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Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi is a racist. And anyone who supports Reeves’ audacity to declare April Confederate Heritage Month is a treasonous, unpatriotic white supremacist sympathizer — regardless of their racial identity.
These Benedict Arnolds are unworthy to be considered Americans and, therefore, should have their voting rights stripped.
After all, didn’t we learn in school that the Confederates were the bad guys who rebelled against the American Constitution over the right to own enslaved people, campaigning under the guise of “state rights?”
So, why a Confederate Heritage Month?
In declaring such bigotry, Reeves immediately alienated and offended 37.6% of his state’s population and their ancestors who suffered under Confederate rule.
To be culturally and racially inclusive, Reeves could have declared April Southern Heritage Month in Mississippi instead of his white supremacy bullsh*t.
He erred in that Southern Blacks played a crucial role in the economic and cultural development of the South and America’s overall road to prosperity and position of influence in the world.
The irony is – had it not been for the free labor and resiliency of Black people toiling in Southern American fields, Tate Reeves may have never had the privilege and caucasity of engaging in such racist foolishness.
His actions are not only arrogant but speak to the moral dilemma that plagues his judgment. Hence, he is unfit and unprofessional to serve such a high office in a state where more than half of its multiracial population wants to be ‘woke’ and less racist.
For example, in 2020, two-thirds of the Mississippi state’s House and Senate voted to change its state flag from the Confederate battle flag to a Magnolia flag.
That was a “woke” action taken by Republicans whose common sense landed them on the right side of that historical and moral argument. Yes, the symbol is offensive to African Americans and those aiming for virtue.
It was a sign that the state’s government had finally chosen to be inclusive rather than being racially offensive.
For once, Mississippi had chosen empathy with its state’s Black citizens.
Nevertheless, the culture war remains.
The movement to preserve Confederate names on school buildings continues. And the race to strip school curriculums that mention the ills of white supremacy’s violent American past is in full effect.
Politicians like Governor Tate Reeves and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are the new generals of America’s cultural war.
This year it’s Mississippi’s governor commemorating treasonous behavior; next month, it’s Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and the rest of the southern Klan.
And although these bigoted Republican politicians appear harmless on the surface, their toxic behavior is the most dangerous cancer we’ve experienced since January 6, the southern Ku Klux Klan raids that wiped out small Black epicenters like the Greenwood District in Oklahoma, and the actual Civil War itself.
Some will say that these are simple words and empty gestures to appease their political basis.
Airheads like Marjorie Taylor Greene will say: Words don’t harm people.
However, these wanna-be Christians fail to remember that the scripture tells us that life and death may be carried from our tongues. What we say does, in fact, matter.
So, I am choosing to hold these politicians accountable for their words and actions because I may not have that right tomorrow.
Honoring the Confederacy by declaring April Confederate Heritage Month is anti-American and antithetical to what the American constitution represents with the addition of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
Lastly, I fear America is on a slippery slope, with political violence seemingly being the only possible exit strategy for Confederate and white supremacy sympathizers who do not wish to see an inclusive nation.
We are in such dangerous times that if we do not course correct and keep loud and proud racists and ignorant people whom Republicans choose to use from powerful seats of government, we may lose it all.
To stop this racist cancer from spreading, we must vote like our way of life depends on it; because it does.
Excellent analysis. It was important that you added the most enormous fact always denied, that 400 years of free labor created enormous wealth for the white rulers of these states. The expropriation of these assets cannot be dismissed by claiming its in the past. That wealth never evaporated. The celebration of Confederate Heritage, is a celebration of this theft of wealth and capital from those denied any share of that wealth their families created. Racism should no longer be celebrated.