Reverend Al started things off, describing where we start t0 address the "toxic stew" of white supremacy, guns, and a "permissive Internet culture" for sharing the toxicity and hate. He said we need to change the tone nationally, and relayed his first thoughts when he started hearing the news out of Buffalo.
President Biden needs to call a summit meeting of Black, Jewish, Asian leaders and sit down and talk about the growing problem of hate crimes, and that this government will not stand by and allow this to happen.
The tone needs to be such that folks like the perpetrator know that the federal government is watching them, will not tolerate the hate that's being spread, and "will come down on them." And it's not just against Blacks, but Jews, Asians, LGBTQ, Latinos - "it's hate everywhere."
Cardenas was tasked with talking about how there aren't "enough leaders on the right" to call out the hatemongers.
Listen, there used to be political parties...there used to be serious politicians who would step up and speak out against these kinds of things. When David Duke ran for office, hey, I spoke out as party chairman. Others did. It was well known that he was an individual on his own, not part of a family. Now, it's to the contrary. People keep silent, and that silence is interpreted in ways that are not healthy. I'll tell you this. I'm frustrated in America that we're so incapable of doing things.
He thought, after George Floyd was killed and we had all the demonstrations, things would change. He thought the same after Parkland, and the Pulse nightclub shootings.
But when you look at this, the frustration in America has to do with the fact that horrific things are happening, government's not doing anything, and political leaders are not doing anything. And that's what the calamity is.
Parker said "the other component of this, of course, is guns." Tone matters, as Sharpton said; it matters "incredibly."
But then you look at how all of these hate crimes are committed, and they are all committed with guns. And this is an area where Congress has been able to do absolutely nothing. There will be – you saw people you were interviewing talking about sensible gun reform. But you look at Sandy Hook. You look at kindergarteners massacred. You look at Mother Emanuel, a shooting in a church. You look at what happened in Las Vegas at the country music concert. Guns have now touched every aspect of society, and Congress has been able to do absolutely nothing.
Page spoke of the feeling of helplessness we have, after each of these incidents, and said "there are, in fact, things that we could do."
Law enforcement could do more to surveil these toxic sites. Social media companies could do more to bring them down. The news media could do more to cover them. Lawmakers could do more to find some kind of common ground on guns. And Americans could stand up and say, "These shootings, these hate shootings do not reflect America. This is a radical fringe." Americans need to stand up and say, "We won't stand for this anymore."
Bai, who covered Columbine back in 1999, said these mass shootings are "now a part of the culture. It's a recurring thing." And while he agrees with Parker that "Congress has done absolutely nothing," he might disagree with Reverend Al.
...I don't think – and we may disagree about this. I'm certain, you know, I can have a disagreement with a lot of people – I don't think this is a more hateful, more racist country than it was 25 years ago, certainly not 50 years ago. I do think we have a segment of our political leadership that has emboldened and legitimized a very extreme and dangerous segment of our political dialogue. And they have to take responsibility for that. There's a culpability for that. And it is tied to the violence.
That's the problem, then: that no one takes responsibility for legitimizing the hate; or, the problem is, it's "an organizing tool", said What's-his-name; or, the problem is that it's been "normalized." That last one's what Reverend Al thinks.
You have to remember, this is an 18-year-old that is accused in Buffalo. When he was 15, Charlottesville happened. The president of the United States at that time said, "There are good people, or fine people, on both sides." So, this gives them comfort... a tone was set while this guy was a kid, being impressionable, that this is all right to be marching, saying, "Jews will not replace me." That's what he saw at 15 years old. And he saw it from the White House.
Parker reminded everyone that Joe Biden ran for president because of what happened in Charlottesville. "And now, you look at what's happening, and it feels like nothing has changed. The culture is the exact same."
Another thing that's the same is that "...a whole bunch of Republicans in Congress" scream about free speech whenever anyone tries to deal with this kind of domestic terrorism, according to What's-his-name.
Page said that free speech is important - but, she said, it's "not a license to endorse things like replacement theory, this terrible, terrible theory that there's an elite, many of them Jews, trying to replace America with a Black and Brown nation to dilute the power of white people. That is un-American."
Bai, who said he's "as close to a free speech absolutist as you're probably going to find," believes that "free speech is threatened in a lot of corners of society," but that speech "demands leadership."
When you have a society that is free, you also have to have a society with leaders who stand up for morality and for the right instincts in the culture so that you don't take things that are on the margins of the society, as you say, and bring them into the mainstream and legitimize them. We have failed on that count. And we continue to fail. And these are the consequences.
It's "now a part of the culture." "We're incapable of doing things." "The government isn't doing anything." "Political leaders aren't doing anything." "Nothing has changed." "We have failed. And we continue to fail." "Americans need to stand up and say, we won't stand for this anymore." "And these are the consequences."
It's hard to disagree with them, isn't it?
See you around campus.
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