White Folks’ Masters – What About The Ruling Elite?
Something brought to light by the advent of Trump’s America that goes back quite a ways is the problem of white folks identifying with their capitalist masters and mistakenly believing they are their friends and allies. I don’t mean to minimize the horrors of the antebellum plantation system by comparing the masters of the Cotton […]
Who are We Fooling this Martin Luther King Jr Day?
Martin Luther King’s birthday is not only a time to honor Dr. King’s legacy, but also to reflect on the status of racial injustice in our country. That reflection once again reveals a sorry picture this year. I thought things would change in time—that the undeniable racial injustice in our society would gradually subside—but in […]
Distorting the Reality of Ukraine
President Trump’s calamitous distortions come so quickly that I barely have time to scribble my thoughts down before a new absurdity bursts forth across the airwaves and cyberspace. As a guy who’s been around for almost 200 years—a son of the Cotton Kingdom and the Confederacy’s favorite poster boy (you can read all about it […]
A Woman President
As someone who lived in a time when women weren’t even allowed to vote (the 19thAmendment giving women the right to vote wasn’t ratified until 1920!), let alone run for President, I applaud all of the current female candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose President Trump in 2020. How fitting that we may elect […]
Is Kamala Harris Black?
Among the latest Trump-family-induced, race-related controversies is the issue of whether Kamala Harris is really “Black,” whether her Jamaican heritage disqualifies her from being a legitimate “Black” American. This raises an astounding number of ironies and reminds me of the antiquated beliefs expounded in the literature of “passing,” in which a character wishes to appear […]
The Legacy of Slavery
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the legacy of slavery, and this son of a Cotton Kingdom slaveholder wants to be sure everyone understands the gravity of the issue. I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of people use the term slavery like a buzz word without really knowing what it entailed […]
Abolishing the Electoral College
They’re already talking about the possibility of President Trump winning a second term despite losing the popular vote; supposedly he could lose by as many as 5 million votes and still win the election. (That’s even more than Hilary Clinton’s 2016 margin of 3 million.) The explanation is that Trump’s “base” is concentrated in many […]
The Economy Ain’t So Good!
Am I the only one who’s sick and tired of hearing how wonderful the economy is doing? Okay, maybe according to the government’s obsolete methodology unemployment is at its lowest level in fifty years, but what does that really mean? It certainly doesn’t make allowances for the fact that many people are forced to work […]
Robert E. Lee’s Skill as a General is Irrelevant
President Trump is just plain wrong about Robert E. Lee’s skill as a general. Believe me, if there’s anything this former Confederate officer can speak to with authority, it’s “Bobby” Lee’s skill as a general. He was my commanding general and I owe my fame to his dubbing me the “gallant Pelham,” but I don’t […]
Blackface
Am I the only one who can’t believe Governor Northam of Virginia still hasn’t resigned?
A National Emergency?
If you recall, even President Trump admitted that his so-called “national emergency” at our southern border is no emergency at all—he didn’t have to do it now; he could do it at any time. No kidding, pal! How about never? The only national emergency as I see it is dealing with America’s fanatical, hysterical never-ending […]
Ralph Northam Should Resign
I realize that everyone and their grandmother are demanding that Ralph Northam resign as governor of Virginia (based on having posed either in black face or in a KKK hood), but I can’t resist piling on the fray. First the silly dude goes through the usual routine of claiming he was young and apologizes for […]
Fear of “the Other”
All this hysteria about building a border wall (well, President Trump’s hysteria, anyway) is mostly based on fear and hatred of “the other.”
The Confederate Flag
There was recently an article in The Guardian entitled “Pride and Prejudice? The Americans Who Fly the Confederate Flag” that is worthy of attention.
Three Rustbelt States
Lately I’m reminded of one of Abraham Lincoln’s famous quotes during the Civil War, a time that is still fresh in my mind given how I sacrificed my mortal life fighting on the wrong side of that awful conflict.
Exploiting the Murder of Mollie Tibbetts
Even I, the Gallant Pelham, the same dude who has been railing about America’s disgraceful treatment of the “other” for over 150 years (if only recently on the Internet!), can hardly believe that President Trump, not to mention a sizeable contingent of the Republican Party, is using Mollie Tibbetts’s murder by an illegal Mexican immigrant to stir up his “base” and gain support for his ridiculous border wall.
Charlottesville a Year Later (Part 3)
When I last left off I was talking about the impact of globalization and the “new economy” on the surge of racism in our country, but let’s not forget technology and the automation it’s spawned.
Laura Ingraham “Dog Whistle”
What about that awful woman on Fox News, Laura Ingraham? Even if I usually disagreed with her, there was a time when I respected her as a legitimate conservative voice.
Charlottesville a Year Later (Part 2)
When I last left off, I was talking about what’s behind the near explosion of racially motivated hatred in our country.
Charlottesville a Year Later
A year has passed since the tragic events in Charlottesville, Virginia that truly shocked a good portion of our country. The bad news is that Donald Trump is still our President, and white nationalist groups are still on the march.