Tag Archive: George Floyd

Gabby Petito disappearance, homicide becomes politicized

Awareness for missing Native American women and girls

It seems everything in America nowadays gets politicized, from the food we eat to the movies we watch to our responses to a worldwide pandemic. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that the case of formerly missing travel blogger Gabrielle Petito, whose body has been found in what the FBI calls a homicide, has become politicized too. Specifically, after weeks of intense media coverage, including frequent discussion and wild speculation in social media, about the blonde, blue-eyed 22 year old Petito, some folks began mentioning that there are a lot of people of color also missing, who are not receiving a modicum of media coverage in comparison. For example, here’s Joy Reid of MSNBC talking about this yesterday:

Other examples of this media phenomenon include the following:

https://twitter.com/hjelle_brian/status/1440381994475552781

On police violence, the “re-” words are better than the “de-” words

“Black Lives Matter” response to police racism and violence

The United States is experiencing the latest chapters of the continuing tragedy of police violence against people of color. Just as Derek Chauvin is being tried for the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, protests have broken out another incident occurred just about 10 miles away in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center, where a police officer killed Daunte Wright in a traffic stop over a hanging air freshener last weekend.

These latest police attacks on our citizens of color caused some liberals to repeat the call to “defund the police” that was in heavy rotation over the last couple of years. For example, U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib expressed this view on Monday, going even further to write “no more policing”:

However, defunding the police is an unpopular idea which hurt Democrats in the 2020 elections. Furthermore, defunding the police to reduce racism and violence is counterproductive, since even a hollowed-out, nearly bankrupt police department could be just as racist and trigger-happy as always, and some proposals to reduce citizen murders by police, such as stricter training and recruiting, might require more, not less, funding.

Perhaps that’s why former President Barack Obama released a different kind of statement yesterday on behalf of himself and former First Lady Michelle Obama, regarding the killing of Daunte Wright:

Note the term “reimagine policing” that Obama used, and how different that is from “defund the police.” President Obama realizes that, when it comes to police violence, the “re-” words are better than the “de-” words.

Is it too late for Trump?

Black Lives Matter protesters, at odds with Donald Trump

In 2012, President Barack Obama and his reelection campaign team did something very smart: they came out early and defined Obama’s opponent, Willard Mitt Romney, in a very unflattering way before Romney could define himself to the voters. Specifically, the Obama campaign defined Romney as an out-of-touch elitist, Mr. One Percent, with his offshore bank accounts and his dressage horse. This reinforced an existing narrative about Romney, one that Romney himself fed with his “47 percent” video, ultimately leading to Romney’s defeat.

This year, Joe Biden‘s campaign is taking a similar approach towards Donald Trump. Biden smartly has been running a general election-style campaign against Trump from day one. This was a risky strategy, since Biden had to battle some 24 challengers for the Democratic Party presidential nomination before he could run against Trump as the nominee. However, the strategy worked, and Biden is now the official Democratic nominee, something that would have happened sooner if not for primaries that were delayed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

2020, meet 1968

President Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, 1968

America torn apart by unrest. An overarching issue that has caused the deaths of many thousands of Americans. Separate protests and riots over the death of a black man. It’s a good description of 2020, right? Actually, this also describes the year 1968. There are some striking parallels between these two years, and they do not bode well for Donald Trump or the Republican Party.

In 1968, Lyndon Johnson, who had become president after John F. Kennedy‘s assassination in November 1963, faced the twin issues of the Vietnam War and racial unrest. The war so mired President Johnson and tore apart the country that, in March 1968, Johnson announced that he would not run for reelection. And then, just four days later, as if to ensure that America would remain in strife through the election, black civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Coming after years of bloody civil rights battles and documented police brutality, King’s murder led to protests and riots around the country. Johnson’s decision not to run for another term was already based in part in the reality that his approval rating throughout 1968 mostly hovered in the low forties range, having declined steadily from the highs of nearly 80 percent in his first few months after taking office, and was largely attributable to the Vietnam War.