American Barbarism

Rudra Sen

Jacob Blake, Jr. was shot in the back, in cold blood, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with his three children looking on – for the “crime” of attempting to unlock his car door to see about his kids.  This comes after a summer of millions of people rising in protest and those in power – including even the racist-in-chief Donald Trump – crying crocodile tears about the police murder of George Floyd and vowing to make reforms. People in Kenosha rose up in a righteous rebellion against this outrage. Police used heavy tear gas and other repression against them.  Police also refused to comment on the shooting or even release the name of the culprit who shot Jacob Blake, Jr. People around the country expressed shock and anger that this could happen yet again, so blatantly and so quickly… and some people in some cities also began protests against the brutal attempted murder of Jacob Blake, Jr. Armed white fascist thugs began to roam the streets of Kenosha, heavily armed in full combat gear, in the guise of “defending property.”  These thugs have been attacking protesters for months now, encouraged by Trump and growing bolder and more violent by the week.  As fascist thugs provoked and messed with protesters last night, two protesters were killed and one was wounded.  Donald Trump, the President of USA and fascist-in-chief, took the occasion of opening his “convention” to say that “Second Amendment people” – that is, the very kind of thugs who have been attacking demonstrators in Kenosha – could “take care” of Portland in a day. Not even 36 hours later the blood of protesters ran in the gutters of Kenosha.  The fascists and racists, led by Trump, are not just escalating their threats but making good on them.  They are showing what another term for Donald Trump will mean.  If this fascist dog gets another term, either through “winning” the election or preventing it or stealing it, this will mean the slamming back of Black people and other people of colour to a situation even worse – qualitatively worse – than today, one in which people will have no rights whatsoever and the threat of genocide will be real and present.  And this will be just one of the horrible crimes that will go on far worse than it does today, far worse than people can imagine.  The fight against the outrageous police murder of Black and other oppressed peoples and institutionalized racism on the one hand, and the fight to drive out this fascist regime on the other, are not separate fights but linked together like blood and bones. That masses of people of America need to flood the streets beginning now, and on September 5 come together in motions demanding the immediate ouster of this criminal regime and determined not to let this danger to humanity get another term. Unfortunately, In India, we also have a fascist regime which openly supports these heinous acts of its US counterpart by shamelessly proclaiming “Ab ki bar, Trump Sarkar''!

The continuing terror and murder carried out by the police particularly against Black people as well as Latinos and Native Americans is not fundamentally because the US police are racist—although, speaking of the US police overall, that is certainly true. The fact that the police are racist is itself an expression and a function of the fact that terror and murder against Black people and other people of colour is required by this system—is necessary in order to maintain the “order” of this all-around oppressive system—and this would be much more difficult to carry out if the police were not racist. From the beginning of this country, white supremacy has been poured into the foundation and built into the institutions and the ongoing functioning of this system. This is not simply because those who are in the seats of power and deciding government policy are racist, though that is true of most of them. It is fundamentally because of the nature of the system itself and the historically-evolved requirements and dynamics of this system of capitalism. The horrific murders of George Floyd and Jacob Blake, Jr. prove that racist oppression will continue so long as people are living under the domination of this system of capitalism. From the beginning of this country, white supremacy has been poured into the foundation and built into the institutions and the ongoing functioning of this system. This country was founded on the enslavement of masses of African people, as well as the genocidal subjugation of Native Americans and theft of their land. This required the propagation of racism to “justify” all the horrific oppression. Then, when the Civil War broke out over the question of slavery, and even when slavery was abolished as a result of that Civil War, given that white supremacy had been, and remained, such a crucial part of the “glue” holding the country together, the only way to “put it back together,” on the foundation of the capitalist system, was to once again forcefully assert white supremacy. Therefore, this racist oppression will never be, can never be, eliminated under this system that exists in and rules America. 

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Frontier
Sep 8, 2020