Death and taxes used to be the only two certainties in life. But no matter how much progress it feels like we’re making sometimes, the sad fact is you can probably slide racism into that list. Are we in a moment of uprising that feels like it has the potential to create real, systemic change? Yes. Do people and organizations still show their ass on a daily basis? Oh, most definitely. And to keep tabs on all that ass-showing, we created a weekly racism surveillance machine. If you already get our newsletter, Minority Report, you’ve likely seen this — but now the rest of the internet can get a taste.
🗑 Your weekly reminder that when you hear “This is my America” it’s time to dip out
Quick, picture a successful anesthesiologist in your head. Got it? Okay, now tell us what that person does for fun when they’re not treating patients. Spending time with their family, maybe? Maybe a hobby, like golf or gardening? That all sounds perfectly plausible. But you left out one hobby: yelling slurs at a Latinx man, keying his car, telling him “We should have gotten rid of you when we could,” and then punching him when he tried to call 911. At least, that’s what Dr. Jennifer Susan Wright, a Miami-area anesthesiologist, was arrested for last week. Seems she got a little testy after the man asked her to respect social distancing in a supermarket checkout line, then followed dude to his car and assumed the form of Super Saiyan Karen. Given all that, it may not surprise to learn that Wright’s Facebook page (which she’s since deleted) was home to such shitposting classics as “It’s Okay to Be White.” (Daily Mail)
🗑 The latest arrestable crime in Texas: Walking home from work while Black
One night last week, after snow and ice had blanketed Texas, 18-year-old Rodney Reese started walking home from his job at Walmart. He wasn’t that cold, despite only having a T-shirt on, but all that unplowed snow and ice meant he needed to walk in the street, and it was still slippery. Soon another problem presented itself, though: Plano police officers, alerted by a phone call, began following Reese in their car. Despite the high school student’s repeated claims that he was fine and didn’t need help, they ultimately arrested him on a “pedestrian in the roadway” charge, and he spent the night in jail. Here’s where we point out that the officers, who were dispatched to the scene as a welfare check, had no right to arrest Reese… which is exactly why the charges were dropped. Here’s also where we wonder whether anyone would have arrested Reese (or called the cops in the first place) if he were White. Just kidding — we’re not wondering at all! (Fox 4 KFDW)
🗑 Neo-Nazis in the military are finding each other through their fashion choices
Despite repeated warnings that law enforcement has a white supremacy problem, it’s an idea that doesn’t exactly appeal to the Thin Blue Line crowd. (“ThOsE arE tHe peOpLE kEePIng YoU sAFe,” goes a typical rebuttal.) You know who believes it? The motherfucking Pentagon. Yes, the Department of Defense sent a report to Congress last year detailing its efforts keeping extremists out of the military, and the details are just now coming out. Of particular note is the idea of training Army officials to identify lesser-known Nazi symbols — because that’s exactly how these asshats are learning how to identify each other. “A good way people in the military find other rightists is to simply wear a shirt with some obscure fascist logo,” wrote one active military member in an online chat mentioned in the report. You heard it here first: wearing SS symbols is so last year. (Roll Call)