Get a Grip
Accusations of White Supremacy and Extremism on the Border
“Operation Lone Star goes hand in hand with white supremacist extremism including efforts to partner with vigilante groups.”
That’s a statement from ACLU Staff Lawyer Kate Huddleston— quoted in a recent article in the LA Times about matters along the border. It’s another piece trying to get a handle on militia efforts and operations in the region.
You can find it here: It’s worth a read and documents some of the labors of the Patriots for America Militia and leader Sam Hall to lend aid in Val Verde County next door.
The phrase “Get a grip,” is defined by Oxford as an informal phrase meaning to keep or recover one’s self control. And that is the advice that springs to mind when folks want to talk about White Supremacy and Extremism on the border. Because it just isn’t so, and frankly, such wild accusations only serve to weaken their brand.
We will write more on this in just a moment.
Let us return to the phrase “Get a grip.” It was once used as the title to a relatively forgettable Aerosmith album, issued in the middle 90s. It was perhaps notable for featuring actresses Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone in almost every music video on heavy rotation on MTV. Back when MTV actually played music videos.
But, the origins of the phrase actually date back to Freemasonry, believe it or not. According to the website “English Stackexchange,”:
The saying 'Get a grip' comes from the notion that a person joining the craft is gaining access to greater understanding; also, they are also learning one or more new hand-grips. the knowledge and maturation of ones soul and the secretive handshakes go hand-in-hand.
As for the Dispatch, the phrase really started stick, after seeing it used years ago in an editorial by the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen, who absolutely savaged Wall Street Journal commentator Peggy Noonan, ending a piece by telling her to “get a grip,” in response to what seemed like histrionics related to the Clinton White House and the Elian Gonzalez situation.
Histrionics. That’s what we hear now, when people seem to casually drop accusations of White Supremacy and Hate. It’s just not a component of the day-to-day reality of life around here. However, that doesn’t mean that the people using the phrase are 100-percent wrong.
They are steeped in white supremacy, by being steeped in the opposition of it. They look for it everywhere, making it perhaps, a daily component of *their* lives. In a sense, while we are all living in a shared reality, our perceptions of it must necessarily differ according to the priorities of our own discrete existences.
It is perhaps this behavior that can have folks in Kinney County raising hell and shouting to the rafters about how the border is in crisis, and certain folks elsewhere trying to claim that the crisis is a ginned up piece of political fakery. Similarly, folks elsewhere can sincerely express their concerns about white supremacy, and believe it to not only be justified, but obvious. They don’t seem to be cynical about it. They seem to sincerely mean it. It is the result of their perceived reality.
One hopes that is changing— as word comes that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has decided to resume construction on the Trump-era wall, “filling in some of the gaps.”
For the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the ACLU, the possible existence of White Supremacy and racism in the culture seem to remain a constant concern.
There is nothing particularly wrong with that. But, it seems like one would be hard pressed to find any average person out there in the U.S. today, that could seriously claim “Man, I think we need some more white supremacy around here,” without being run out of whatever town on a rail. Indeed— that may well be the very definition of cultural progress, the ability to look beyond the color of skin, embracing the common bonds of regional culture, national pride, and delighting in tasty foods from whatever sources. Add to that, embracing each other’s shared humanity— those universal traits we all hold in common: love of self, love of family, pride in achievement, etc.
But doesn’t it seem like, in an economic sense, the demand for racism in the culture is not being met by the supply of it? By that we mean, if there was plenty of racism out there, would there be any need for working actors like Jussie Smollet to pay Nigerian bodybuilders to put on white-face and pretend to abuse him in sub-zero Chicago weather?
Would there be any need for church officials to get caught, painting swastikas on the sides of their own churches? Would there be any need for an otherwise forgettable NASCAR racer to mistake a garage door pull for a noose? For Border Patrol agents using approved equipment, in an approved manner, to be falsely accused of whipping Haitian asylum seekers?
Perhaps not. From these incidents and other, similar ones, one might think there just isn’t enough racism out there to meet the demands of political figures and organizations trying to fight it. So, they must hunt for it, with greater and greater industry, like some latter-day soft Spanish Inquisition, that sadly, we have all come to expect.
