Glaude Jr.: Capitol Hill Riot Motivated by Belief that ‘White People Matter More’

EXCERPT:

GLAUDE JR.: “I was just thinking about Frederick Douglass’s formulation that the church house stood next to the slave auction block. Right? So there’s always been this contradiction in this country. Where the adjectives matter, white Christianity, black Christianity, right? In some ways as the theologian Howard Thurman said, black Christianity came into existence as a refutation of the idolatry of white Christianity. So we’ve been having this battle, right, within American christened for a long time. And ranging from slavery to African-American status as citizenship to this moment now. And this is what I want to ask brother Timothy here. Timothy I think you’re absolutely right about the importance of truth, particularly in the context of a deliberative democracy and how lies erode the very foundation of our conception of ourselves as a democratic republic, but what if there’s a bigger lie behind the lies that we’ve experienced, a lie that informs the conception that white people matter more, that white citizenship carries a different sort of meaning, when we look at 'The New York Times,' for example, reporting all of the kind of paraphernalia of white militia and the like that in some ways that was a riot of white grievance, a mob in defense of white resentment. What do we do with that lie, Timothy, in relation to the state and peril that our democracy finds itself in now?”
SNYDER: "Yes, sir, I -- I agree with that completely. I mean, in the article 'The New York Times' magazine I said there was a big lie told by Trump and there’s a big lie about our history. And those two things are connected. And you have just named very precisely the big lie of our history. And that lie is that African-Americans are not equal human beings. These lies are connected. When Mr. Trump says that he won the election, what he’s really saying is that black people shouldn’t be allowed to vote. When he’s saying there is fraud, what he is really saying is that we shouldn’t be counting those votes in those cities, in other words, we shouldn’t be counting the votes of African-Americans. The big lie in American politics is going to come down to race. And that’s why the people who stormed the capitol building, the people at the very front, were white supremacists. And when they’re saying this is our House, what they’re saying is that what only white people can be represented in this House. It’s not about votes, it’s not about equality, it’s about race. And frankly, our democracy, the future of our democracy, hangs on the thread. And that’s the thread do we look seriously, not only at the big lie of today but at the big lie of our history? And are we willing to say, look, everyone should be given their own voice, everyone should be given their own vote? If we accept that, then the big lies of the president will sort themselves out. So I thank you for that question.”