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“I firmly believe that no one should be killed for their beliefs, no matter how harmful those beliefs might be,” Orr said. “But we are watching our rights being stripped away. We are having our friends’ lives cut short, & then we are told to stay quiet while those responsible are celebrated.”
In just a few short years, Orr has watched as the momentum toward recognizing the full #humanity & #rights of #transgender people has collapsed.
Orr recently left their home state of WV, finding it no longer safe after being threatened & assaulted.
#Kirk’s rhetoric of “#Christian #white #nationalism, anti- #transgender, …anti-woke culture-war framing, this isn’t on the edge anymore,” Orr said. “It has moved into what many consider the center of #Republican identity.” They said they were deeply concerned about how few people seemed willing to point out the consequences of this shift: “Who is actually fighting for us?”
Robin D.G. Kelley, a historian at UCLA whose scholarship on #RacialInjustice also landed him on the #ProfessorWatchlist, is struck by how rapidly our society has changed since #Trump took office a 2nd time.
Kelley pointed to the fact that Trump was widely condemned during his first term when he called the #WhiteSupremacists who rallied in #Charlottesville, VA, “very fine people.”
Now, #Democrats & #centrists were lining up to honor a man who promoted the same #GreatReplacementTheory that served as the rallying cry for that march. At a time when the president of the #US is using his power to go after #diversity efforts & engaging in a #MassDeportation project, some #progressives are arguing that #POC, #immigrants & members of other marginalized groups who felt dehumanized by #Kirk’s commentary, podcasts & debates have to find a way to locate common ground w/his followers.
“There has been an #extreme shift,” Kelley said. “This treatment is authorizing the idea that #WhiteSupremacy & #racism is not just a conservative idea, but a legitimate one.”
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