Scapegoating is as American as apple pie. And because there's almost always a racial or ethnic dynamic to it in our country, scapegoating is the evil cousin of white supremacy.
Interpretation
Scapegoating highlights the tendency to blame marginalized groups for societal issues, often linked to racism.
In this quote, Jonathan Capehart points out that scapegoating is a prevalent issue in American society, one that is intertwined with racial and ethnic biases. He suggests that this practice of blaming others for problems reflects deeper issues of white supremacy, indicating that the act of scapegoating serves to reinforce systemic inequalities based on race and ethnicity.
In practice
In a discussion about social justice at a community meeting, one might use this quote to highlight the dangers of scapegoating in American politics.
Isn't it sad that really the only times I feel seen as an American are when I'm abroad? I'm not saying racism doesn't exist outside of the United States. What I am saying is that the rest of the world can see that I'm American. Why is it so hard for so many White Americans?
The harsh truth is that 'respectability' is the exorbitant tax we African Americans are forced to pay daily as we try to live out our versions of the American Dream.
Caught in a racial uproar, people make all sorts of promises to make amends. Whatever they do tends to be heavy on symbolism and light on lasting change.
When you're Black in the United States, you grudgingly grow accustomed to having people deny that your existence is integral to everything that makes this country what it is.
There are still too many instances of police neither protecting nor serving LGBTQ and other marginalized communities. But the response shouldn't be to ban LGBTQ police from a parade.
When you're Black in America, you spend a lot of time counting firsts. The higher the first, the more we marvel (and shake our heads at how long it took to happen.) The higher the first, the more the person who achieved it comes to represent how we want the nation to see us.
Our birth is nothing but our death begun, As tapers waste the moment they take fire.
God cannot alter the past, though historians can.
The God who existed before any religion counts on you to make the oneness of the human family known and celebrated.
You're a religious man, ... You believe in God and life after death. I also believe. When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, 'What have you done?' there will be many answers. You will say, 'I became a jeweler.' Another will say, 'I smuggled coffee and American cigarettes.' Another will say, 'I built houses.' But I will say, 'I didn't forget you.'
Warfare is the father of all good things, it is also the father of good prose!
An unexamined life is a life of no account.
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