Sunday Facepalm

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Today, we a have a pail full of Palidiocy. Ms. Palin seems to think that hyphenation is really, truly wrong, and destroying this oh-so-great country.

“#?BlackLivesMatter? is a farce and hyphenating America destroys us,” the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee wrote on her Facebook page. “Shame on our culture’s influencers who would stir contention and division that could lead to evil such as that in Dallas.”

“Shame on politicians and pundits giving credence to thugs rioting against police officers and the rule of law in the name of “‘peaceful protests.’ It is a farce. #BlackLivesMatter is a farce.”

“Black Lives Matter? Yes – more than BLM “protestors” can grasp, as evidenced by their self-destructive provocateurism,” she wrote. “Doesn’t it go without saying that Native lives matter, too? And Asian; and Eskimo; and Hispanic; and Indian… and every other race comprised of people who see clearly the agenda at play to weaken America through disunity.”

Eskimo? Really? You live in Alaska, and you’re using that word. If anyone actually needed proof you’re a yapping idiot, there it is. I wonder, have you ever bothered to ask any Inuit, Yupik, or Aleut people what their thoughts are about that? I’m pretty sure none of them want you speaking for them, or speaking about them.

“Self-descriptions that put any race in front of being an American are now used to further divide our nation. It’s time to acknowledge you’re either an American under our system of equality, law and order – and traditional patriotic spirit – or you’re not. nock [sic] off the hyphenation of who we are. And knock off the shoulder chip if you’ve let ‘leaders’ burden you with it through their example that sadly capitalizes on division for untoward purposes. That chip is crushing the people’s hope.”

“So if we’re to take sides, I side with the Thin Blue Line. To side with our public servants trying to keep law and order amidst political agendas that clearly oppose that virtue is how the good guys win again,” she wrote. “It’s the only way to ensure our best days will be ahead of us. Join me.”

Join you? No. Not ever. Ms. Palin, you’re a walking, talking, evil. Banal as can be, and it’s people just like you we all need to work against, with every fiber.

Via abc57.

That didn’t take long. UPDATED.

Credit: Shutterstock.

Credit: Shutterstock.

Two Houston police officers fatally shot an African-American man who pointed a gun at them despite their commands that he lower his weapon, authorities said on Saturday, two days after five Dallas policemen were slain by a black military veteran.

The two Houston officers, both Hispanic, encountered a man standing in the middle of a street with a revolver around 12:40 a.m. while on a routine patrol, police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said.

The officers exited their patrol vehicle to speak to the man, who initially had the firearm pointed to the sky. The officers ordered him to lower the weapon, Silva said.

“He instead deliberately and slowly lowers his arm and allows it to come to a stop at his waist,” Silva said. “Now the gun is pointed directly at officers.”

Fearing for their safety and for nearby witnesses, both officers discharged their weapons, striking the man, she said. The man’s motive remains unknown.

The suspect, who did not fire his gun, died at the scene. His identity was not immediately released.

I’m out of things to say. Feels like I’m sliding into permanent numbness.

Via Raw Story.

UPDATE: The man’s name was Alva Braziel. I just read an article where there was the usual laundry list of every wrong thing he ever did in his life, oh hey, he had done time, so sad, too bad. Absolutely infuriating. If you watch the footage from a nearby store / gas station, you can clearly see Mr. Braziel with his arms in the air, high up over his head, then he was shot. 10 times. 10 fucking times. https://twitter.com/hashtag/AlvaBraziel?src=hash

The Whiteness of America’s Gun Laws.

Armed members of the Black Panther Party leave the Capitol in Sacramento, California May 2, 1967.

Armed members of the Black Panther Party leave the Capitol in Sacramento, California May 2, 1967.

…We cannot know if police would have reacted differently to the two allegedly armed men if Sterling and Castile were white, but simple fact is that deaths like these keep happening. And they keep happening to black men.

The whiteness of America’s gun laws, and of how those laws operate in practice, is nothing new. Indeed, when black activists took advantage of loopholes allowing them to rather extravagantly exercise their own gun rights, those loopholes were rapidly closed by an icon of white conservatism — the sainted Ronald Reagan himself.

Enter The Black Panthers

[…]

Yet the dramatic events that led to the Mulford Act becoming law also reveal how quickly white conservative lawmakers were willing to act when the face of gun rights was black. And this response stands in stark contrast to modern day conservatives’ reaction to similar antics by white activists.

