The political engine of race hate accelerates

For anybody who thought a vote for Donald J. Trump on Nov. 5 was a vote for prosperity or respect for life, like when he was last put into office, those voters need to get a starring role in the next production of the film “La La Land.” Not because the film is about U.S. politics. Because the title is so fitting.

Exhibit A, as they say in television court dramas, is an episode at the state Capitol Nov. 14, a mere nine days after the election. It dramatized the idea that the election was about race and men dominating women. At least, it was for a white man named Avi Rachlin.

He testified at a Senate committee meeting that the only people who need gun regulation are the “Sub-Saharan African niggers” in Detroit.

This episode has been reported by MIRS, which serves government insiders, and had racked up 420K views on social media before I verified it with the committee clerk. That was two weeks ago. So, it’s not new, but being a huge offense, it’s news. Here’s what happened.

The Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee met to hear testimony on a bill to prohibit firearms in certain state buildings, including the Capitol. Sen. Stephanie Chang, an Asian American Democrat from Detroit, chaired the meeting. I imagine this bill started out as a precaution against another Jan. 6 type of event at the U.S. Capitol in 2021 after Trump lost. Alas, the bill is no longer needed to prevent insurrection. The Democrats lost the presidency and the Michigan House.

Yet, the sweep of favor that DJT enjoyed wouldn’t be complete if his supporters just tipped a glass and congratulated each other. No, this victory calls for a Tarzanian beating of chests, so Rachlin attended the meeting. “Absolutely not,” he started his testimony. “That is the message that voters sent last week when they decided to eject representatives from the state House and send Donald Trump into the White House.”

Chair Chang listened for a bit before asking if he was there to testify on the legislation, or what? Required to focus, Rachlin said the bill “targets white people. It is racial  … because they voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. You don’t like us.” 

But then, he went on to say the only people causing gun violence are overwhelmingly “Sub-Saharan African niggers” in Detroit.

All breath in the meeting room stopped. I could tell that even from viewing the video. I cannot imagine what it was like inside the room.

It stuns that an emboldened white man spewed such hate speech at a public meeting chaired by a representative of Black Michiganians. Chang’s 3rd Senate District comprises mostly African Americans.

Sen. Jim Runstead, a white Republican representative of western Oakland County, asked, apparently just to make sure his audio equipment was working, “Did I just hear you call a group of people by some … some epithet?”

“Yes,” Rachlin said.

That took Runstead back, but why? Just a few minutes earlier he was verbally aggressive with Sen. Sarah Anthony, a Black Democrat who represents Lansing. Runstead was unable to control himself while she was talking, so, Anthony, in Kamala Harris style, objected. Frustrated that she had not talked fast enough for him, he sputtered, “Well, go. We can’t wait all day for you to answer.”

It was kind of silly actually, but I’m glad she didn’t give him a pass on acting like a buffoon. Maybe they’ll laugh about it one day.

Starting her testimony, Anthony, the Senate Appropriations Committee chair, announced that she’s a gun owner and carrier. What came to mind was a 2020 photograph where amid threats against the government because of the COVID shutdown, armed Black and Latino men escorted her from home to the Capitol and back.

Sen. Ruth Johnson, a white Republican from a mishmash of areas in Genesee, Oakland and Macomb counties, and a former Michigan secretary of state, told Rachlin, “The term that you used is inappropriate, and it will not get you anywhere in this Legislature.”

But hate speech got Trump elected president. Twice.

Rachlin relied on governmental tolerance of his incivility. A white man uttering a slavery word meant to denigrate, humble, control and defeat Black Americans would not be tolerated as well in public in Detroit. Chang shut him down, and he navigated out of the building, unharmed. Chang showed how government is supposed to lead. Have a procedure. Stick with it. Don’t let belligerence or disrespect or hate throw you off your game.

Is Rachlin a sign that political winners are like a football game crowd who cheer on their team with the chant, “Push em back, push ‘em back, push ‘em wayyyy back”?

The worry about DJT wasn’t about just him, the individual. The worry was how his public hate speech dupes Americans frustrated by a changing United States  and their own inability or unwillingness to change. The worry was resisting growth and a healthy attitude about racial and gender differences.

If the winners can’t be satisfied with a decisive showing at the polls, when and with what will they be satisfied?

When only armed white men can appear in public?

When only white men can debate civilly? When only white men can make laws?

(Dedria Humphries Barker is the author of “Mother of Orphans: The True and Curious Story of Irish Alice, A Colored Man’s Widow.” Her column appears monthly.)