Trump gave the white supremacists already in our midst permission to be as racist as possible, to do as much psychic damage as they can on a regular basis. The only thing that will stop them is if enough of them get caught in the act.
An Arkansas sheriff resigned Friday after coming under fire over a leaked racist recording.
Sheriff Todd Wright of Arkansas County, about 85 miles southeast of Little Rock, resigned effective immediately on Friday during a public meeting on the incident at the county's Quorum Court, which is its governing legislative body.
The meeting, which was recorded live and posted on Facebook, was held after a local news outlet, the Pine Bluff Commercial, identified Wright as the man heard in a five-minute audio recording delivering a racist rant.
According to the local outlet, Wright is heard on the recording, which has been widely shared on social media, becoming upset that a woman he was with spoke to a Black person in a store.
Throughout the recording, the woman refers to the man as “Todd.” The man in the recording uses a racial slur against Black people about nine times.
Wright apologized at the court meeting for any offense his recorded remarks may have caused and said that he made those comments in the heat of the moment when he was "upset over certain things."
He also insisted he was not racist.
"That's not me," he said.
Following his remarks, a woman who identified herself as the mother of the man Wright disparaged in the recording said she doesn't know why Wright felt the need to call her son, whom she described as a hardworking man with two jobs, "names like that" over and over.
"I don't appreciate you calling him or anybody else the N-word," she said. "If you got problems, don't bring them to work."
It would have been the former Sheriff's word against that of a Black employee at a store and it would have been immediately dismissed. Later on, that Black employee would have been fired, and/or worse, faced an entire county's worth of angry deputies that would have absolutely found an excuse to put him in a cell, or put him in a grave.
See, that still might happen.
But the only reason that Black employee isn't already in the county lockup or in a pine box is because somebody recorded Todd's rant here. Because no matter how furious you get as a white person in America, you always, always have the option to take it out on the nearest Black person and make them suffer for existing in your white America, and odds are extraordinarily high that you will get away with it.
The more power you have, the easier it is to do things like this.
Brian Henry, mayor of the town of Pawleys Island and owner of Get Carried Away and Palmetto Cheese, is facing public backlash after posting that Black Lives Matter should be treated like a terror organization, among other comments that some have deemed racist and divisive.
In the aftermath of a double murder in Georgetown County on Monday afternoon, Henry publicly posted the following on Tuesday:
“I am sickened by the senseless killings in Georgetown last night.
“2 innocent people murdered. Not 2 thugs or people wanted on multiple warrants. 2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man. Tell me, where is the outrage? When and where will we begin rioting and burning down businesses in Georgetown. Answer is simple, it won’t happen. Because we live in a civil society, and it won’t change what happened. The victims’ families and friends will mourn and undoubtedly feel anger and confusion. Can’t imagine their pain. So why do we stand by and allow BLM to lawlessly destroy great American cities and threaten their citizens on a daily basis? Should they have a carte blanche license to pillage and destroy? Why? This has gone on too long. Rise up America. This BLM and Antifa movement must be treated like the terror organizations that they are. Law and order, protection of liberty, and the right of peaceful enjoyment. If we don’t have that, we no longer have a country. My wife cried last night when she read about these murders. I’m sure their family is devastated. This did not have to happen. Does the senseless murder of these people not matter as much because it doesn’t fit the media narrative. You are damn right their lives matter. And we should all be outraged and engaged to demand action and stem the tide of lawless fringe. We can’t stay silent anymore. All lives matter. There I said it. So am I racist now? I think not. How about the POS who just gunned down 3 defenseless white people? You be the judge.
“We need Law and Order. Now!”
Henry was referring to both Charles Nicholas Wall and his stepdaughter, Laura Anderson, being shot and killed after a vehicle collision on U.S. 521 in Georgetown County.
The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office has charged Ty Sheem Ha Sheem Walters III, 23, of Moncks Corner, with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and three counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He made his first appearance in court Wednesday, where his bond was denied. Walters remains in jail at the Georgetown County Detention Center.
Now, Walters here is facing a double murder rap. He will get what he deserves.
But every other Black person in Georgetown County, SC just got put on notice that their lives are officially forfeit. Every Black person who's not Ty Walters is going to have to be taught a lesson by the Mayor here.
This time, the backlash against Black Lives Matter is going to lead to deaths. It's going to lead to lynchings. It's going to lead to Black bodies hanging like strange fruit. And in a Trump second term? It's going to be national.
As a law enforcement officer, the odds of getting away with it go up exponentially.
Just like the cops who killed Breonna Taylor here in Kentucky.
Unless you get caught on audio/video, that is, and the whole world sees it.
There's a reason why police want to outlaw recording cops.
Black Lives Still Matter.