When Gun Rights Are White

GW

[…]

Rather, the point is that, as the face of gun rights grew whiter over the last several decades, white conservatives grew increasingly more sympathetic to efforts to elevate these rights. The position Ronald Reagan took on guns in the 1960s would make him a pariah in today’s Republican Party. Even the National Rifle Association (which, admittedly, was a far less political organization in the 1960s) supported legislation like the Mulford Act. Indeed, they actually helped shape similar laws in many other states.

You can get white conservatives to enact gun laws in the United States, but it’s hard to do if the face of gun rights isn’t black.

An excellent article, and a nifty recap of how swiftly gun restrictions were made into law when it was the Black Panthers holding the guns. I remember all that happening.

Heartsick

NC

This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you. – Joe Walsh.

No. No. Racism and guns cannot help. They can’t “win”. Racism, guns, and cops being allowed to murder people of colour got us here.  Rescue those shreds of humanity, please. Listen to Charles Blow:

“You can’t have selective outrage and selective grief” — @CharlesMBlow discusses the #Dallas shooting.

Trump Supports NC HB 2.

donald-trump-now-supports-nations-worst-anti-lgbt-lawx750Yet another flip-flop from the premier con man, who will say anything at any time.

Donald Trump has flip-flopped on his stance on House Bill 2, the controversial law that forces transgender people in North Carolina to use public restrooms that do not correspond with their gender identity.

Trump appeared at a rally in Raleigh on Tuesday, where he spoke with The News and Observer about HB 2, which was forced through the state legislature in an emergency session on March 23. “I’m going with the state,” Trump said. “The state, they know what’s going on, they see what’s happening and generally speaking I’m with the state on things like this. I’ve spoken with your governor, I’ve spoken with a lot of people and I’m going with the state.”

These statements are a complete reversal from his earlier views on the bill.

[…]

Trump was applauded for his moderate stance on LGBT issues, with former GOProud president Chris Barron calling the presumptive Republican candidate “the most pro-gay Republican nominee ever.” The CEO has also claimed that he would be a champion for LGBT equality if elected to office, reiterating that point at Tuesday’s rally.

“I am better for the gay community,” he said. “I am better for women than Hillary will be on her best day.”

[…]

But in reality, he’s been backtracking on his purported LGBT allyship since his initial statements on HB 2 in April. Shortly after speaking out against the bill, Trump amended his condemnation in an interview with ABC, in which he claimed that he would “leave it up to the states” to decide what’s best for transgender people.

“Well, I believe it should be states’ rights, and I think the state should make the decision,” Trump said.

According to Chris Sgro, the executive director of Equality North Carolina, Trump’s flip-flop on LGBT rights shows that he would be dangerous for the LGBT community. “Over and over, he has shown himself to be unqualified as a presidential candidate, and no friend to gay and transgender people,” he said in a statement. “We must resoundingly reject his ill-informed discrimination in November.”

[…]

Trump’s about face on LGBT rights, though, may just be the start.

According to reports, he’s considering Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for the Vice Presidential spot on his campaign ticket. Last year, Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which made it legal for businesses to discriminate against customers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. That law was “fixed” after Indiana faced widespread boycotts in response to the bill’s passage, which reportedly cost the state $60 million in potential revenue.

“The Republican Party has a deep bench of qualified vice presidential candidates,” former Trump adviser Michael Caputo told the Indianapolis Star. “Some of them ring certain bells, and others ring other bells. I think Mike Pence rings the most bells of all.”

Once again, I’ll point to Trump’s volatility. He’s a con, and as a con, he will say anything, do anything, offer anything, promise anything, then turn around and do something else. There are a lot of people so anti-Clinton that they will vote for this monumental asshole out of spite. Please, I beg of you, think. Think hard. A vote for this man is to condemn this country into utter chaos, a place where the lives of people like myself will be forfeit, along with a whole lot of others. The States is hardly a shining beacon of humanism right now, but we all need to remember that it can get worse. Much worse.

In related news: Department of Justice Asks Federal Court to Block N.C. Law’s Anti-Trans Provisions.

White and Black.

Shutterstock.

Shutterstock.

When a white guy is seen wandering around in public waving a gun, the police usually try to talk him down; he’s probably just having a bad day. Even if the white guy happens to be pointing his gun directly at an officer, his interaction with the police is unlikely to end in the exchange of gunfire. This is called white privilege.

