• Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    90
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    The phrase “I voted for this” has become a common thing for far-right supporters of Trump to say when something particularly brutal has happened to their political opponents.

    I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it, If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you. – Lyndon B. Johnson, attributed by Bill Moyers

    • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      1 day ago

      That last part is still accurate He had it right.

      I remember as a kid growing up in a extended family just emerging from the worst kind of american poor. My fathers generation was the first to have decent living conditions but still faced hunger as children. They all could remember when they got electricity and running water. The older generation of aunts and uncles would often say things like 'We may be poor but at least were not N******s". That hasn’t changed a lot in some circular family tree’s.

    • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      I’ve met racists who love this quote, they just think that “convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man” is equivalent to “convince a colored man he’s as good as a white man” here. They really do.

      Also there are plenty of people who don’t consider themselves racist, yet think their (American, British, whatever) color hierarchy exists outside of English-speaking countries and people there have to take it into account.

      The kind that “is not racist”, but if someone is racist, it’s only the way that they are on top. They can’t conceive that a Vietnamese or a Chinese racist may have a racial hierarchy where they are near chimps. When facing evidence of such being possible, they lose their mind and behave, honestly, quite racist.