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Aaron Waddell's avatar

People sometimes forget that the Nazis stole ancient symbology for their nefarious purposes as well, reinforcing your point about the white supremacist’s lack of Creativity.

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Ian Thomas's avatar

They also took a lot of their ideology from this same group of Americans, including eugenics;

https://open.substack.com/pub/ianthomas85/p/history-of-an-ideology?r=2lkf6n&utm_medium=ios

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Aaron Waddell's avatar

Very true

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Aaron Waddell's avatar

I think the “thin blue line” flag might be the most blatantly racist of all of these. Two nations, two Americas, one black, one white, with only a thin blue line, protecting one from the other. Absolutely sickening.

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ROBIN DEGROFF's avatar

Great read. My ancestors were both English and Irish. I did not know about the Celtic cross until now, I am really pissed about that! I do know that they do not have any original thoughts he their brains so, not surprised.

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🔥I. Can't. Breathe.🖤💛❤️✊🏽's avatar

I learned a lot listening to your informed advice. As a descendant of Vikings, I now know why some people have raised an eyebrow at me when I talk about my set of Runes and how I would like to get a certain one as a tattoo - not the one you drew. It's no longer a plan. Also, I have seen the Gadsen flag in Australia. I had no idea why! I live in a remote country town in the Northern Territory and it's small. A ute drove past me yesterday and it had a picture of trump on the back window, the fist up 'fight' pic. I was so shocked that I messaged my kids straight away and told them. They were equally shocked! Aussies for Kamala 💙

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Walter Rhein's avatar

The secret language of white supremacists is scary and it’s unfortunately spread all over the Earth. There are a lot of Celtic symbols that contain swastikas as part of their pattern. It’s not intentional, but it’s there and some people will assume that’s the message you’re sending. These days, people can support their white supremacy by putting up a trump sign. It’s upsetting. Thanks for your kind comment!

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🔥I. Can't. Breathe.🖤💛❤️✊🏽's avatar

Thank you Walter.

This is the town I live in. And it was the birthplace of the KKK in Australia.

https://www.afr.com/politics/hawkes-compact-19870911-k2f5q

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🔥I. Can't. Breathe.🖤💛❤️✊🏽's avatar

My apologies, it's a murdoch rag link, but I wanted to share something quickly.

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DeeDee Reinert's avatar

Very well-said and put together. I wrote a social studies thesis on the origins of the KKK in college, so I did lots of research and was fucking horrified. But I would have been MUCH more horrified if I’d known that 35 years later, this vile, deadly bullshit is still happening, and that Republicans would be supporting (with some of them not even pretending to try and hide it) this racist bullshit) to score points with their evil leader. I naively thought it was in our rear view.

Good advice to stay the hell away these people, they have proved they are violent and deadly to everyone that doesn’t agree with them, regardless of skin color. For this election we need to keep reminding everyone how 44 aligns himself with white supremacy and that David Duke endorses him. Good thing those white robes catch fire easily. Thank you for this guide.

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Aaron Waddell's avatar

The Gadsden flag is like the most popular license plate in TN.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

My wife did a tour of a pubic school recently and it was hanging in a classroom. She said, "I don't like that flag." It made everyone uncomfortable, but they didn't take the flag down.

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DeeDee Reinert's avatar

Jesus, that’s horrifying. Good for your wife for speaking out.

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Kiwiwriter47's avatar

And nobody even remembers who Gadsden was or how he became famous.

The Gadsden Purchase...that little strip of Arizona and New Mexico that was nice and flat...perfect for the Southern Pacific Railroad....

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Millicent St. Claire's avatar

Wow. With unflinching courage, you called it out an delivered a gut punch at the deepest level to wake folks up to the truth about racism and racists. Thank you.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

Thanks for reading!

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Kiwiwriter47's avatar

Absolutely accurate.

Ho Chi Minh -- believe it or not -- studied the Klan while in America in 1922, and dismissed it.

He said it had no original ideas.

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Ian Thomas's avatar

Great piece, but I would argue two things; first is that while I generally agree that the White portion of the Church needs to do better, many supported and marched with BLM.

The second is that we don’t need police. Maybe some critical, swat like groups for true emergencies, but otherwise they create more problems than they solve. Community lead intervention and mental health crisis teams have a much better track record. As escorts of those groups, sure, but not anywhere near the capacity for “law enforcement” that we have now, which is a thinly veiled excuse to power the for-profit prisons.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I agree with your second point. However, if people in the church wanted to help the Black community, they would stop supporting voucher programs that steal money from public schools. They make the show of doing good works, but it’s only to maintain their mechanism of oppression. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

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Oct 6
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Walter Rhein's avatar

Boy, is that an ignorant comment.

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Janice Laz- Romo's avatar

And Wednesday 68 White Supremacist Neo-Nazis were arrested in the San Fernando Valley in California. The tattoos they were covered with spoke their hate.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"...they aren’t able to invent anything of their own so they attach themselves like a parasite to other cultures and ideas." Not unlike what Hollywood film studios do with IP!

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Tani F. Cornelius's avatar

Good piece! I learned about two symbols I didn't know previously: the Gadsden flag and the Celtic cross. Appreciate you sharing this with us!

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Huley Brown's avatar

This is a great guide to a sad time in America. Racism is running rampant in our society! Thank you for this guide to recognizing it!

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AMALIA VILLALBA NUÑEZ's avatar

GRACIAS Y FELICES AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO AMERICAN RACISM

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Katja Walker's avatar

The Gadsden flag is not one I knew anything about, so when I saw it first I thought it sounded menacing. Then I thought maybe I should just smile and say - you must be a snake lover, how nice of you to want to protect snakes. They are so useful at catching rats.

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Jerry Day's avatar

Great read.

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