Recent history suggests there’s a certain methodology for how police handle nearly identical gun-related incidents: white guys get arrested, while black guys get shot. Outraged? If not, you need to pay attention.

1. Armed White Guy Has Standoff With Police, Then Gets His Gun Back.

Last May, an armed Michigan man had a standoff with the police as he stood in front of a Dairy Queen waving a loaded rifle around and angrily shouting. When cops arrived, the man, Joseph Houseman, refused to identify himself, grabbed his crotch, flipped the bird, and cursed them out. Houseman was intoxicated and didn’t have an ID. For 40 minutes, the police tried to get the belligerent man to put his weapon down. All the while, he was screaming, “The revolution is coming,” and accusing the cops of being a “gang.” He told the police he had a legal right to “threaten” police officers and their families.

There’s an excerpt from their encounter at the full story link.

2. White Guy Points Gun at Police Officers and Children During Hour-Long Standoff. Video and summary at full story link.

3. White Man Arrested Twice For Road Rage With a Gun.

In October, a Tennessee man was arrested for waving a loaded gun during a road rage incident involving another man and his son. E.J. Watson confronted the pair when they came to a stop, exited his vehicle with his pistol tucked in the front of his pants and was very belligerent, cursing and making derogatory remarks.

The victims called 911, and police pulled Watson over a few miles from the weapon-wielding episode. His car was littered with empty beer cans as well as a loaded Smith & Wesson revolver. Watson refused to exit his vehicle and had to be physically removed. Only three months earlier, he was arrested for a separate drunken road rage incident.

Good thing for Watson he was white—otherwise he might not be alive today.

4. White Guy Arrested for Firing BB Gun at Officers.

A 22-year-old from New Hampshire faces one count of reckless conduct after firing a BB gun at Concord police in September. The two police officers were making a routine traffic stop at an intersection when the man opened fire from a nearby apartment building. They arrested the culprit, Jesse Deflorio, who was on already on probation for a similar incident. The judge residing over the case commented that he was worried about the white guy’s safety following the most recent BB gun-firing episode. Poor white guy.

Tamir Rice, 12, was walking around a Cleveland park, holding a toy gun that uses nonlethal plastic pellets. A police cruiser pulled up and within two seconds Rice was shot and killed by rookie officer Timothy Loehmann.

5. Two White Men Shoot Up Walmart With BB Gun and Live to Tell the Tale.

6. White Guy Arrested After Pointing Gun at Pennsylvania Police Officers.

7. White Woman Dressed In Body Armor Arrested After Shooting Into Cars and Pointing Gun at Police.

8. White Man Arrested After Pointing Gun at Phoenix Firefighters During Hour-Long Standoff.

Full story, summaries, videos, and links here. If you’re one of those people who insists racism, cops, and guns aren’t a problem, do some fucking homework. Read until reality seeps into your brainpan.

You may rejoice, I must mourn.

Wikimedia Commons.

Wikimedia Commons.

History News Network has a good article up, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Anne Pastore. It’s good reading for Colonial Day. Here’s just a bit:

African-American attitudes leading up to the Civil War toward Independence Day itself were perhaps best expressed by Frederick Douglass in his 1852 speech named after its most famous line, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Asking the crowd why they have asked him, a black man, to speak on this occasion celebrating freedom in a country where his people are not free, his oration demands acknowledgement of slavery, “the great sin and shame of America.”

“Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

I learned a few things I didn’t know, and I have yet more reading to do. Wherever there’s a declaration of independence, there’s often a pile of bodies under that declaration, and it’s important to remember the cost to all peoples, not just the spoils of the victors.

There’s a great need for such reflection, because the March of American Stupidity stomps on:

The one-time Florida representative and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel GOP Rep. Allen West  is extremely concerned by his observation that Americans use the phrase “Happy Fourth of July” to greet each other instead of “Happy 240th American Independence Day,” or better yet, “Steadfast and Loyal, Happy 240th American Independence Day.”

West is afraid that the country is not only becoming less Christian, but also less patriotic.

“I’ve noticed something as it relates to today and that which it represents,” West wrote on his blog. “We’ve seen our move away from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays, and even Happy Winter Solstice. We’ve become so damaged by the talons of political correctness that it now threatens the very existence of our Republic. And I mean its very founding.”

