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.
I believe in the sun. In the tangle of human failures of fear, greed and forgetfulness, the sun gives me clarity.
It is difficult for the American mind to adjust to the realization that the Rhetts and the Scarletts were as much monsters as the keepers of Buchenwald-they just dressed more attractively.
Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.
Politeness of the mind is to have delicate thoughts
Gay or straight? So what? It doesn't matter to me. We have to be concerned about other people regardless.
Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious instrument in the attainment of the historic, universal, aims of humanity.
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