What White America Must Do Next

James Alex Fields, Jr., a 20-year-old from Ohio, decided to plow his car into a peaceful crowd protesting the racist spectacle. Heather Heyer of Charlottesville was killed and at least 19 people were injured. Cornel West, who joined the counter protests with a group of clergy, witnessed it all and told me, “I have never seen this kind of hatred.”

If these were normal times, even if you believed a press conference to be typical American racial theater, you would expect the President of the United States to condemn unequivocally the hatred and bigotry of the white nationalists gathered in Charlottesville. But these aren’t normal times.

Instead, Donald Trump offered a mealy-mouthed response. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.”

Trump did not mention white supremacy or single out white nationalists. He only offered a general condemnation based on a false equivalence: that somehow what we witnessed in Charlottesville was the same as protests at the University of California, Berkeley, or in Ferguson, or in Baltimore. As if what came out of the mouths of these “white thugs” is equivalent to the principles espoused by those who dared to stand up to them.

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It is an old move, really. A rhetorical sleight of hand meant to trap the critic in a corner and to hide the speaker’s true intent. Black people have seen it since the first moment we called attention to this country’s hypocrisy. In this case, Trump did not want to condemn the white nationalists in Charlottesville because they are on his side.

These people, as David Duke reminded the president, helped elect him. Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III represent these people. And, if The Daily Stormer, a white nationalist publication, is any indication, these people are quite satisfied with what Trump said. “He said he loves us all…. No condemnation at all. Really, really good. God bless him.”

Of course, many politicians and pundits (myself included) were quick to condemn Trump. Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted “There is only one side. #charlottesville.” Joe Scarborough tweeted “Mr. President, call it by its name! ‘WHITE SUPREMACIST TERRORISM.” Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona tweeted, “The #WhiteSupremacy in #Charlottesville does not reflect the values of the America I know. Hate and bigotry have no place in this country.” Ivanka Trump’s eventual Tweets sounded similar. But these condemnations all seem a little too easy to me. No matter their intentions, they smack of a certain kind of sentimentality. As James Baldwin noted, sentimentality is “the mark of dishonesty;…the mask of cruelty.”

It is easy to condemn Trump and the white nationalists who participated in the rally—to say that they are the bad people. But we give them life. What about the racially coded language that exploits white fears and has defined our political discourse for generations? These rabid racists shout their Nazi slogans, defend Confederate monuments, and declare that America is a white nation—while politicians on both sides of the aisle trade in the myth that Trump’s election was a backlash of the white working class, as if what is happening to white workers is somehow distinct from and more important than what is happening to workers of color. As if we are the reasons life has gotten so much harder for white working people in this country.

The irony, of course, is that this so-called Rust Belt rebellion isn’t true. A higher percentage of Trump’s voters in comparison to Clinton voters were from houses that earned over $100,000 a year. Moreover, several studies have shown that social issues, not economic issues, motivated the Trump voter. Trump voters worried that a particular cultural vision of America was eroding. Politicians’ appeals to “the white working class revolt” among Democrats and Republicans is less about the economic devastation of workers and more about white identity—with black and brown folk and immigrants as the scapegoats.

These white nationalists say they want to take back their country as members of Congress push draconian immigration policies that will ensure this nation remains a white nation. It is easy to condemn the violence of these white supremacists as politicians debate the logistics of a return to a regime of policing that has devastated black and brown communities, or challenge Affirmative Action because supposedly black and brown students are taking the slots of white students, or seek to disenfranchise millions of our fellow citizens under the guise of voter fraud. They all seem to be on Trump’s side.

Such views give oxygen to white supremacy’s blazing fire. And such views have animated American politics as long as I can remember. Trump’s election has inflamed and emboldened those who embrace them. Now, we have to confront honestly this fact: the white nationalists in Charlottesville, and every other town, are as native to American soil as sagebrush and buffalo grass. What is required of white America now is something much more than a sentimental condemnation of that fact. Ask yourselves: Can you truly give up the idea that this is a white nation? Can you imagine this country as a truly multiracial democracy? Or, are you willing to cast this fragile experiment into the trash bin of history, because you refuse to have it any other way?

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Game of Thrones Episode 705 Recap: To Catch a Zombie

Were you hoping for more dragon mayhem? Although we did get some fire-breathing in “Eastwatch”—not to mention a couple of bashed-in skulls courtesy of a beloved, long-lost character—the latest episode of Game of Thrones was a relatively quiet one by recent standards. No towns were burned to the ground, Arya didn’t even take out her sword, and all the White Walkers did was, well, walk.

Still, despite the lack of major violence, the writers aren’t wasting much time at this point in the series. Here’s all the important stuff that happened:

Dany Executes Some More People

Yes, Sam Tarly’s dad was a major dick, but his brother was kind of hot. Was it really necessary for Danaerys to kill both of them just because they wouldn’t accept her as their one true queen right off the bat?