[…]

He concludes, “On June 14th 1775 our Continental Army was formed, the motto of today’s U.S. Army is ‘This We’ll Defend.’ Let us all defend these free and independent states from a new tyranny and make a stand for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…not charlatans who believe they can promise our individual happiness. Steadfast and Loyal, Happy 240th American Independence Day!”

Mr. West, you can take your Steadfast and Loyal, Happy 240th American Independence Day and shove it. Full story here.

Ken Burns Talks Trump.

cbs_ftn_berns_race_150823c-800x430

Ken Burns speaks to CBS (screen grab).

In an interview with the Daily Beast on a retrospective of his films, acclaimed documentarian Ken Burn spent the majority of his time discussing the candidacy of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and what it says about America.

[…]

Discussing Burns’ film The Central Park Five — about five black teens who were wrongly convicted of assaulting a white woman in New York City — Burns recalled how Trump reacted at the time.

“He shamefully took out a full-page ad in all of the New York dailies asking for a restoration of the death penalty for two 14-year-old, two 15-year-old, and one 16-year-old innocent children,” Burns explained. “While New York State laws would not have permitted their execution, just the fact that there was a rush to judgment ought to be complete evidence of how temperamentally unsuited he is for the office he now seeks.”

Burns makes an excellent point here, in regard to Trump’s volatility. Trump is con man, always ready to twist in the wind, willing to change views in a heartbeat. All his viewpoints are on the repugnant side, which should be enough to scare people away, but it isn’t. Given that, people should seriously consider Trump’s eruptions into temper, and how that would translate in an office of high power.

“I find Donald Trump more of a super-predator. This idea that he can attack and attack and attack whole groups of people, and that we live in a media culture where that’s permitted to be tolerated—it’s the spectacle and not the truth of it,” he said. “An amoral internet permits a lie to travel around the world three times before the truth can get started, and we live in a place where lying is OK—where a lassitude develops where it doesn’t matter what the truth is—and that’s how it’s possible for someone like him to be advanced who is so clearly temperamentally unsuited and has no idea about governing.”

“The Republican Party has been extraordinarily successful at getting many groups of people to vote against their self-interest,” he continued. “Evangelicals are voting for Donald Trump. What part of Donald Trump reminds you of Jesus Christ? Trump lusts after his own daughter on national radio, talks about women’s bodies and breasts in such a disparaging way, and mocks them. How is this in any way Christian? When you make the ‘other’ the enemy, how is that Christian?”

Okay, that last question is silly. Christians are all about othering, it’s the lifeblood of their belief. If you don’t other, how you can get your self-righteous judgment on? (Yes, I know, #notallchristians.)

Full story here.

Racism: The Divide is Black and White.

A Black Lives Matter demonstrator (Shuttershock)

A Black Lives Matter demonstrator (Shuttershock)

On Monday, Pew released the results of a survey showing that, eight years after Barack Obama was elected president, 61% of black people and 45% of white people say that race relations in America are “generally bad.” That’s compared with 59% and 34%, respectively, who had negative impressions of race relations in July 2008.

If you’re wondering why things have gotten so tense, Pew has also released a report that offers a possible explanation: namely, black people and white people see black people’s struggles completely differently.

The survey shows that black people overwhelmingly blame lower-quality schools and discrimination for why “some blacks have a harder time getting ahead than whites.”

A majority of white people, meanwhile, said that “family instability” and “lack of good role models” were chiefly responsible for the problems facing black communities. Only 36% blamed discrimination, and just 45% said that a “lack of jobs” was holding black people back.

In other words, while most black people think that higher levels of poverty and lower levels of economic mobility in their communities are the fault of America’s legacy of systematic racism and under-investment, more white people are content to blame black people themselves.

Here’s the key chart:

screen-shot-2016-06-27-at-1-47-31-pm

There’s much more at Fusion, including the chart which shows that Republicans say there’s actually too much discussion about race in America.

This is mind-numbingly disheartening, that more and more, white people are simply turning their backs and declaring there’s no problem, really, if people would just stop making a thing out of race, well, no probs.

Sunday Facepalm

Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.

Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.

Well, the KKK is back at it with their little flier campaign. It’s a bit more involved than the last effort in Georgia.

Following the mass shooting at gay nightclub ‘Pulse’ in Orlando, Florida, the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi gave out anti-gay pamphlets to the homes in Gautier and Ocean Springs along the Gulf Coast.

