On the night of March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor was gunned down in her underwear by plainclothes police officers serving a no-knock warrant at her apartment. Immediately the spin machine began, whitewashing police misconduct. A young black man [her boyfriend Kenneth Walker] and a legally licensed gun owner fired a shot. Being awakened at night and defending one’s life and a loved one seems like a reasoned response. The police were looking for a former boyfriend of Ms. Taylor and paraphrasing the old adage, the lies about Breonna Taylor harboring a drug dealer had traveled around the world before the truth had a chance to put its’ shoes on. Ultimately Breonna Taylor became a cause celeb and sparked the hashtag “Say her name.”
Yesterday that hashtag was turned on its head, literally. Both, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, “Lady” Ruby Freeman, told the J6 Committee they feared someone would ‘say their names’ publicly and recognition would cause violent retaliation. Moss and Freeman were poll workers in Georgia, counting votes, serving their community, and being honest. Ms. Moss related the story of her grandmother being harassed at her home by self-appointed vigilantes intent on making a citizen’s arrest of “Shaye” Moss and her mom, “Lady Ruby.” Fighting back the tears, she talked about her anxiety-riddled sixty-pound weight gain, fearing her mom calling her name in public, and most troubling—forced seclusion—all for the crime of serving her country.
Much like the Breonna Taylor case, the tinge of race was in the backdrop. Her mother talked about “getting nervous” at the grocery store, hoping no one calls her by name, inciting crazed Trump supporters. Rudy Giuliani, a Trump lawyer, and confidante, said Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman passed something between them comparing the two to “drug dealers.” When, in reality, it was a mother handing her child a ginger mint. Mr. Trump called them scammers and “hustlers” in phone calls. It has been apparent for a long time that the areas Trump and his cohorts have accused of election fraud are predominantly areas where people of color reside, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit.
Election fraud is not a both sides argument. When the Supreme Court handed the 2000 presidential victory to George W. Bush over Al Gore, democrats did not storm the Capitol. When Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton, suspicions abounded that the Russians installed Trump, but Democrats did not strip away the voting rights of the opposition. Predictions are that the Republicans are on the verge of a complete government takeover, yet violence and terror still have become the calling card for conservatism. Not satisfied with threatening people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community, they now threaten to pull guns on each other.
I keep hearing the GOP establishment clinging to or trying to convince themselves that the apparition of a once viable party evaded a proton pack blast. In reality, they have fallen into their own trap and believe that if they can get rid of Trump, the ghost of Reagan will smile on them again. The problem is not just Trump. America is not all white males, Christian or straight. The GOP will not stop until they admit they let racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and misogyny become who they are. Until they say all our names, democracy will continue to teeter on the edge.
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