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I Won’t Post a Sticker Just to Make Oppressors Feel Better

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“Forgiveness 2016” Sticker Absolves Our Oppressors of Guilt

By now you’ve probably seen this disgusting bumper sticker depicting a figure outfitted in a Confederate flag kicking a figure in a rainbow flag. The decal’s authenticity as a Trump 2016 has been called into question, but even if it’s not an official piece of merchandise (and I highly doubt that it is), the message is pretty clear, and it’s gross. 

I don’t need to go into any kind of extensive detail describing the type of person who would be willing to put this sticker on their car. We’ve certainly seen them throughout the campaign, and I’ve certainly written my fair share about them. 

In the recent days, though, there’s been another drawing that’s surfaced that’s been shared widely on Facebook and other social media sites. It depicts the same figures, except the rainbow-clad person is embracing the Confederate figure with the title, “Forgiveness 2016.”

forgive.jpg 

My response to this new graphic? Very simply, it’s “no.”  

I get that the intention is good. I get that people want to cross lines and build bridges and all of that happy touchy-feely emotionally-satisfying mumbo jumbo. It’s also incredibly naive and abusive. 

For decades LGBT people have been tasked with forgiving those who want to cause us real harm. We’ve had to fight (and we’re still fighting) for the right to simply live in happiness and safety – and with every battle won we’re supposed to forgive those who worked to harm us, without any repentance or apology on their part. 

The people represented by the Confederate figure are abusers and oppressors. They have dedicated themselves to tearing apart our families, to imprisoning us for existing, to demonizing us for using the bathrooms, for inflicting violence upon us, and so much more. One need not have a doctorate in history to understand the horrific intentions and impact this group has had on LGBT now and in the past. 

If someone who was anti-LGBT wants to apologize for all of the harm they’ve caused us – if they want to actively take ownership of the damage they’ve done and re-dedicate themselves to undoing it? I will gladly sit down with them and work towards forgiveness, without a doubt. But true repentance takes work. It doesn’t happen over night, and it has to come with the understanding that much of the harm that’s been caused can never be undone. 

Screen_Shot_2016-10-19_at_10.23.12_AM.jpgTo expect LGBT people to blindly forgive those who cause us harm simply because it will make our oppressors feel better about themselves? Absolutely not. We’ve been conditioned over the past few years to believe that it’s upon us to make amends with those who wish to harm us. We’ve told ourselves that in order to not be “sore winners” we have to bury some of our pride and welcome those who hate us back into our lives. 

The problem is, though, that they’ve never truly repented. In fact, they’ve continued to come after us. The same people who were fighting against decriminalizing homosexuality were the same folks fighting against allowing gay people to be teachers, were the same folks fighting against civil unions, were the same folks fighting marriage equality, are the same folks fighting against trans rights. 

We continue to forgive our abusers and oppressors and they continue to abuse and oppress us, because we think it will make them like us better.

The day someone comes to me with a true change of heart – in true repentance and with a dedicated mandate to work to undo the legacy they created – I will be there with patient and open arms. 

In the meantime, though, I’m not going to post a sticker simply to make someone who hates me feel better about themselves. It’s not fair to them and it’s certainly not fair to me. 

 

Robbie Medwed is an Atlanta-based LGBT activist and educator. His column appears here weekly. Follow him on Twitter: @rjmedwed.

 

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‘Might Use it to Vote’: Kudlow and Blackburn Fearmonger Biden Giving Undocumented Green Cards

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May 15, 2024

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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Fox News Business host Larry Kudlow are promoting a false, fearmongering conspiracy theory President Joe Biden will be handing out green cards to undocumented immigrants in an effort to help them vote. Their remarks come as ex-president Donald Trump, running to retake the White House, has amped up his anti-immigrant focus.

Kudlow on Wednesday said he worries “a lot” that President Biden will be giving green cards to undocumented immigrants who will use them to vote. Senator Blackburn agreed, telling the former Trump National Economic Council Director, “they’re gonna try to vote.”

Green card holders are not U.S. citizens, and only U.S. citizens can vote, with a handful of exceptions in local jurisdictions, but only U.S, citizens can vote in federal elections. Presenting a green card as “proof” of citizenship in states that require it to vote would have the exact opposite effect, proving ineligibility.

Kudlow and Blackburn falsely suggested both undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers who are legally in the United States, may be voting using green cards, with Sen. Blackburn increasing the fearmongering by falsely implying all undocumented immigrants are dangerous.

READ MORE: ‘Long History of Playing Games’: Biden Campaign Shuts Down Trump’s Tantrum

“I mean, I don’t know, is Biden – he’s not going to address any of that,” Kudlow told Blackburn. “He’s not going to really reform asylum policy. He’s gonna give everybody [a] green card. That’s my biggest concern. As you probably know, ma’am, you know, you have a green card or some kind of temporary visa, you might use it to vote. You might use it to vote, even though you’re not a citizen. That worries me a lot.”

“Well, it should,” the Tennessee Republican who has a history of fear-mongering, and has been accused of promoting white Christian nationalism, told Kudlow.

“These are really bad people and your audience needs to think of this in terms of the population of a city of that size, of one and a half million people, and then you’re so right there,” Blackburn said. “This administration is saying we’re going to give you IDs this summer. We’re going to give you work permits if you’re a[n asylum] parolee, what are they gonna do, they’re gonna try to vote.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kudlow replied.

