1488 is a combination of two popular white supremacist numeric symbols. The first symbol is 14, which is shorthand for the "14 Words" slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." The second is 88, which stands for "Heil Hitler" (H being the 8th letter of the alphabet). Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs.
White supremacist groups have infiltrated US law enforcement agencies in every region of the country over the last two decades, according to a new report about the ties between police and far-right vigilante groups.
In a timely new analysis, Michael German, a former FBI special agent who has written extensively on the ways that US law enforcement have failed to respond to far-right domestic terror threats, concludes that US law enforcement officials have been tied to racist militant activities in more than a dozen states since 2000, and hundreds of police officers have been caught posting racist and bigoted social media content.
Rather than rejecting the concept of wokeness outright, today’s detractors often claim they are rejecting the word as a signifier of pretentiousness and “cultural elitism”. However, as Fox and others have shown, it is as much to do with the issues of racial and social justice. Criticising “woke culture” has become a way of claiming victim status for yourself rather than acknowledging that more deserving others hold that status. It has gone from a virtue signal to a dog whistle. The language has been successfully co-opted – but as long as the underlying injustices remain, new words will emerge to describe them.
I’ll start if by saying I am just a white boy, as that Merle Haggard song goes. I honestly didn’t know many black people – most of them were city folk – living a life culturally different than myself. But I do believe in political activism and sticking up for ones own rights and betterment of one’s community.
I believe that there is too much government and that too often law enforcement acts like an occupying force rather than a community protector. Too often communities call on law enforcement to do all jobs, but the problem is the only tool set that police really have is the penal law. They’re a hammer – an excellent tool for nailing nails but an awful tool for fixing most problems with an automobile.
I think we need a more just police force, a smaller one that does less and treats people more fairly – regardless of race. We need less laws and more communities that solve their own problems by discussing things and offering appropriate supports to those in need. We need a more affordable government, so that police aren’t so dependent on making revenue off the colored and poor.
There are a lot of white people who just want to point to the racists and bad cops. But that is ignoring the enormous institutional pressures that encourage cops to behave badly. Going after black people in poor neighborhoods is an easy way to get ticket quotas up – the poor have little voice. Cops aren’t bad people but they are often forced to act badly. Stop blaming bad cops and start blaming bad police departments.
And while being white and middle class gives me privilege, it certainly doesn’t make me immune from injustice and doesn’t exempt me from being abused in many of ways African Americans are by the police. If police are treating black people badly, it certainly can spill over far from there. Tactics used on one community can and do spill over. Being white gives me priveledge but it doesn’t make me safe from an abusive state.
They often have Black Lives Matters protests in my neighborhood. I have often considered attending. I’ve thought about adding a Black Lives Matters flag to my collection. And I’m always trying to listen and learn more about the unique things that people struggle with being poor or of color. Injustice in one community is injustice everywhere and one communities problems can spill over elsewhere.
The Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders was on the best seller list in 1968, it's content captivating news headlines and providing countless hours of commentary and analysis over the past 50 years. You can read all 426 pages of the report online.
Discrimination and segregation have long permeated much of American life; they now threaten the future of every American.
This deepening racial division is not inevitable. The movement apart can be reversed. Choice is still possible. Our principal task is to define that choice and to press for a national resolution.
To pursue our present course will involve the continuing polarization of the American
community and, ultimately, the destruction of basic democratic values.The alternative is not blind repression or capitulation to lawlessness. It is the realization of common opportunities for all within a single society.
This alternative will require a commitment to national action–compassionate, massive and sustained, backed by the resources of the most powerful and the richest nation on this earth. From every American it will require new attitudes, new understanding, and, above all, new will.