To say that anti-racism should be at the forefront as we enter the homestretch of this fall’s election seems obvious and incontestable, given everything that is happening. But what it doesn’t tell us is how to do it, how to frame it, how to discuss it in a way that resonates with and moves millions of white voters to cast their vote for Biden-Harris. I have some thoughts that I will post tomorrow.
It was impossible for me and many others not to admire John Thompson as a basketball coach and human being. He walked with great dignity, spoke with such honesty, gave no quarter to racists, and took obvious pride in his African American roots. He didn’t mince words and he loved his players who in turned loved him back and played for him with passion and energy. In his coaching heyday, the Big East and his Georgetown Hoyas were “Big.” No other conference and no other team had such stature and commanded such attention. Both were electric. At a time when racial tensions were high his close friendship with Dean Smith, the legendary white coach of North Carolina, who early on recruited Black players, didn’t go unnoticed. He will be missed and for his players, like Patrick Ewing, who now coaches Georgetown, it must be a very sad day.
In the calculus of Trump and his acolytes, the path to another term lies in the over performance of Trump’s base on election day compared to 2016 on the one hand and on the other, the suppression of the vote for Biden-Harris ticket and other Democratic candidates, especially in the battleground states. And the connective tissue between the two is racism.
Trump didn’t double on racism, but tripled down in Kenosha, WS yesterday. We will see this repeated daily until election day.
Seems like Trump has concluded that the incitement of turmoil in the streets is his only path to a second term. And to gin up turmoil and violent confrontation, Trump will enlist the help of his rabid supporters as he did in Kenosha and Portland this past week. We should’t fall for the bait. It will require on our part discipline, a refusal to respond to provocations, and an insistence on protest actions that are peaceful and non-violent.
