Many years ago black Americans dared not speak out. They were afraid to demonstrate. They were afraid to write letters to their newspapers. Or stick signs of protest on their lawns. Or voice opinions at work.
Even popular black entertainers and athletes did not speak up. They were afraid. Most black Americans were afraid. With good reason.
They were afraid because doing any of the above could cost them their jobs. Or their property. Or their businesses. Or their lives. This was true throughout the country. It was especially true in the deep South.
Black Americans knew they did not enjoy the same freedoms of speech and expression that white Americans did. They knew that authorities would not back them up, despite the laws. The justice system was rigged against them. They knew there was also an immense body of unwritten laws and behavior that worked against them, kept them in their place.
Since then the country has come a long way to end that vile discrimination. And to end the fears that permeated the lives of black Americans.
Alas, in the last several years we have returned to such fears. The source of the fears are like wasps buzzing in a hive. When the hive gets poked the wasps swarm and attack.
The fears now, however, are held mostly by white Americans. As well as many black Americans. And especially by conservative Americans of any color. These people fear the likes and destruction of Black Lives Matter, Antifa and other violent groups. They fear countless Soros-backed organizations. They fear retribution from friends and family whose thinking is influenced by some or any of the above.
Professors fear losing their jobs. Or being rejected for tenure. Because they express the wrong opinions. A pro soccer player got fired for his wife’s tweet. A church in Birmingham sacked its pastor because he “liked” tweets that claimed Democrats were hypocrites.
Oklahoma State’s football coach got caught wearing a tee-shirt of a conservative broadcast network. A tee-shirt. The internet mob swarmed on him like tormented hornets. They called for him to be fired. They called conservatives deranged, dangerous and the bottom rung of society. They claimed conservatives were not fit to be teachers, police, doctors, lawyers or attorneys. They said a conservative police officer was the equivalent of a member of the KKK.
This massive internet bullying was sparked by a coach wearing a tee-shirt. The coach was forced to publicly apologize, in fear of losing his job.
Editors at the New York Times lost their jobs. For allowing a US senator to express an opinion that clashed with those of staff journalists. A Philadelphia Inquirer editor resigned after a blizzard of protests over a headline. A Vermont school principal posted an innocuous opinion on her personal Facebook page. Her superintendent branded it “outright racist” and sacked her.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago cut ties with a University of Chicago professor. Because he opined that Black Lives Matter “torpedoed itself” by backing the “defund the police” movement.
It is no exaggeration to suggest that millions of folks fear retaliation if they express unpopular or un-woke opinions.
Fear explains why we have seen so much hypocricy by politicians and media. Governor Cuomo is a prime example of the hypocricy. He rails against street parties. And threatens to yank the liquor licenses of restaurants and bars that violate the virus restrictions. Yet he ignores the BLM protestors who jam together by the thousands. He even spoke, mask-less, at one of the protests.
Why such hypocricy? No mystery. He fears punishment, direct or indirect, from the BLM forces. This is why mayors and police chiefs have caved to the rioters. This is why district attorneys don’t prosecute them. They fear the punishment from the mobs.
The story is the same with Big Media. One example is NBC News. It virtually praised the packed crowd that demonstrated for black trans folks in Brooklyn. Its reporters made no mention of the Covid virus. None.
Fifteen minutes later NBC called Trump’s upcoming rally “extraordinarily dangerous”. Because it would pack crowds together and make the spread of the virus more likely. Why the double-standard? No mystery. NBC fears punishment if it criticizes BLM. Just as Cuomo and other politicians do. Just as the New York Times editors did.
Mayor de Blasio’s forces weld shut the gates to playgrounds. To keep kids out. Kids who barely register among virus cases. Meanwhile, his forces ignore the rioters and demonstrators. His district attorney will not prosecute thugs who defaced St Patrick’s Cathedral. Will not charge hundreds of rioters. His police department has caved and closed down its 600-officer plain clothes division.
Why the different treatment, the different actions and reactions? No mystery. The mayor fears punishment from the woke media and mobs. The mob wants police defunded. The mob wants zero criticism of BLM. The politicians and other leaders bow before their demands. Out of fear.
Britain’s Nigel Farage: “It seems that the real threat we face now is a genuine threat to free speech. I have never seen so many people so scared to write and say and speak and broadcast what they think.” He warns that fear is “dominating absolutely everything.”
He reminds us that if you declare unpopular opinions political activists will vilify you online. If you are in business they will agitate against you in the street. “Soros-funded organizations will go directly to advertisers…”
This is exactly what they did to advertisers on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show and Tucker Carlson’s television commentary.
Farage describes how London’s Royal Holloway University is purging its own library collection to combat “structural racism”. (Not the only library to do this. This may come to a library near you.) As he warns, the book-burning has now started.
We have long rebuked communist dictatorships in the USSR, North Korea, Cuba and China. Because they punished or killed anyone who spoke out. A citizen who penned a nasty criticism to a newspaper could expect to lose his job, if not his freedom. Right now, millions of Americans dare not speak out. For fear of similar retribution. Women who wear white on Sundays in Havana get punished. Well, try wearing a MAGA hat and tee-shirt in many of our inner cities. If you are alone, there is a good chance you will attract insult and maybe violence.
Various revolutionists proclaimed “Power to the people.” Contained in that power is the power to punish. And the power to censor. The power to intimidate and damage. And the power to destroy. You don’t believe me? You think I exaggerate? Tell me then what you think will happen to an inner-city business that paints its window with the message ALL LIVES MATTER.
Good chance in New York and Minneapolis that business will suffer the same fate as it would in Beijing or Havana. The same fate it would have suffered 80 years ago in Mississippi.
I fear for our nation. Because we have become a nation of fear.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Find Tom at tomasinmorgan.com. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.