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The dangers of revolutionary right-wing rhetoric

The Christian Science Monitor

By Walter Rodgers – Fri Nov 27, 4:00 am ET

Wilmington, N.C. – Few places have deeper scars from violent invective and verbal incitement than this North Carolina city where people still speak in whispers, embarrassed by the events of Nov. 10, 1898. Wilmington is tragic testament to the fact that social progress is not inevitable and that, left unchallenged, hateful speech and words frequently morph into violence.

Today, talk of an antigovernment revolution has gone mainstream in America. One federal law-enforcement agency has discovered 50 new militia groups, including one made up of past and current police officers and soldiers. While in office, President Bush was the target of roughly 3,000 death threats a year. President Obama is on pace to quintuple that. In this environment, Americans might well reflect on Wilmington's experience 111 years ago.

In 1898, this city was years ahead of the rest of the American South, building an inclusive, interracial political culture. It had a burgeoning black middle class. A new era of hope dawned in North Carolina.

But the losers in the 1896 elections, the white Democrats, sulked on the margins, threatened by political irrelevance. Their sense of entitlement to governance had just been rejected by white progressives and black voters. "Take back the state," became their battle cry.

And they did just that. On Nov. 9, some Wilmington whites issued a White Declaration of Independence, proclaiming "that we will no longer be ruled ... by men of African origin."

The next day, a vigilante group of armed supremacists forcibly removed the Republican city leaders (both black and white) from office, and took control, burning buildings and shooting blacks. The official death toll was fewer than 20, though African-American oral tradition claims the Cape Fear River was choked with hundreds of bodies. There is no question that thousands of frightened blacks fled.

Neither President McKinley nor the governor of North Carolina (both Republicans) acted to stop or reverse what amounted to a coup and race riot. Soon thereafter, Jim Crow laws undermined basic rights for blacks for the next half century.

One gets a sense of déjà vu listening to today's right-wingers talk. In March, Fox News host Glenn Beck said: "If this country starts to spiral out of control ... there will be parts of the country that will rise up."

That's what happened in Wil­ming­ton in 1898. Those who lost power in elections launched a coup marked by terror. Such a revolutionary impulse resonates again.

This spring, covering an antitax "tea party" protest in Boston, Fox News Business anchor Cody Willard raged, "Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?"

The Rev. William J. Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, recalls similar sentiment on Southern billboards during the civil-rights era, "painting Martin Luther King as a communist, a socialist, and anti-American."

As in 1898, a prominent black American's patriotism and legitimacy are questioned. Today, the radical, reactionary right asks whether Obama is really an American citizen. Mr. Barber warns of what he calls "a rebirth of dangerous rhetoric," reminding us that "all forms of violence are preceded by violent language."

Today, the hate barometer is climbing dangerously upward. In August, Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist church of Tempe, Ariz., told his congregants he prays for Obama's death. So, too, does the Rev. Wiley Drake in California.

The lesson is obvious: Healthy language produces healthy communities. Unhealthy language results in unhealthy communities. "The 1898 Wilmington violence laid the foundation for a one-party state, driving a wedge between peoples for political ends," says David Cecelski, a North Carolina historian. "It strikes me as immoral."

Wilmington still struggles with the legacy of these events more than a century later. Generations of black children were condemned to third-rate educations. Today, under the banner of "neighborhood schools," the city, like other municipalities nationwide, faces subtle efforts to resegregate classrooms. Perhaps the most tragic facet of white-hot rhetoric then and now is that democracy was betrayed; and trust, the linchpin of democracy, was destroyed.

A year ago, Wilmington community leaders such as District Attorney Ben David helped launch a reconciliation campaign to restore interracial trust and move beyond blame and defensiveness toward healing. It is a slow process.

Nationally, Americans need to have a similar conversation to avoid repeating the country's painful racial history. Today's fire-eaters and right-wing bloggers might consider the long-term human and social damage inflicted on Wilmington by an earlier generation of alienated politicians. Then they should tamp down their toxic brew of incitement, hateful language, and subtly disguised racism.

Walter Rodgers, a former senior international correspondent for CNN, writes a biweekly column for the Monitor's weekly print edition.

