Example One Million*

*= It’s just a rough estimate. 

 

I certainly have lost count, though, of the times I’ve had to make this point. It’s not an easy one to talk about—as noted below, too many white Americans simply don’t want to hear about racial inequities. But that doesn’t mean such inequities should be ignored. 

The example this time concerns Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Some of the more radical House Republicans recently pushed through an amendment to a House spending bill reducing Austin’s annual salary to $1. 

 

I guess the good news is that the amendment will eventually be dropped as the budget process plays out. (Hopefully it will eventually play out)

So, it’s symbolic. But what does it symbolize?

The Republican lawmakers in question say they’re taking this dramatic step because of their displeasure with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is widely seen as having been rushed and resulted in several bad outcomes. These include the deaths of American service members and civilians, and the abandonment of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment. 

But Austin is not the only Secretary of Defense to preside over a chaotic withdrawal or the loss of American lives and treasure. During the Reagan administration, we lost hundreds of troops in a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. An entire building was destroyed, nearly 250 Americans were killed, and the American mission eventually withdrew. 

 

No matter how disastrous the policy or how strong the political disagreements have been, though, no Congress has voted to try to humiliate and punish a Secretary of Defense in this way. 

 

And unlike Reagan’s Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, who was a civilian, Austin is a former general who served in the military for 41 years. And, as this article in The Hill notes, Austin “is the first African American to lead the Defense Department.”

So, an African American who has ascended to heights in the military that no other American from his background has achieved in our country’s history. And then we see this outrageous attempt to punish him.

Not that it’s about race, right? One thing we know for sure: when white American conservatives come up with some creative and bizarre new way to punish or attack prominent African Americans or political figures who are people of color, it’s never about race. I’m sure it wasn’t when Barack Obama was accused of being born in Kenya. Or when the right spread vicious rumors about Kamala Harris. Or with the treatment of Colin Kaepernick, who was quite firmly blacklisted from the NFL for exercising his 1^st Amendment rights. 

 

Or maybe it was. But it’s difficult to make that point in a civil way. White conservatives get quite upset when their cruel and over-the-top antics aimed at Blacks get called racism. They become very indignant and start talking about playing the race card.

 

When I try to make this point with white conservatives, you can imagine how it’s gone over. But in this latest case, I think it’s relevant to ask again. If you were Black, and you saw how this successful, highly respected African American was being treated, the extremes that white conservatives are going to in order to single him out for an unheard-of punishment… would you think race had nothing to do with it? Really? 

If you were a young African-American considering going into military service, or political service, and you saw how this groundbreaking role model was treated, what would you think? How welcome would you feel?

 

The reason white conservatives get called out on this stuff is because of their actions, which speak louder than their protestations of innocence. When your political party or movement is uniformly hostile to people of color, with just a few exceptions, it is not unreasonable to ask if race is a problem here. And I think it pretty clearly is. 

 

Again.