, it’s another attempt from the political right to demonstrate just how powerful and “right” it is when it comes to the African-American community, the folks most likely to resist its power plays and even get in its face. Its supposed most recent “feather in the cap” was rapper Kanye West, who recently visited the White House (and, most people outside the conservative movement believe, made a total fool of himself in the process during a speech he made).
But let’s be straight as to what this campaign really entails: Another attempt to de-legitimize any group that not only disagrees with the right but even comes against it.
And it isn’t the first time, either.
I learned in the 1990s that the movement was willing to pay African-Americans handsomely, whether in cash or exposure (likely both), to turn their backs on their own people, which is why the pejorative “sellout” was actually quite accurate in this case; in fact, in 1998 the movement reached out to me. Most, however, didn’t, nor did or would I.
The bottom line is that it simply wants people on its side without examining which of its own policies are harmful or divisive in their own right, which also speaks to its arrogance and lack of humility. It simply doesn’t relate to anyone who doesn’t agree, preferring name-calling to reasoned debate, therefore debasing the discourse and causing the rift that we see today.
I’ve heard that 200,000 people have actually left testimonies with the #WalkAway movement, but that’s not even a drop in the bucket given the 40 million African-Americans in this country. And while we’re at it, let me drop the names of some folks who have “walked away” from the conservative movement/Republican Party over the years, some since Donald Trump became president: Max Boot, George Will, David Brock, David Brooks, Rob Schenck, J.C. Watts, Jeff Flake, John Boehner.
We can do better than this — but do Trump supporters want to?
If you don’t know what that is, not that you should care, it’s another attempt from the political right to demonstrate just how powerful and “right” it is when it comes to the African-American community, the folks most likely to resist its power plays and even get in its face. Its supposed most recent “feather in the cap” was rapper Kanye West, who recently visited the White House (and, most people outside the conservative movement believe, made a total fool of himself in the process during a speech he made).
But let’s be straight as to what this campaign really entails: Another attempt to de-legitimize any group that not only disagrees with the right but even comes against it.
And it isn’t the first time, either.
I learned in the 1990s that the movement was willing to pay African-Americans handsomely, whether in cash or exposure (likely both), to turn their backs on their own people, which is why the pejorative “sellout” was actually quite accurate in this case; in fact, in 1998 the movement reached out to me. Most, however, didn’t, nor did or would I.
The bottom line is that it simply wants people on its side without examining which of its own policies are harmful or divisive in their own right, which also speaks to its arrogance and lack of humility. It simply doesn’t relate to anyone who doesn’t agree, preferring name-calling to reasoned debate, therefore debasing the discourse and causing the rift that we see today.
I’ve heard that 200,000 people have actually left testimonies with the #WalkAway movement, but that’s not even a drop in the bucket given the 40 million African-Americans in this country. And while we’re at it, let me drop the names of some folks who have “walked away” from the conservative movement/Republican Party over the years, some since Donald Trump became president: Max Boot, George Will, David Brock, David Brooks, Rob Schenck, J.C. Watts, Jeff Flake, John Boehner.
We can do better than this — but do Trump supporters want to?
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