In a world filled with astounding things, it’s bewildering that so many Republicans have become shameless champions of bullies and bigots.
Republicans near and far are not even remotely coy about bashing people or children who are gay, Black, Asian, old, poor or immigrant.
Minutes after President Joe Biden told the world during his State of the Union address that the nation must learn to respect the rights of one another, Republicans offered this rebuttal.
“Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight,” Arkansas Gov. and former Trump Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Feb. 7 in the GOP response after Biden’s speech. “I’m the first woman to lead my state, and (Biden is) the man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.”
Like so many Republicans, she pulls the “woke” card as a way of insulting the vast majority of Americans who have moved past the racism and homophobia entrenched in the country.
She refers to backward states like Arkansas and others that fight against the ability of people to describe themselves as men or women or neither, rather than have that described to them.
Sanders, and her “freedom-loving” acolytes insist American liberty ends with deciding your own sexuality, attire or what you think about gender.
Deep-thinking GOP governors like Sanders and Ron DeSantis want to decide all that for every American.
They say that supporting people’s right to self-determine such deeply personal issues is being hopelessly “woke.”
Equally “woke-alarmed,” Sanders, Trump, DeSantis and Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert say we must shun children whose families include two dads or two moms or a brother that at one point was dubbed a sister.
They don’t want public schools to pretend anything outside of what Focus on the Family would approve of even exists.
What honest and accepting people would call “enlightened,” these Republicans call “woke” and “groomers.”
Science, real science, just explains it as reality. It’s not just glands and politics. Human gender and sexuality can be as complicated as humans.
On the racist side of Sanders’ intolerant America, fellow extremists are demanding that Blacks admit not one of them are actually slaves or former slaves, and that they just get over the fact that their ancestors were.
Republicans like Sanders, DeSantis and Boebert insist that Black and white Americans unhappy with pernicious and systemic racism are nothing but “woke” whiners. White people who question the wisdom of perpetuating white-washed myths about U.S. history? Woke sympathizers, according to the far right and talking-points directors at Fox News.
Myriad established statistics about Black and brown Americans owning far fewer homes, making far fewer wages, attaining far fewer college degrees, being incarcerated at a far higher rate, living far fewer years and even being bitten by police dogs far more frequently than white Americans? Well, Sanders, Boebert and DeSantis insist Black and brown Americans choose all that, and they’re free to do so.
To insist that systemic racism — easily identifiable and well documented by credible scientists and sources — is partly responsible for the widespread equity problems is un-American “woke craziness.”
“The Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,” said Sanders, during her nationally televised rebuttal to Biden. She meant the reality white Americans face every day. She said the right-wing extremists like herself, whom she describes as everyone not woke, “are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.”
No doubt. That’s the point. America moved on from the Jim Crow era and treating gay Americans as third-rate citizens, and Sanders and friends are mad as hell about it.
Sanders became the face of the GOP last week picking up on her vast credibility and integrity where she last left it off as press secretary for Donald Trump.
The new face of the GOP is the same one as key part of the Trump White House that denied Trump’s presidential hush-money skidoos, lied about Trump creating more jobs for Black Americans than President Barack Obama — she was wrong by as much as four-fold — and offered a sack of whoppers to Americans about Trump never promoting violence by telling proudish boys to punch racism protesters “in the face,” knock “the hell” out of police-murder protesters — “I promise you I will pay for the legal fees” — or advising cops to smash the heads of suspects they arrest against police cars.
Woke is no insult to cogent Americans who take the time to unpack the truth behind the bigoted slur.
Most Americans believe that racism and bigotry toward our fellow LGTBQ citizens is repugnant and worthy of the fight to suppress.
First graders aren’t malevolent or vapid like DeSantis, seeing that one of their pals has two moms and just wondering what that’s about.
Denying gravity or planetary motion doesn’t prevent it. Pretending that cheerful white pilgrims benevolently offered up a Turkey Day dinner to indigenous people, who decided moving to reservations was a keen idea, only perpetuates inequalities created by generations of dangerous propaganda.
Black and Latino Americans don’t choose to fall short of the American dream more than white Americans do. Enlightened Americans understand that choice is too often made for people of color, and that can be changed, if more of us embrace the ideas behind being “woke” instead of creating fear with it.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on Mastadon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected]
Are you kidding me Lauren “Blow Fart” (Boebert), actually has an opinion on this topic? As usual she is just opening her mouth and blowing farts. Gee Lauren, you came quite close to losing your last election. Wow! Haven’t you learned anything yet?
Go ahead and continue to fan the flames of division and identity politics, Perry. Your ideas are weakening our republic and tearing it at the seams. The people are getting sick of your obvious agenda. Even our ultra-liberal statehouse is trying to backtrack on its woke criminal-friendly policy, as we speak.
But, spoiler, you’ll need to spend some of your time creating a narrative to attack Nikki Haley, a brown woman who just announced her run for president.
Which people are you speaking for when you reference ‘the people’? You and other narrow-minded hypocrites like Sanders are exactly the folk highlighted in the essay. Look in the mirror and compare that image with the true image of modern America. How does it compare?
It’s time to take the word “woke” back from these racists. Just like African Americans took back the “N” word from them.
