Racists don't just pop up out of nowhere ... they have a history
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/3/1495163/-Racists-don-t-just-pop-up-out-of-nowhere-they-have-a-history
Matthew Heimbach, who admits to being one of several people violently pushing and shoving a young black woman at a Louisville rally for Donald Trump, didn’t just happen upon the scene Tuesday night. He’s been around for a minute.
Back in 2013, he accompanied Scott Terry to a session sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) designed to help white racist conservatives circumvent the white racist label. At the event the moderator, a black conservative named K. Carl Smith, attempted to give an example using Frederick Douglass, saying how after escaping from slavery Douglass wrote a letter forgiving his master for the way he treated Douglass. Terry replied to this by asking, “For giving him shelter and food, all those years?” Video of that exchange, courtesy of The Young Turks, can be viewed below the fold. As Terry makes his remarks, the camera pans to the right and you can see a young, shaven but spectacled Matthew Heimbach. According to Talking Points Memo, the two attended the event together and Heimbach is wearing a Confederate flag T-shirt.
Just prior to the CPAC event, Heimbach founded the White Student Union at Towson State University in Maryland. No one is saying that white people/students cannot form organizations for themselves; it’s just that when that happens, it’s usually a bad sign for other groups of people. Additionally, the notion that “every other group can advocate on its own behalf” is rife with false equivalencies. Most reputable, credible organizations—legal, social, cultural and political—made up of people of color are advocating for equal access and a fair share. The problem is that historically, access to resources and privileges have been doled out and maintained based on white skin privilege. So yeah, you could say something is being taken away: something that needs to be.
A leisurely stroll through Heimbach’s Facebook photos from his time at Towson, currently set to public, show the Confederate flag prominently and lovingly displayed. A travelogue of Confederate battle re-enactments also awaits the leisurely glance.
