You can read the white rage in their MAGA hats

So says black writer Renée Graham. She can read hats in depth. She may be wrong, however.  You may not be wearing a MAGA hat as an expression of rage.  Might you not wear a MAGA hat because you think President Trump is doing a lot of good for the country?

The wearers may be doing what more blacks should do: Treating African-Americans and their history as simply American.  Why should they keep away from an African museum?  Is it some sort of racist shrine or is it for all Americans?

And why does Ms Graham think Trump is an enemy of blacks?  He has just got heaps of blacks into work who were previously jobless. He has done much more of that than any President in recent history. Black Unemployment Plunged to an Historic Low Under the  Trump Economy. Maybe Africans should be wearing MAGA hats in recognition of that.  If Ms Graham were more logical maybe she would be wearing one too.  But I think it is hate rather than logic which moves her


Recently I saw more than a dozen people wearing "Make America Great Again" hats in what I would have thought would be the most unlikely place:

The National Museum of African American History & Culture, in Washington D.C.

As I approached a 1850s slave cabin that once stood on an Edisto Island, S.C., plantation, I saw the gathering over my shoulder - first one, then three, then more. Some wore the familiar red hats, while others opted for white, President Trump's preferred color. Some also sported T-shirts bearing Trump's slogan. All of them were white teenage boys.

Clearly, this was meant as a provocation.

They did nothing disruptive. In fact, the Trump Youth barely seemed to do much of anything at all. They moved together as a group, occasionally casting a bored eye to the right or left. Although I didn't notice an accompanying adult, they could have been part of a class trip.

On second thought, this had nothing to do with class. As the boys walked by, African-American visitors had a variety of reactions. One woman looked them up and down, then shook her head. A man rolled his eyes. Another woman gave them side-eye so sharp it could have pierced metal. Still, people refused to give them the greater acknowledgment they might have sought. We had more important things to do.

Since its opening in September 2016, the museum has become hallowed ground for many African-Americans. It is a sanctified space to learn, reflect, and see the path, with all its pitfalls and triumphs, upon which we still move forward.

Perhaps this incongruous show of Trump allegiance was intended to rile us. Apparently it's not the first time these sartorial politics have been on display. After I posted a photo of one young man holding his MAGA hat, others tweeted that they'd also noticed white teens wearing the caps at the museum.

"When my family visited the museum last year, we saw a white teen with the same hat," wrote Wendi C. Thomas, a journalist. "Felt like trolling."

That's an appropriate assessment for those supporting this racist troll of a presidency.

Since Trump's 2016 election, his name has been used to threaten Jews and people of color. According to a hate crime database compiled by ProPublica, more than 150 school bullying incidents through May 2017 included evocations of Trump's name or his divisive comments. This included white students, after a Florida high school football game, chanting "Donald Trump!" at black students from an opposing school.

In her award-winning book, "White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide," Carol Anderson writes, "White rage doesn't have to wear sheets or burn crosses, or take to the streets."

These days, all it has to do is scream the current president's name.

Whatever the intent of the MAGA cap wearers, I hope the disaffected white teens also recognize this: If they only marvelled at the cruelties one race has inflicted on another for no good reason, then they should have stayed home. If they looked at the Klan videos, the hoods and robes, especially the one in a very familiar shade of red, and wished again for a time when its members marched unmasked in the nation's capital, near where the museum now stands, they should have stayed home.

To denigrate African-American history is to denigrate American history - their own history.

African-Americans survived the Middle Passage, centuries of enslavement, families torn apart, systemic sexual abuse, lynchings, racist Supreme Court decisions, police violence, and Jim Crow. Every effort to dim our light has only made it burn hotter and brighter.

We're still here, unbowed. From the magnificent museum that celebrates our uniquely American story to the communities where we live, we will won't be intimidated by people in MAGA hats - or the noxious president they represent.

SOURCE





German-Jewish girl, 14, found raped and murdered

A Jewish 14-year-old girl in Germany who had been missing since May was found dead.

The girl, identified as by police as Susanna Maria Feldman, was found Wednesday outside Wiesbaden, a city in western Germany. On Thursday, police said two male asylum seekers were detained in connection to her rape and murder. One was later released.

But a 20-year-old Iraqi identified as Ali Bashar is still being sought, Weisbaden police said. He is suspected of killing the girl on May 22, when she went missing. Police said they believe she had been strangled to death.

Some media reported that the 20-year-old suspect was dating the girl, while others said she was romantically involved with his younger brother.  Police said on Thursday that Ali Bashar had left the country with his family under false names, fleeing to Iraq. Both Bashar and the released man reportedly had been living in refugee shelters..

The Central Council of Jews in Germany confirmed that the girl was a member of the Jewish community of Mainz, a city near Wiesbaden.

"A young life has been put in a cruel way. Our deep compassion applies to relatives and friends," the group said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

"A young life has been cruelly cut short. Our deepest sympathy goes to her relatives and friends," the group said in a press statement on Thursday. The Council added that "premature conclusions or speculation [about the case] are out of the question."