In our last dispatch, we expressed the notion that the ACLU and the SPLC and other allied organizations are a necessary part of the process of finding a solution to the border crisis that we all can live with. We still believe this to be the case. We would argue, however, that wild and sustained accusations of white supremacy do little to help. Adjust your perceptions, friends. Get a grip.
Some things catching our eye in the news this morning: yesterday on Twitter, a reporter for the Texas Scorecard, a rightward or perhaps libertarian leaning publication, put out a series of tweets, documenting efforts in Austin, to attempt to compel Kinney County and the State of Texas, to reinstate 3 specially appointed judges to resume hearing migrant cases in Kinney County. The legal filings also seek to compel the dismissal of the current plan to use a rotating cast of area County Judges to hear the cases.
Here’s a link to Mr. Robby Montoya’s thread, where he makes a start of digging into what is a complicated situation.
We hesitate to even wade into it, so we will employ what is an occasional writer’s trick and write around it, in big, broad circles, attempting to masticate all of the easy-to-chew meat around the matter, while avoiding the hard gristle in the center.
The series of filings are being brought by superstar Austin Attorney Keith Hampton. Superstar may sound like a strong word to use in describing him, but no, he is, featured in a recent Showtime true-crime docuseries about a terrible case of mistaken Child Molestation in Central Texas. Hampton was able to exonerate a young man wrongly convicted and imprisoned after what appears to be some shoddy police work— it is the kind of story one must absolutely applaud. Hampton has also spent some time over the years running for various judicial seats. It is perhaps to the benefit of his clients past and present that he remains an Attorney and eligible to take their cases.
So far, there’s been no official, public, comment from Kinney County about the filings. But, one wants to note Mr. Montoya’s perceptiveness in pointing out a document included in the filings, that indicates County Judge Tully Shahan was addressing “members of judicial administration,” and not the specially appointed judges themselves.
We have no idea if any official comment on the matter will be forthcoming. County Judge Shahan avoids reporters as a general rule, in all circumstances, feeling burned by too many negative interactions over the years— even to the point of avoiding those that most would assume are from “sympathetic” organizations.
What a horrible distinction to have to make, when speaking of the 4th estate. “sympathetic organizations.” The fact we have to acknowledge the open expression of bias in so many quarters of journalism is gross. But here we are.
And that’s the writer’s trick— essentially putting all the hard work on you, the reader, to go click that link and try to sort it out for yourself. Nifty, no? Now that the trick has been pointed out, perhaps readers might notice it being employed in all manner of other areas.
And finally this morning— some good news to report, and a mea culpa, of sorts.
Readers and subscribers may recall a moment back in October when a Haitian gang in Haiti, kidnapped a group of American missionaries.
Associated Press and others, reported a couple days ago that the Missionaries managed a daring, overnight escape.
The group of 12 navigated by stars to reach safety after a two-month kidnapping ordeal. Initial reports suggested 17 had been taken, 5 were released earlier— it’s not clear if a ransom for them had been paid. All 17 were apparently members of the Amish, Mennonite, and other Anabaptist communities in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Ontario. It’s a wonderful story as Christmas draws near, click on the AP link and give it a read.
As for the mea culpa, we cringe to point out our own errors. But at the time of the kidnapping, we speculated on the basis of some of the imprecise language used in the reporting that a potentially larger group of missionaries may’ve been kidnapped. In retrospect, that was kind of stupid of us. Any decent reporter would’ve reported that right off the bat, if it were a possibility. The fact they didn’t was a big clue that we should’ve heeded.
This seems like a perfect point for us to remind readers to be sure and take what we say here with a grain of salt. We are ultimately, in the end, literally a small-town schmuck, pointing things out that seem to be escaping much of the notice of the great and good. In full disclosure, as always, we will sign off once more by mentioning our ongoing employment with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, and that readers should bear in mind that any opinions and errors expressed here are ours alone, and not indicative of county policy.