[…]

In response to news reports of the incident, Brent Waller, who identifies as the Imperial Wizard of the United Dixie White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Realm of Mississippi, said it’s his right to distribute whatever material even if locals do not welcome them.

‘I got the same right under the First Amendment to pass out pamphlets and literature just the same as the newspaper does,’ Waller told the Hattiesburg American.

Waller defended his group’s anti-gay sentiments by saying that black people and Muslims are also their list.

‘[The pamphlets were] put out in a legal fashion, nobody’s being targeted,’ he said. ‘There’s some things about gays, but there’s also some things about blacks and we’re coming out with one on Muslims next week.’

Goodness, he sounds a wee bit defensive. I’ll admit to being quite amused at the politically correct disclaimer after the Boycott 101’s final paragraph:

“Don’t let the outside immoral crowds and their news media get your butt in a bind. We will never bow to homosexuality and bestiality or other unnatural sexual perversions that go against the laws of nature and GOD.”

It said: “This is a mass flier drive, no one is being targeted because of race, religion, national or sexual orientation.

Emphasis mine. Not overly amused though, because while the Klan is not remotely the same powerful organization it used to be, given the rise of the far right everywhere, along with white nationalism, it doesn’t pay to completely discount such groups. There’s a great deal of ugly in the Boycott 101 flier, but even the Klan, it seems, has had to learn where to carefully draw a line.

And Waller said he and his group don’t want outsiders coming into his state “spreading their liberal agenda.”

“Our state is being bombarded by outside views,” he said. “They get on the news about the flag and gay rights agenda.”

But the straight white perspective is rarely told, even though the bulk of Mississippi residents are white, Waller said.

According to a U.S. Census report issued in July 2014, an estimated 62 percent of the state’s residents are white.

“We’re the Klan that’s been here since the Civil War,” Waller said. “We have long been the voice for the white right wing. People may not like our views, but we are entitled to them.

“We’re not out here hanging people no more, but we certainly have some viewpoints that some people don’t agree with, but we certainly have some who do. I don’t sugarcoat it. I’m not politically correct. We are the main group for the white man. We have been for 150 years.”

Waller said the UDWK will continue to push for the right to be heard.

“We’re really going to get the message out this summer,” he said. “As long as we’re not using any inflammatory or hate-type material in our fliers we’re OK.”

And contrary to popular belief, Waller said, he has nothing against gays as long as they don’t flaunt their lifestyle.

“If somebody wants to live a certain lifestyle, I’m cool with that,” he said. “But if they want to push their agenda on us … I had one of those gay churches contact me. I told them I’m going to pray for you. You don’t have to worry about us harming you, but I think what you are doing is wrong.”

It does appear, at least for now, that the Klan remains mostly de-fanged.

Via Hattiesburg American, and Gay Star News. Boycott 101 Flier.

Brexit, Nexit, Frexit…

Marine Le Pen with Heinz-Christian Strache of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (AFP Photo/Vladimir Simicek)

Marine Le Pen with Heinz-Christian Strache of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (AFP Photo/Vladimir Simicek)

Brexit, Nexit, Frexit, Fuck it. The chain has begun, with far-right, racist leaders all over* cheering Brexit, and whipping up similar sentiments all over Europe. I’ll just give you one small quote, and you can go read the rest, I hate beginning the day with despair.

— And the leader of Germany’s right-wing populist AfD Frauke Petry said in a Facebook post the Brexit was a warning that “if the EU does not abandon its quasi-socialist experiment of every greater integration then the European people will follow the Brits and take back their sovereignty.”

Yeah! Can’t have that whole humans being compassionate and caring stuff going on, oh no.

*Including American racist moron, Trump.

Full Story Here.

Stonewall: Where [White] Pride Began.

Last year, I was excited to hear a movie was going to be made about Stonewall. I wasn’t so excited when I heard it would be directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot). Then I thought to myself, well, how bad could even Emmerich do, it’s a great story, filled with amazing people. Optimism really doesn’t pay off. After last September, I heard many negative noises about the film, and promptly forgot about it.

Did you see Stonewall? Based on its abysmal box office performance, it seems safe to assume you did not. The terrifically abominable thing — just a badly-planned and shoddily-executed work from start to finish — premiered last September and grossed just $187,674.

