In the interest of accountability, I need to acknowledge that something I wrote recently wasn't entirely accurate. I suggested that, as we head into Martin Luther King Day, we'd be hearing lots of hypocritical praise of the civil rights leader from voices on the right. While that might still be partially accurate, I wrote that before I saw this:
[Charlie Kirk] recently said that he plans to release content to discredit MLK on January 15, King’s birthday, which is a US federal holiday honoring King.
“We're gonna be hitting him next week,” Kirk said on his podcast this week. “Yeah, on the day of the Iowa caucus, it's MLK Day. We're gonna do the thing you're not supposed to do. We're gonna tell the truth about MLK Jr. You better tune in next week. Blake has already been preparing. It's gonna be great.”
"Blake" is a reference to Blake Neff, Kirk's producer who was apparently even too racist for Fox News.
But these attacks aren't merely an attempt to discredit Dr. King.
Kirk argues that the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, ushered in a “permanent DEI-type bureaucracy,” referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion...
“The courts have been really weak on this,” Kirk told the America Fest crowd. “Federal courts just yield to the Civil Rights Act as if it's the actual American Constitution.” The law is ultimately a way to “re-found the county” and “a way to get rid of the First Amendment,” according to Kirk.
In other words, an attack on King is the entry point to an attack on one of the singular achievements of the Civil Rights Movement.
That tells us where this whole anti-DEI propaganda is headed. They've successfully launched attacks on affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act, so now they want to do the same thing to the Civil Rights Act - taking us back to the days when the Jim Crow laws of the south were legal. The claim is that the Civil Rights Act nullified the First Amendment rights [of white people].
Simultaneously, it was announced that Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA will partner with New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) leader Lance Wallnau to help re-elect Trump. Wallnau and NAR are dominionists - “the theocratic idea that … Christians are called by God to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.” So once again we see Christian Nationalists joining forces with white supremacists to sow division via racism and undermine our democracy.
As a practicing Christian, I find this behavior completely anti-Christian: “the theocratic idea that … Christians are called by God to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.” It's White supremacy/racism cloaked in theocracy and blindly supported by those whose own concepts of faith are based on being 'the Chosen'. If ever there were a false and damaging thinking, this is it.
ReplyDeleteThe question is: "Does this really surprise anybody?" After all, Alabama & Mississippi still have Robert E. Lee Day concurrent with MLK, Jr. Day. It wasn't all that long ago, historically-speaking, that Republicans (Reagan, Hatch, McCain, Shelby, Grassley, etc.) tried to block MLK, Jr. Day from becoming a federal holiday. Charlie Kirk merely represents the younger generation coming into their racism and, thanks to social media, being able to broadcast those views with what equals a megaphone.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Celui when they say that this behavior is nothing more than White Supremacy cloaked in theocracy (what a winning combination! /s). Which leads to another question, "How completely insecure does one have to be in order to believe such nonsense as being 'the Chosen'?" Apparently, extremely insecure to the point where you believe the demographic trends towards the U.S. becoming less white and more secular are the "End Times." Scary stuff, indeed.
Thanks, Nancy. As always, on point.
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