When White Is Reich- Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud
White supremacy? WHAT White supremacy?
If you’ve found yourself thinking that the vast majority of the anti-choice movement seems to be Conservative, Christian, and WHITE…well, you wouldn’t be wrong. Moreover, if you also think that these anti-choice folks also seem to have a streak of White supremacism about them, you also wouldn’t be wrong.
While not overtly racist, the anti-choice movement hasn’t shied away from being White-centric. Just ask Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL).
A Republican lawmaker called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the nationwide right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade a “victory for white life,” which was met with cheers at a rally held by former president Donald Trump.
“President Trump, on behalf of all the MAGA patriots in America, I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday,” Rep. Mary E. Miller (R) said at the rally Saturday night in Mendon, Ill., referring to Trump’s former campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
She began clapping her hands as spectators, some clutching red “Save America” placards, also began to applaud.
Her remark drew widespread condemnation on social media, and Miller’s team swiftly issued an explanation for what it deemed to be “a mix-up of words.”
“A mix-up of words.” A misstatement by the Congresswoman. A Freudian slip? Nah, I think her mistake was in saying the quiet part out loud. This WAS a victory for White America. There’s a section of the anti-choice movement that believes if current demographic trends hold, Whites will be a minority in America in the not-too-distant future. So, to their way of thinking, abortion doesn’t help the prospects of the White race maintaining its majority.
Some European countries pay families to have children, but that would be difficult to do here because you couldn’t pay White families without (credible) accusations of racism. So the only other way to ensure Whites have more babies is to ban abortion.
It’s a numbers game. And White Americans are slowly losing.
So, while Miller’s spokesperson was furiously spinning the Congresswoman’s remarks, her intent seemed quite clear.
Miller’s spokesman, Isaiah Wartman, told the Associated Press that the Illinois Republican misread her prepared speech and was supposed to declare the divisive court ruling a victory for the “right to life.”
“You can clearly see in the video … she’s looking at her papers and looking at her speech,” Wartman said….
The words “white life” became a top trend on Twitter in the United States.
If the GOP and the Supreme Court hadn’t been so busily displaying their racist bona fides of late, it might be easier to take Rep. Miller’s words as a genuine faux pas if the evidence against her wasn’t so damning.
Racism and abject cruelty are not just byproducts of Republican policy; they ARE the official policy of the GOP. That Donald Trump was standing directly behind Rep. Miller as she introduced him emphasizes that the “White life” line was the Congresswoman saying the quiet part out loud.
If you think I’m being overly harsh, listen to the applause from the crowd after Rep. Miller’s “White life” remark. It met with a VERY friendly audience. And look at the audience behind Trump and Rep. Miller; it seems uniformly White. These aren’t people open to multiculturalism and singing Kum-Bah-Yah around the campfire while holding hands.
No matter how much Rep. Millier’s reps might try to spin her words, sometimes the truth comes out unintentionally.
[Many] pointed out that many in the crowd seemed unfazed by Miller’s comment. “Whether it was a slip or not, the audience heard ‘white life’ and didn’t flinch. They applauded,” tweeted columnist Ahmed Baba, who writes for the Independent.
Miller’s comments also drew backlash outside the United States. “Never assume liberal democracy is the default, that progress won is in the bank and doesn’t need constant forceful protection,” tweeted British lawmaker Jess Phillips, a member of the main opposition Labour Party.
One of the reasons I’m not inclined to cut Rep. Miller any slack is that this isn’t the first time she’s tripped over her tongue. Indeed, she appears to be well on the way to making a habit of it.
During a “Moms for America” event in Washington last year, she was pilloried for quoting- wait for it- Adolf Hitler: “Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.”
That faux pas occurred two days after she was sworn into Congress. Typically, a new Congressperson would lay low so they could get the lay of the land. Then they can turn into the next Lauren Boebert or Louie Gohmert if they wish. Instead, Mary Miller lasted two days before generating her first controversy and Democratic demands that she resign.
So, no, I’m not inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Her words were as deliberate as they were inartful, but they were honest. And they represent GOP policy on abortion- abject cruelty isn’t a problem when we can force White women to have babies.
It’s for the Greater (White) Good, after all. Because White is Reich.
I try to live by an ideal of "don't ascribe to malevolence what can be more readily explained by stupidity." Contrary to Gary's post here, I don't think the particular phrase, "white life" is in routine use even among the most racist conservatives. I think she "honestly" stumbled over the words "right to life," which IS a roll-off-the-tongue thing in conservative circles. She wasn't being RACIST, she was just (predictably) being STUPID. I still gleefully watch her roast for it. :)
For example, I have to be careful about the "r"-word, for persons of lower cognitive ability. And while I would never use it in regard to someone with an actual cognitive impairment, I am constantly on the verge of letting it slip out wrt willfully stupid, infantile ideologues (of which the world has so very many.)