Well, Dany’s latest thing is making sure everyone knows she’s not messing around, so execute them she does—which presumably makes good old Samwell the new head of House Tarly. (After all, those super-serious Night’s Watch vows are awfully loosey goosey these days, right?)

Some viewers are taking this scene as a sign that Danaerys is on her way to going full evil, but really, it just seems like she’s being her usual impetuous self. Almost every leader we’ve seen on Game of Thrones has a habit of killing their subjects for minor infractions when it suits them, and it’s rarely a signal that they’ve gone off the deep end.

Whether it’s a good political move is another story. As Sansa—who is well-established at this point as the only person in Westeros with any real sense—tells Arya later in this episode: “I’m sure cutting off heads is very satisfying, but that’s not the way you get people to work together.” In other words, there’s no Drogon in “team.” Take a note, Dany.

Gendry Paddles Back Into Our Hearts

Game of Thrones viewers fall into three basic categories: those who have been obsessing over Gendry’s whereabouts ever since he paddled off into the sunset several seasons ago, those who have forgotten he ever existed in the first place, and those who still haven’t figured out that Gendry and Podrick Payne are two separate characters. (Pro tip: Gendry’s the one who’s the illegitimate son of Robert Baratheon. Podrick’s the one with the really big dick.)

If you’re in the camp of people who remember Gendry with fondness, you must have been delighted last night as soon as you saw Ser Davos wander into the blacksmith’s shop in Fleabottom. Because everyone knows that blacksmith’s shops are where Gendry hangs out. And ta-da! Just like that, yet another long-lost character makes their return.

But while this episode proved that Gendry is pretty good at wielding a giant hammer, it’s unclear yet whether he’s been brought back to do anything interesting or whether he, like Benjen Stark before him, is just a loose end to be tied up. Whatever, it’s still good to have him back.

Cersei is Really Glowing These Days

Yes, Queen Cersei has announced that she’s come down with a case of the pregs. On a normal television show, this would either mean she’s lying or that she’s destined to have a miscarriage in a few episodes after an uncomfortably bumpy carriage ride. But this is Game of Thrones so I guess it’s possible she’ll give birth. God knows what she’s going to do with a baby, but at least her maternity wardrobe is sure to be fabulous.

Gilly Learns the Truth (But No One Cares)

What is possibly the biggest development in this week’s episode is one that goes least remarked upon by any of the characters: while browsing through one of Sam’s dusty old books, Gilly comes across the neat factoid that Rhaegar Targaryen’s union with Lyanna Stark was legal. That would make Jon, not Dany, next in line for the throne, at least for those who still consider the Targaryens to be Westeros’s rightful rulers.

Not that anyone cares. No one ever listens to Gilly. Then again, she and Sam have packed up their portmanteau and are currently trotting away from Oldtown—and it looks like they’re taking their books with them. So this surely isn’t the last we’ve heard of this tidbit.

Drogon (the Dragon) Likes Jon

It’s because he puts a dab of essential oil behind his ears before he goes to bed every night, right?

Arya Gets Bamboozled

Littlefinger is a tiresome character. I know, I know; he seems fun because he was on The Wire and because he’s got an enchanting way with a sidelong glance, but think about all of his dumb scheming, and how inconsistent and over-complicated it always seems, and how little it seems to really accomplish anything except the advancement of the plot in whatever direction the writers want it advanced this week. If someone needs to be killed off or moved around on the board for no particular reason, you can be sure it’s Littlefinger (or Varys, who’s kind of the same character) who will be the one to get things in motion. Which is why I was really hoping that that this would be the week that Arya decided to assassinate him.

Unfortunately, Littlefinger is still up to his old pointless tricks, and Arya—who has plenty of experience with stabbing, but little with scheming—is more than susceptible to them. Our little killer seems to be a proxy for certain audience members in the sense that she still hasn’t gotten over that one time Sansa was a shallow bitch six seasons ago, and so when she sneaks into Littlefinger’s room and finds an old note from Sansa carefully planted under his mattress, she’s ready to go off on her sister half-cocked.

(For those who have trouble reading calligraphy, the note Arya finds is the one that Sansa was forced to write way back when, in which she urged her remaining family members to drop the little matter of their dead father and submit to Joffrey’s rule.)

Jon Has a Plan

The plan is to go to Eastwatch and travel beyond the wall to where the Night’s King is assembling his army. Once there, he and his compatriots will pluck up a single zombie and put it in a box, and then take it back to King’s Landing and show it to Cersei so she’ll know that the zombies are real and decide to help out. (Because Cersei is always reasonable when it comes to these things.)

Did anyone check with Sansa before they decided this seemed like good idea?

Oh, never mind: at least Jon has assembled a ragtag team of all-star misfits with which to do his zombie hunting. Tormund’s the smart one, Sandor’s the sweet one, Gendry’s the slutty one, and. . . oh, wait, that last scene wasn’t a Sex and the City promo?

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