Stonewall is offensive on two counts: Not just for being a lousy movie, but also for whitewashing history. The 1969 Stonewall riots, as has been well-documented, was a landmark event for LGBT rights; two of the most prominent protesters were trans women of color, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.

But Stonewall director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot) wanted his movie to appeal to the masses, he explained to Buzzfeed, and in order to get that mainstream appeal, he created a fictional protagonist, Danny. Danny is gay but, in Emmerich’s words, “very straight-acting.” He is cis and he is white. He moves from Indiana to New York City and, in the film, is the brick-throwing rebel that incites the riots that sparked a movement.

:Gobsmacked: So Emmerich thought a white, cis-het appearing, apple pie and mom guy would magically appeal to the ‘mainstream’. Who did he think was going to be the major audience for a movie about Stonewall? This reminds me of the often blank reaction people get when they realize that indigenous people are still around – Stonewall was in 1969, and no, not everyone there and involved is dead, let alone long dead.

Perhaps it will not surprise you to know that many, many LGBT individuals and allies objected to this act of erasure — Johnson makes little more than a cameo, Rivera is M.I.A. — and over 20,000 people signed a petition promising to boycott the movie altogether.

No, that doesn’t surprise me at all.

One might think that Emmerich, nearly a year out from his film’s release and subsequent commercial and critical failure (Rotten Tomatoes rating: 9 percent) would, upon reflection, realize his errors. Or not! In an interview with The Guardian pegged to the release of sure-to-be-cinematic-masterpiece Independence Day: Resurgence, Emmerich “sighs at the memory of his passion project’s reception.”

“My movie was exactly what they said it wasn’t. It was politically correct. It had black, transgender people in there,” Emmerich said. “We just got killed by one voice on the internet who saw a trailer and said, this is whitewashing Stonewall. Stonewall was a white event, let’s be honest. But nobody wanted to hear that any more.”

Stonewall was a white event. Did I say I was gobsmacked before? No, Stonewall was not a white event. It wasn’t even close to a white event. Titus Montalvo, a Stonewall vet, put the crowd at 70% Hispanic and Black. That’s not overwhelmingly white, but I suppose to an Independence-minded Emmerich, that constitutes a white event. Mr. Emmerich, please, stick with your idiot pleaser popcorn flicks, and consider staying very, very quiet about events such as Stonewall. No one appreciates your continued whitewash.

Full Story Here.

North Carolina LGBT law protesters reunite for Orlando.

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Participants attend a Moral Monday rally near the North Carolina Legislature in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, June 20, 2016. Victims of violence including the recent Orlando shooting and the Charleston shooting were honored during the rally. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Opponents of North Carolina’s new law limiting antidiscrimination protections for LGBT people have reunited to mourn the victims of the shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub that killed 49 people and condemn state policies they say are responsible for furthering bigotry nationwide.

The state NAACP held a vigil “against hate and discrimination” late Monday in Raleigh on the Bicentennial Mall between the offices of Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly building.

“We are one humanity, and we will not be divided by hate and discrimination and violence — not in Florida, not in North Carolina, not in America, not in this world,” state NAACP president the Rev. William Barber said.

The state’s law preventing local governments from passing LGBT anti-discrimination protections and directing which bathrooms transgender people can use has transformed North Carolina into the epicenter for the national discussion on LGBT rights. Serena Sebring of LGBT advocacy group Southerners on New Ground said the Orlando shooting was an extension of the same fight.

“Homegrown terrorism in this county is not new, and it is fueled by bigoted leaders and institutions of the far right, including the architects and supporters of House Bill 2, who put a target on our people’s backs,” Sebring said. “We know that we are relentlessly under attack at the hands of these entities just for daring to live our lives.”

Serena Sebring is absolutely right. This is domestic terrorism, American terrorism, committed by Americans. People need to face that, whether or not they like it. All of us queer folk, we’re surrounded by people who have a serious problem with our existence, let alone us having the same rights as everyone else. The particular ideology behind queerphobia isn’t all that important, whether it’s being shored up by Abrahamaic based religions or bullshit secular reasons doesn’t matter – it all comes down to hate and fear, hate and fear which is being fomented and exploited by a multitude of individuals and groups. These people don’t care if there’s someone out there messed up enough to start killing – for too many, that’s actually seen as a good thing. Right now, Americans are faced with a distinctly American problem, and it’s time to focus on that fact.

Via Fredericksburg.com.