Watch below or at this link.

READ MORE: Johnson Promotes Making ‘Crime a Crime Again’ After Standing Up for Trump at Courthouse

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‘Long History of Playing Games’: Biden Campaign Shuts Down Trump’s Tantrum

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16 hours ago

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May 15, 2024

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The Biden campaign on Wednesday proposed a series of two debates with very specific rules, including shutting off the microphone of the candidate not answering a question, and Donald Trump quickly accepted the invitations, including the stipulations, before turning around and proposing an additional series of debates.

In a stinging response the Biden campaign rejected Trump’s proposal.

“Donald Trump has a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all – which he’s done repeatedly in all three cycles he’s run for president,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon in a statement received by NCRM. “He said he would debate President Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace. In fact, he’s said and posted it dozens of times with varying degrees of comprehension and basic grammar. President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms. No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up.”

Politico warned Wednesday afternoon the “agreement does not ensure that either of the debates will happen. In fact, shortly after the campaigns agreed to two debates, the Trump campaign proposed two more.”

READ MORE: Johnson Promotes Making ‘Crime a Crime Again’ After Standing Up for Trump at Courthouse

Early Wednesday morning President Joe Biden posted a video to social media, saying, “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice.”

Biden also ridiculed Trump’s schedule, which currently has him in court four days a week.

“I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Biden mocked.

Barely hours later, Biden, keeping the same tone, posted to social media: “I’ve also received and accepted an invitation to a debate hosted by ABC on Tuesday, September 10th. Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation. I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”

Trump on his social media website wrote, “It is my great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST PRESIDENT in the History of the United States and a true Threat to Democracy, on June 27th. Likewise, I accept the ABC News Debate against Crooked Joe on September 10th. Thank you, DJT!”

Also on his Truth Social page Wednesday, Trump had written, “I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!'”

CNN’s Kristin Holmes reported Wednesday afternoon the Trump campaign is “a little bit irked right now, the fact that Joe Biden somehow took over the debate narrative despite the fact that Donald Trump has been using this as a narrative at all his campaign rallies.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Why Are One in Five GOP Voters Still Voting for Nikki Haley Over Donald Trump?

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Johnson Promotes Making ‘Crime a Crime Again’ After Standing Up for Trump at Courthouse

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18 hours ago

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May 15, 2024

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, promoting a California sheriff who was once a member of a far-right extremist antigovernment group that has been called “instrumental” in the January 6 insurrection, on Wednesday demanded making “crimes criminal again” just one day after traveling to the Criminal Courts Building in lower Manhattan to stand up for Donald Trump. The indicted ex-president faces 34 felony charges in his election subversion, business records falsification, and “hush money” trial.

“We’ve got to make crimes criminal again,” Speaker Johnson told reporters at a “Back the Blue” Police Week news conference Wednesday, paraphrasing Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. “I mean, it’s just common sense. And I think everybody in the country who looks at this objectively understands that anybody who’s not involved in the radical woke progressive left understands clearly that you gotta maintain the peace.”

Sheriff Bianco had been invited to speak at the House GOP event. In 2021, NPR reported he “defended” his membership in the Oath Keepers extremist group, which he insisted stands “for protecting the Constitution.”

READ MORE: Johnson Would Contest 2024 Election Results Under the Same ‘Circumstances’

“If you love America, if you’re proud to be an American and you support the Constitution, you are labeled as an extremist,” Bianco said.

Speaking at the House GOP Back the Blue event Wednesday, Bianco launched an attack on the left.

“Over the past decade or so, the rule of law has been severely eroded by a sick and twisted progressive social experiment, fraudulently called criminal justice reform. In this alternate universe, law enforcement officers are the bad guys,  criminals are somehow victims of society. We cannot have a country without respect for law enforcement and adherence to the law and order of our country. There must be consequences for criminal behavior. It is time to make crime a crime again.”

The Speaker on Wednesday also slammed Attorney General Merrick Garland, declaring, “the Department of Justice has clearly been politicized. Some of us consider this actually to be a weaponized DOJ and Merrick Garland is in charge. He is the Attorney General at the top, and I think that they have, they have used our system of justice against political opponents, of course, the most prominent of which is Donald J. Trump. I was with him yesterday in Manhattan, and many in the press have asked, ‘Why did you go there?’ Because I’m a former litigator, I’m a I’m an attorney. This is an egregious violation. a travesty of justice. They are using the judicial system for political purposes and this is something that framers warned us against.”

The Associated Press on Tuesday reported Speaker Johnson had become “the highest-ranking Republican to show up at court, embrace the former president’s claims of political persecution and attack the U.S. system of justice.”

READ MORE: ‘Grave Danger’: Trump’s ‘Raw Display’ of Power at Court Alarms Conservative

“It was a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker amplifying Trump’s defense and turning the Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy,” the AP continued. “Johnson, who is second in line for the presidency, called the court system ‘corrupt.'”

“The speaker is leading a growing list of Republican lawmakers who are criticizing the American judicial system as they rally to Trump’s side, appearing at the courthouse to defend the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Trump is accused of having arranged secret payments to a porn actress to hide negative stories during his successful 2016 campaign for president.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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