US President Joe Biden’s participation in commemorating the centenary of the so-called “Tulsa massacre” in Oklahoma, in which hundreds of African Americans were killed, is a reminder of the most heinous massacre that has been ignored for decades by American politicians.
The memory of the “Tulsa massacre” came days after the first anniversary of the killing of George Floyd, whose video was published, which caused a movement of protests that included various parts of the United States.
Americans do not deny the persistence of many racist practices, and a poll conducted by Monmouth University indicated that 71% of white Americans considered racism and discrimination against blacks to be major and real problems within the United States.
Biden is trying to unite Americans towards rejecting racist practices and police abuses against minorities, especially with men of African descent; However, Biden’s efforts collide with a sharp polarization that was largely contributed by the legacy of former Republican President Donald Trump, and was deepened by the progressiveness of the left-wing in the Democratic Party.
Al Jazeera Net met 3 Republicans in Florida who voted for President Trump during the 2016 and 2020 elections, and listened to their views on America’s suffering today from racism and polarization.
Why am I apologizing today?
Todd Hathaway, a real estate developer in the Villages area in central Florida, says in his interview with Al Jazeera Net about the legacy of American racism and the great political polarization that separates Democrats and Republicans, “My great-grandfather owned slaves… Yes, this really happened in the 18th century.” When this practice was legitimate and legal, and he did not break any law.”
Hathaway adds, “What my grandfather did was done by many of the founding fathers of the American Republic. Did you know that George Washington, the first president of the United States, who is revered by all Americans apart from party affiliation, owned 132 African slaves before he became president, and kept them during the years of his rule And he continued to hold them after his presidency ended in 1797 until his death in 1799?
Hathaway, 70, stated that he voted for former President Donald Trump twice, despite being sure of the former president’s immorality and circumvention of the law; “But it was expressing what rages in my chest and the hearts of millions in the southern states, who do not welcome the idea of retroactive societal accountability for events that occurred during the past centuries and decades.”
Don’t tell me George Floyd was a saintيس
Although most Republicans were satisfied with the conviction of the white policeman, Derek Chauvin, for placing his knee on George Floyd’s neck, which led to his death, many Republicans refused to blame Floyd’s killing more than as an individual act that no one approved of.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Nick Copley, a building contractor in Central Florida, said, “Do I agree with what happened to Floyd? Of course I strongly reject what happened, as he is a victim of completely unjustified white police violence .. Are you happy with the conviction of Policeman Chauvin and the possibility of him serving the rest His life behind bars? Yes, he deserves it, but do I see George Floyd – as the liberal media want to portray him – as a saint? The answer is no, Floyd is a victim; but he is not a saint, he was a criminal.”
Copley pointed out that Floyd has a documented criminal record in the trade of all kinds of drugs during the past 20 years, and we also forget that he was trying to use a forged $ 20 note, and this is what prompted the shop owner to call the police.
The “Culture of Cancellation” to Silence Our Voices
Alex Lomberg, the owner of an accounting firm, focused on the spread of calls to cancel the American past through what became known as the Cancel Culture.
Since Trump came to power in 2016, the calls of the progressive movement in the Democratic Party have increased, in addition to the major social media platforms, to reject and attack some historical practices and political positions, and to adhere to a single opinion rejecting any substantive discussion, which represents attempts to cancel the other and control the limits and scope of freedom of expression. Opinion granted by the Constitution to all Americans.
The three considered that there is a continuous effort by progressives and social media to threaten freedom of expression and silence conservative voices in American society.
Lomberg told Al Jazeera Net that “re-opening the issue of racism towards blacks, and returning to the past to account for practices that occurred two centuries ago by today’s standards, only increases the sharp polarization in American society, and does not improve the conditions of minorities today. What is the use of demolishing statues of military leaders who lost their lives?” What did they think, as with millions of southerners, to be right?
“The Civil War ended 150 years ago, slavery ended, and a black man reached the White House and ruled for two terms depending on the votes of white voters. We now have a black woman who could become president at any moment if President Biden (78) died. We have turned the page on slavery and war.” eligibility, and from here the door should not be opened to further division among the Americans.”
hard reality
Since President Trump’s defeat in the last elections, and his insistence that the elections were stolen, many lawmakers who control the legislatures in the conservative southern states have submitted bills to organize future elections in states such as Georgia and Texas, through which they are trying to restrict minority voters, allowing them to Legislatures may annul election results in many cases.
Some commentators considered that what Republican lawmakers are doing is nothing but a reverse reaction to the demographic changes that America has witnessed in the last 50 years, with which the percentage of the white population has fallen to 60%, with the expectation that the percentage of whites will continue to decline in the coming years and decades.