That's pretty scary stuff in context listening to Glen Beck et al on FUX News calling for a 'revolution' to return us to pre Obama days. Though the shoe has been reversed the same rubbish is being preached by that media network. Perhaps their license to broadcast ought be revoked?

they have the right to be stupid and to preach their crp...but there are also laws against calling for revolution...so it is a judgement call for the authorities...if they prosecute they make martyrs of wingnuts and that gives them credibility...just look at the wingnuts declaring saint sarah is a martyr for the right wing...she was forced out of office by a conspiracy from washington headed by the illuminati and the corvair club ..blah bla blah and all that endless flatulance

I'm afraid it's worse than the article reports. What is not being told is that minorities have been paying attention and are fearful. While militias are being formed by White groups, well armed minority gang members, who have traditionally been enemies for generations, are quietly forming alliances. Minority leaders and clergy are trying very hard to keep a lid on this for obvious reasons. But the Glen Becks and Rush Limbaugh's are stirring up a hornets nest, and getting paid for it.
There is a theme in African American chat groups. " Remember Rosewood Florida ". When people yell " Take back our country ", we ( minorities ) read something different into that. I live in a predominately white neighbourhood. Today I feel fairly safe because I know most of my neighbours. However I have been considering retrieving my guns from my parents house. Those who know me know how I feel about guns, and those who know me know I am a pacifist, but I'm beginning to see my choices as limited. I have a wife, a daughter, and a new grand baby to think about, and we do have wing nuts living on our block.

When this kind of rhetoric can change someone like me into considering violence, that's how bad it has really gotten in America, this is how irresponsible leadership from right thinking conservatives have gotten. And it will get worse if cooler heads don't make an effort to reign in these crazy people. Trying to drum up fear against the administration has created a side affect that could tare this country a part and get a lot of innocent people killed.

Minority Angst Simmers in Silence While White Fear Makes Headlines: The True Social Powder Keg.

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The "racist" threat in the form of "white power" lynchings and intimidations, while not to be minimized, is not the real problem. The real problem is institutional racism. The FAR RIGHT has a political agenda, not to appear racists, while implementing real barriers to black voters. While the FAR RIGHT fronts their group with "black" faces, the real agenda is to block the "black" vote. Because if the black voter came out in force, they would overwhelmingly vote against the FAR RIGHT!

This is accomplished by the "War on Drugs." Surprise! Here is how it works. A black male has a 33% chance of going to jail in the USA. Most of jail time is caused by drugs. We have more blacks in jail (in absolute numbers and as a percentage) in the USA than the South African regime during the height of apartheid. Then add to that the laws that prohibit felons from voting in Florida and certain southern states and we have the old pre civil war rule where we count the population for representation, but restrict the slave with his right to vote. A slave counted as 1/3 of a person, but the FAR RIGHT does not want the slave (or their descendants) to vote at all.

When the FAR RIGHT protests the work of Acorn and similar organizations, the real message is "Black people should not vote." And unfortunately, Black people cooperate. Actual voter fraud in preventing Black people to vote is dwarfed by the apathy of the Black voter.

During the last presidential election, I tried to get many inner city people to register and vote, and I was surprised to find that for every registration that I got, I had the same number or (even a slightly higher number) of people refuse to register and vote.

Of course, not everyone was Black and of course not everyone was a Democrat, but from my small sample I made the following observation: If you want to change this country, you have to do it through registration and voting. The FAR RIGHT will vote in every election. The black voter will not.

When Bush was elected the first time, I began to pay attention to the rhetoric. I began noticing the hate talk popping up locally from people I wouldn't have suspected it from and then on the net.
I began to wonder, if this "revolution" came about, where would I go?
During the Civil War there were northerners fighting for the Confederacy and Southerners fighting for the Union, but the state lines were defined. Now this hate is pretty well spread equally, north and south. Not only will I not know what state to gravitate to, but I will not know who to fight. Or who will be looking to kill me. Because I am white, there is no reason for blacks to trust me, and because I am LEFT politically, the FAR RIGHT will be looking to rid the world of people like me.

This has been on my mind for a long time. I am not good at articulating a "feeling" that is well grounded, much less this ghostly or free floating type of fear. I spent my life never fearing anything or anybody, but now this.
I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say and don't just write it off as left wing nutty-ism.

Move to Australia red. Nobody over here gives much of a shit about stuff like that. North means too bloody hot and South means too freakin cold.

Red, I understand your frustration because I feel it as well. The rural area where the farm is located is pretty 'white', but that doesn't necessarily mean that the people there are racist rednecks in this generation. It's not easy to sort out who to feel you can trust. My current rule of thumb is whether or not they shop at the general store. If they don't then I probably don't want to get better acquainted. Did I mention that the general store is owned by a gay couple?

In Australia, you can be fined for not voting. And if you do it too often, (NOT VOTE), you can go to jail.

BTW if the Sarah becomes the POTUS, Australia is on my short list. (You betcha.)

However, they speak a different language there. They say it is similar to American, but I will need lessons to become fluent, should I decide to escape there.

Right, Mate?