Take it back? You mean, like you can say it but it’s offensive if coming from someone with whom you disagree? Wow. Because when “they” say it, you play the race card? That’s next level woke. Bravo.
Oh, by the way, if you want to be truly woke, you should revisit your racist label of “African American.”
Everyone knows “Black” is a more inclusive categorization in that it covers those not from the African diaspora or within Africa.
It’s hard being woke. But keep it up.
“woke” is just the term the right uses to make the left seem crazy, to fear monger their base. If they used the actual definition “empathetic to fellow human beings” it’d make them look pretty bad.
If you didn’t confuse empathy with sympathy, you might have a point.
Dave, you do better for our City by writing about your family news, as a Sentinel blog editorial, than your attempt at spreading your absolute and undeniable hatred of Republicans and all they stand for.
It’s only a matter of time before this Sentinel blog goes belly up. The more the Citizens of Aurora read your hate inspired writing the less credibility you will have. Only another reason that this newspaper (blog) is dying. The over/under for your blog’s survival is still the end of this year.
Don’t forget the elephant in the newsroom of death for your not for profit is IRS’s Unrelated Income. If it doesn’t get you this year, it will get your “sponsor” in the next year. Assuming they prepare tax returns.
How’s the new advertising going? Just more salary? Is that your daughter that works for you? I have questions. So long, buddy.
You have questions?
I have a question: Just what does your diatribe have to do with the subject?
Oh, Jeff, I see your intellect has returned. There was no subject, just a bunch of words by Dave Perry showing hatred for all conservatives. So my diatribe was just to get a rise out of you or anyone like you. Thanks for asking.
If that was your purpose, you failed.
You merely demonstrated your cluelessness.
As usual.the truth lies somewhere between the crazies on the right and the woke on the left. Perry is as one sided as any Trump fanatic.
No, the crazies on the right won the stupidity contest long ago. Rather than acknowledge their primitive hate, the right has made a practice of slandering the innocent.
Disagree with a Republican? You’re a “groomer”. (Which is slander, since “groomer” is a term for “pedophile”.) Complain about police shootings and beatings? You’re a “communist”. Or a “socialist”. Or whatever the libel of the day is.
Meanwhile, the followers of the last Republican president refuse to even acknowledge that he incited a mob of insurrectionists who stormed the capitol screaming to hang the vice president. The Republicans in Congress lie shamelessly about a man, Anthony Fauci, who has worked for decades managing the nation’s efforts to protect the American people from viral and infectious disease, under presidents from both parties, as if he’s some kind of partisan hack. They think it’s important to “investigate” the son of the president, who holds no office, as if he was a danger to the Republic, while Trump’s son-in-law accepts over a billion dollars from a Saudi prince, and they turn a blind eye.
And “woke” offends you? Pull the other one, mate. It’s got bells on.
“Rather than acknowledge their primitive hate, the right has made a practice of slandering the innocent.”
There’s nothing inherently wrong with hate. Your side does it all the time. You just have different targets.
If you have nothing of substance to say in your defense, “I know you are but what am I” is only a lame admission.
If it’s one thing marxists hate, it’s the taste of their own medicine.
Well, Lizzie Borden Sanders got one thing right: The split between parties is no longer “left and right, it is between normal and crazy.” She just got confused about which side she was on.
This is a robot journalist or what? Some nerve at the thought of giving Biden any good regardless. He gives not a s f about u, me, the children, or this country. Well, not the children in like u know lol. Everyone wants to state facts but how about the fact everyone throws our demo or rep and we all know it’s bs too? We have two so they can blame the other. Oh and how long, oh since forever. Let’s let Hillary have a voice, and let’s keep crooked people in the office, clearly, an idiot crackhead will be honest at the Whitehouse lol, I mean son. We all know it. see it, but let’s pretend it didn’t happen, wasn’t said or videoed. American like us. Most are ok with any of the racist bs and controversy you all throw up. Not us. We adapted to change kind of how you did with shitty, racist, biased, ghost robot writing. So much fake. Everyone falls right into the traps. Every damn time.
Dave Perry is a racist pure and simple
If empathy and listening to other people tell their life stories and if after understanding that there may be systemic barriers to progress makes me woke, then count me in. “Woke” is associated with misguided attempts to right wrongs. Who among us that tries to right a wrong gets their first attempt right?
Instead of being open to a conversation about making the promise of our nation a reality for everyone, many are more worried about having to give up a favored position. Being woke supposedly makes a person hate themselves. I reject that line of thinking. Introspection is about examining one’s positions, evaluating them, and adjusting them to align with new information. If being woke means a person is open to change, I don’t see the problem. Who among us doesn’t change their mind?
We should be more concerned with a movement to keep things as they are or that wants to roll back freedoms won in previous decades for the purpose of preserving privilege for a few instead of all!
Well stated!
Magnificent circular reasoning and misdirection in your post.
Dave and other post-Hegelian gnostics like to act as if a society where 100 percent equal outcomes are the norm is possible. They don’t actually know how, of course, because all their previous efforts quickly fell apart, but “this time it will be different,” the true communist utopia forever somewhere over the rainbow.
If their worldview wasn’t built on circular reasoning and conspiracy thinking, reality probably would be a lot less horrible to them.