From Buffalo, New York, to Uvalde, Texas, it all comes from the top.
It comes from the top and trickles down to us in bullets and death. That’s the reality in a capitalist country that glorifies murder by drone of people we’ve never heard of, diminishing life into a decision of U.S. corporate interests.
War is a game that all of the Democrats and Republicans are playing – all who voted for more high-tech weapons of death sent to Ukraine, where many will land in the hands of those whose ideology promotes killing in the name of white supremacy.
And the games continue in Somalia, where more African lives will be sacrificed to the weapons carried by U.S. troops being sent there now – more racism at work and, as U.N. research shows, more extremists created, a byproduct of Pentagon terrorism.
The almost $100 billion sent to Ukraine since 2004, first for regime change, now for war with Russia, has made it a manufacturing plant for Nazi propaganda by the likes of the Azov Regiment and Right Sector.
According to an in-depth article by Die Zeit in Germany, neo-Nazi and white supremacist international networks are growing and becoming more dangerous, and Ukraine has become their center. Their Black Sun symbol was not only on the white supremacist shooter in Buffalo, but can be seen tattooed on cops here as well.
2021 was a record year for deadly police shootings since the Washington Post started keeping track in 2015. The disproportionate number of Black and Brown victims tells another story of white supremacy spread through state bodies of repression.
Those who fall victim at an impressionable age to an ideology that makes them feel powerful and provides an outlet to blame others for the problems of capitalist alienation and economic despair are watching and listening. And some will act.
As tragic as those actions are, the racist institutions of the capitalist state will use them to continue their proliferation of violence and white supremacy.
Why are there no common-sense safety mechanisms in place that would make it harder to acquire assault weapons without some type of background check, evaluation, etc.? Because it gets in the way of profits and support from certain right-wing and racist forces. And it’s the ruling class that supplies the racist police forces nationally with the most dangerous assault weapons. Police and military weapons often find their way into the hands of white supremacists.
The indoctrination of youth into hate, violence and white supremacy is not an accident. It is a consequence of putting profits over society’s responsibility to protect our youth from fascist propaganda that should not be allowed to build and recruit amongst those whom society has failed. There needs to be a financial and structural commitment to fighting racism, white supremacy and the glorification of state-sponsored violence, including the numerous recruiting ads by the military. A federal requirement to teach history that includes the contributions of African and other non-European peoples is also a necessary step.
The resources and funding now going to imperialist war should instead be used for teachers, social workers and healthcare providers to be unencumbered in their most vital work — protecting our youth from those who would destroy their lives and end their potential to become loving, productive human beings.
What is needed is an end to the culture of militarism, war and violence, and the acceptance and encouragement of state-sanctioned killings of Black and Brown peoples by the Border Patrol and police. What is needed now is for working people to decide what type of procedures are necessary to keep their children safe, not only from mass shooting incidents but from law enforcement as well. This needs to be done while we build a movement to get at the root cause of this violence.
It’s curious that mass shooters like Dylan Roof in Charleston, South Carolina, and Payton Gendron in Buffalo — both white — were taken into custody alive, but not Salvador Ramos in Uvalde. Whatever the reason, that resonates with history.
It’s also curious that the fascist Alex Jones is allowed to continue to spread racism and anti-trans lies – this time falsely blaming a transgender woman for the shooting in Texas. Jones’ right to “free speech” is vigorously enforced, just as the Azov Regiment’s is on Facebook, while anti-fascist voices are silenced.
But it all comes from and is encouraged from … the top. And it will only stop when capitalism, the generator of white supremacy and violence, is toppled.
John Parker is the Socialist Unity Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket.
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