Systemic racism is something we have discussed for years. Despite mounds of data showing that it exists, we have our deniers here.
Now, we have moved past that. Unfortunately, in the wrong direction. We don't just have systemic racism-generally felt to be deeply embedded practices and actions within the system that do not require specific racism on the part of an individual, to racist individuals in leadership positions in our government acting in racist ways.
The latest examples:
www.nytimes.com
This month, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security jointly posted a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Instagram, Facebook and X, overlaid with the words “WE’LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN.”
That’s also the name of a song, written by members of a self-described “pro-White fraternal order,” that has been embraced by the Proud Boys and other white-nationalist groups. Hundreds of explicitly neo-Nazi and white-supremacist accounts have shared the song on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, since 2020. The white supremacist who killed three Black people at a Jacksonville, Fla., dollar store in 2023 included lyrics from the song in his writing.
There are two types of people to whom these messages will quickly look familiar,” Oren Segal, a vice president for counterextremism at the Anti-Defamation League, said of the panoply of postings, “white supremacists, and those who study white supremacists.”
A Homeland Security spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said that if the ICE recruiting post were actually about the song, it “would be a problem” and “morally repugnant.” But, she said, the post had no relation to the white-supremacist anthem.
“There are plenty of references to those words in books and poems,” she said, adding that she was “in charge of everything” posted on the department’s social media accounts.
But when the post was opened on Instagram’s mobile app, audio from the chorus of the song played in the background. After a reporter pointed this out, Ms. McLaughlin said The Times was participating in a left-wing conspiracy theory.
“I’m telling you it’s not there,” she said.
Less than 40 minutes after the interview on Thursday, the Instagram post — including audio from the song — disappeared from social media. Posts on X and Facebook, which did not include an audio component, are still visible.
It was The Times, Ms. McLaughlin said, that was “mainstreaming racism” by tying the agency’s post to the white nationalist anthem.
Racism from official government social media. Served with a side of gaslighting. How nice.
Now, we have moved past that. Unfortunately, in the wrong direction. We don't just have systemic racism-generally felt to be deeply embedded practices and actions within the system that do not require specific racism on the part of an individual, to racist individuals in leadership positions in our government acting in racist ways.
The latest examples:
Trump Administration Social Media Posts Echo White Supremacist Messaging
A flurry of posts from the White House, Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security have included images, slogans and even a song used by the white nationalist right.
This month, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security jointly posted a recruitment ad for Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Instagram, Facebook and X, overlaid with the words “WE’LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN.”
That’s also the name of a song, written by members of a self-described “pro-White fraternal order,” that has been embraced by the Proud Boys and other white-nationalist groups. Hundreds of explicitly neo-Nazi and white-supremacist accounts have shared the song on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app, since 2020. The white supremacist who killed three Black people at a Jacksonville, Fla., dollar store in 2023 included lyrics from the song in his writing.
There are two types of people to whom these messages will quickly look familiar,” Oren Segal, a vice president for counterextremism at the Anti-Defamation League, said of the panoply of postings, “white supremacists, and those who study white supremacists.”
A Homeland Security spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said that if the ICE recruiting post were actually about the song, it “would be a problem” and “morally repugnant.” But, she said, the post had no relation to the white-supremacist anthem.
“There are plenty of references to those words in books and poems,” she said, adding that she was “in charge of everything” posted on the department’s social media accounts.
But when the post was opened on Instagram’s mobile app, audio from the chorus of the song played in the background. After a reporter pointed this out, Ms. McLaughlin said The Times was participating in a left-wing conspiracy theory.
“I’m telling you it’s not there,” she said.
Less than 40 minutes after the interview on Thursday, the Instagram post — including audio from the song — disappeared from social media. Posts on X and Facebook, which did not include an audio component, are still visible.
It was The Times, Ms. McLaughlin said, that was “mainstreaming racism” by tying the agency’s post to the white nationalist anthem.
Racism from official government social media. Served with a side of gaslighting. How nice.
