Miguel A. De La Torre - Resisting Apartheid America: Living the Badass Gospel

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

www.eerdmans.com

2023 Miguel A. De La Torre

All rights reserved

Published 2023

Printed in the United States of America

29 28 27 26 25 24 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

ISBN 978-0-8028-8216-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

D EDICATED TO

Senators

Ted Cruz (R-TX)

and

Marco Rubio (R-FL)

Weve all heard the myth. Persecuted English Separatist Puritans hazard an ocean voyage on the Mayflower seeking to worship God uninhibited from the religious persecutions of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. As pilgrims in a strange land, they established a foothold in the wildernessthe Plymouth Colonyfor the glory of the one true God. But contrary to popular belief, this promised land which they supposedly tamed was never founded on the principle of freedom of religion, but rather on the principle of white supremacy. The concept of religious freedom was only applicable for white Anglo-Saxons. When these God-fearing pilgrims attacked the Pequot village in May 1637putting women and children to the swordthe Puritan clergy, according to Captain John Underhills journal, justified the massacre by casting the blame for the bloodbath on the alleged demonic beliefs of so-called Native savages.

The nation which emerged from those original thirteen colonies was based on maintaining the purity of Anglo-Saxon whiteness. Those hailing from other white European countries were defined as not being white enough. They faced discrimination, abuse, violence, and even death. If white people can be so sadistic to other white people for not being white enough, what can those possessing too much melanin expect? In the established US hierarchy of race, Anglo-Saxons occupied the pinnacle, followed by those who had to learn how to become whitethe Germans, the Irish, the Italians. The lesson learned is that whiteness, as a social construct, can be obtained if those once seen as not being white enough learn how to hate and oppress Others still considered nonwhite. Yes, whiteness can be learned; but there are those whose very appearancespecifically their Indigenous, Asian, or African features and skin pigmentationprevents them from ever being able to make the transition to whiteness, regardless of how many generations they reside in this nation or how hard they attempt assimilation. They will perpetually be relegatedpolitically and spirituallyto the underside of whiteness.

Lets face it, America became a global empire whose humble roots were originally planted in the soil of white supremacy. This new republic has always been an apartheid nation, whose laws, customs, and traditions were constructed to ensure the power, privilege, and profit of whitesa government of whites, by whites, for whites. Those considered sacred were to remain separated from those consigned to the profane. Those who are not white can live in this America, but only as minoritized second-class citizens, or as the US Constitution would implicitly state for Blacksthree-fifths of a white person. For the first two hundred years of existence Euromales in America (many of whom were unqualified) were assured an affirmative action that ensured their possession of unearned status.

This apartheid structure began to show cracks in the 1970s. As civil rights legislation began to take hold, as white women began to demand equal rights, as the queer community demanded dignity, a socio-political power shift began. With the capture of the White House by a politically moderate Black man in 2008, it appeared the promise of equality might actually become a reality. But the inability of keeping the White House white scared white America. The desecration of this White House was simply a bridge too far to cross in the name of political correctness. For many Euroamericans, this was no longer the America in which they grew up. A cry arose in the land for a return to the America captured in television series like the 1960s CBS Andy Griffith Show about a sheriff in the mystical Southern town of Mayberry, North Carolina, where there were no Black people. Make America Great Again became the new Battle Hymn of the Republic to return to this nostalgic past where Blacks, and other people of color, were neither seen nor heard.

Even though Euromales, and token Eurowomen, still represented most of those occupying posts in government, business, and clergy, for a moment in time, until the election of 45, advances were being made to expand the promise of liberty and justice for all. Unfortunately, we know all too well how the story ended. The response to a Black man leading a historically white supremacist nation resulted in a whitelash with the election of Donald Trump who rode a tidal wave of white fear and anger into the White House. Four years of white rage mattered. The little progress of expanding the rhetoric of American liberty that began to take root in the early 1970s was snuffed out. The political drama of the Trump years, and the collective post-traumatic stress that followed, accelerated a sectarian divide. America now finds itself on track toward reestablishing an apartheid system where the white minority continues to rule. If such a political and economic system cannot be legally reestablished, the alternative will likely be a violent tearing apart.

Sectarianism is usually a religious term used to describe friction between different faith traditions. Think of the European religious wars of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries between Catholics and Protestants, or the tensions existing between Sunnis and Shiites. Because Eurochristianity serves as the spiritual basis for the white supremacy of Euroamericans, the religious term sectarianism is apropos in understanding the political divisions forming against those who refuse to bow their knees to the white God. This new sectarianism is forming and solidifying within the United States pitting Eurochristianity against a pluralist democracy. White supremacy has historically dismissed people of color and their views, who tend to lean more liberal, as being inferior.

But Eurochristianity adds a new dimension to this historical precedent. Not only are those seeking to advance a more just society perceived as intellectually inferior, but they are also immoral, haters of America, enemies of the one true white God. What once was a difference of political positions resolved every two years at the polls has become a religious crusade against the immoral and inferior where winning, by any means possibleeven through the employment of violencebecomes the will of the white God. Sectarianism becomes more than simply differing and disagreeing with anothers faith or political view. A rooted hatred for the Other prevails, a hatred unto death. Defeating ones political opponent is not enough. There is a desire that they be humiliated and decimated.