SOURCE







Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Condemns Attack on Ahmadiyya Mosque in Sialkot, Pakistan

Ahmadis are the good guys of Islam.  Their prophet rejected Islamic supremacism and told his followers to be friendly and non-violent to all
         


Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad says Ahmadi Muslims will continue to respond to all forms of provocation and injustice with prayers and peace

The World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Fifth Khalifa (Caliph), His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has strongly condemned an attack targeting a Mosque and a historical house in Sialkot, Pakistan belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, perpetrated by local officials and a local mob comprising hundreds of people.

Speaking about the attack during his weekly Friday Sermon from the Baitul Futuh Mosque in London, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said that those who attacked the Mosque claimed to be acting in defence of Islam, yet their actions were entirely opposed to the teachings of Islam and a means of violating the sanctity of a House of Allah. He said that the attack had been planned carefully and there was a risk of further attacks targeting the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

"Now an announcement has been made expressing an intent to demolish more Mosques of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The person who made this announcement has committed the Holy Quran to memory (Hafiz) and is linked to a political party in Pakistan. However, he is a Hafiz merely in name as he is completely bereft of the true spirit of the teachings of the Holy Quran."

His Holiness also praised those people in Pakistan who had condemned the Sialkot Mosque attack. In this regard, His Holiness particularly commended a female member of the Pakistani National Senate who had openly condemned the attack. His Holiness also noted that Pakistan's recent history had shown that those who had the courage to speak out to defend Ahmadi Muslims inevitably endured intimidation and were often forced to recant their support for Ahmadi Muslims or see their careers suffer.

Referring to the peaceful response of Ahmadi Muslims to the latest attack, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

"Certainly, our sentiments have been deeply grieved because an historical site from the time of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) has been harmed, sealed and taken into police control. However, our response has always been and will always be in accordance with the Holy Quran, which states, 'I only complain of my sorrow and my grief to Allah.'"

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad continued:

"Though we certainly have an emotional attachment to that site, the bond that we have with the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) is not limited to physical buildings. Rather, it is an unbreakable and eternal bond based upon following the teachings of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) and by firmly attaching ourselves to the system of spiritual Caliphate."

Via email. Media@Ahmadiyya.org.au






Australia: NSW Government passes new laws making it illegal to protest outside of abortion clinics - with 150m exclusion zones to lock out 'pro-life' groups

Free speech ignored

New laws making it illegal to communicate, film or intimidate a woman near a NSW abortion clinic have been passed by the state's parliament.

The legislation, which was supported by premier Gladys Berejiklian, passed the parliament's lower house late on Thursday night after a marathon debate.

The laws, which passed the state's upper house in May, will provide a 150-metre exclusion zone around clinics and make it an offence to film staff and patients without their consent.

Ms Berejiklian was supported by Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro and a host of other government MPs in a debate that transcended partisan politics.

Mr Barilaro told parliament he had visited an abortion clinic with a young woman 27 years ago, and spoke of the fear and anxiety the experience provoked. 'When you actually attend you're scared, the fear is already inside you,' Mr Barilaro said. 'By the time we arrived at the clinic, it was too late to change our mind.'

He said he did not want his daughters to ever have to be accosted by protesters if they needed to go through the same experience.

A notable opponent of the bill was Minister for Women Tanya Davies, who said the laws didn't distinguish between sharing information and harassment.

'I believe that the bill will be counterproductive to the object of women having choice by denying support and informed choice to vulnerable women when they need it the most,' Ms Davies said.

'I believe the penalties imposed by the bill are excessive, disproportionate and out of step with comparative legislation in NSW.'

Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence Pru Goward, a former sex discrimination commissioner, also voted against the bill. She said it was an attack on freedom of speech.

'My position I know will please no one, but it is the position of my conscience,' Ms Goward told a near-empty lower house chamber on Thursday evening.

Others argued giving women the freedom to access medical clinics without being harassed was not curtailing free speech.

'We are simply setting boundaries around places where women are undergoing some of the most difficult experiences of their lives,' Labor MP Jenny Aitchison told parliament.

Labor MP and architect of the bill Penny Sharpe said the parliament had taken a 'small but important step' to give women in NSW safe access to medical treatment.

'I'm pleased and relieved that MPs across the political divide have supported the bill. A terrific day for women in NSW,' Ms Sharpe told AAP in a statement.

Outside parliament earlier in the day, reproductive rights activists and health professionals joined anti-abortion protesters to voice their opinions.

Marie Stopes Clinic nurse unit manager Kitty Grozdich supports the bill and said she, her staff and patients were often subject to harassment on their way into the clinic.

'There is a woman who is standing about 20 metres from me right now, and last week she told me that I'm going to hell,' Ms Grozdich told reporters.

'She says that she prays for me. I don't need her prayers, I just need her to go away.'

SOURCE 

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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