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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nOvert racism, which the media disguised as fear and white marginalization, built steadily during the Obama administration. A sign in Whiteside County, Illinois sticks in my mind: \u201cOne Big Ass Mistake America.\u201d Some white neighbors firmly believed only white people, particularly white men, were meant to occupy the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those neighbors tried legitimizing their racism by repackaging bigotry as policy priorities and a platform for a political apparatus \u2014 the Tea Party. Black and LGBTQIA+ people, for example, were transformed from human beings to issues this modern-day White Citizens Council could run against. Yet try as it (and, interestingly enough, Donald Trump) might, the Tea Party couldn\u2019t weaken this nation\u2019s desire for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s no question that change brought in an administration that, like all administrations before it, was not committed to peacebuilding through a nonviolent approach. That reality doesn\u2019t diminish, or nor should it be used to excuse, the vitriol \u2014 the verbal and visual violence \u2014 aimed at Obama simply because he didn\u2019t look like the other 43 presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His leadership was delegitimized in some conservative Christian circles (who continue using sacred text to dehumanize Black people) before he set foot in the White House. Many of those conservatives have convinced themselves that being a conservative Republican is a spiritual practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, while a non-Black liberal Commander- in-Chief like Bill Clinton could simply be written off as a sinner, Obama upset the allegedly ordained world order. And the Tea Party became something a far cry from its originator \u2014 the Moral Majority. Or was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The late Rev. Jerry Falwell\u2019s efforts to fight the integration of Liberty University reportedly propelled him into politics. However, he understood building political capital with racism was a non-starter. That\u2019s when he and his ilk became obsessed with abortion and theologically torturing LGBTQIA+ people. The Moral Majority wasn\u2019t pro-life. It was pro-Christofascism with a side of homophobia and racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, the Moral Majority\u2019s evolution into the Tea Party shouldn\u2019t have surprised so many white liberals and progressives. But they weren\u2019t paying attention, or else simply mocked the people pledging to end Roe v. Wade. Similarly, many of them chose to mock and dismiss the man who became our immediate past president, when he came down the escalator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, Russian interference may have paved his way to the White House, but racism justified by false Christianity helped galvanize his base. That false Christianity kept them galvanized enough to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6. They\u2019ve transformed a literally and figuratively bankrupt political leader into a makeshift messiah, whom they hoped would make their Handmaid\u2019s Tale dreams come true in the name of a white Republican Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n