When I was in elementary school I loved the <\/span>Dukes of Hazzard.<\/span><\/i> The funny shenanigans of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane kept me laughing, while the co-stars Bo and Luke Duke\u2019s \u201cforget the rules\u201d attitude appealed to my mildly rebellious spirit. And the show\u2019s elaborate car chasing sequences kept my young heart racing. \u00a0I was in awe over Uncle Jesse\u2019s truck, Daisy\u2019s jeep, and Boss Hogg\u2019s impressive white, convertible Cadillac Coupe de Ville. \u00a0Bo and Luke\u2019s Dodge Charger, however, was the sitcom\u2019s automotive centerpiece. The car was orange with welded doors, which required Bo and Luke to jump \u2013 and sometimes seemingly fly \u2013 into the vehicle. \u00a0And the top of the car was adorned with white stars emblazoned on a large, blue \u201cX\u201d. The car was called the General Lee. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know what it meant at the time but it looked and sounded cool. And I wanted it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I remember talking to my mom about the General Lee as a kid and I could tell that she seemed uneasy. We ended up opening several volumes of our Funk & Wagnall encyclopedia collection and some Black history texts, all of which my mother <\/span>still <\/i>keeps on our family bookshelf to this day. \u00a0Although I knew the basics of slavery I did not know about General Robert E. Lee or this thing called the Confederacy. As I read I realized that the \u2018cool\u2019 symbol atop of my favorite car named General Lee was the Confederate Flag \u2013 a flag flown by traitorous men and women who fought to maintain \u2018the right\u2019 to enslave and kill my ancestors. <\/span><\/p>\n Suddenly the General Lee was not so cool. And although I did not stop watching <\/span>Dukes of Hazzard <\/span><\/i>cold turkey, it became less and less appealing until it was no longer a part of my must-see-TV. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t too long after this experience that our family was walking in our hometown of Lexington, Kentucky and we came across a statue of a man on horseback. I had seen this statue before but I had never paid much attention to the accompanying plaque. \u00a0I loved animals and, honestly, I was much more fascinated with the horse than the man and I ran up to the plaque to find out about this magnificent stallion. \u00a0The plaque did not contain any information about the horse. \u00a0But I discovered that this man was named John Hunt Morgan \u2013 a Confederate general. \u00a0I had never heard of John Hunt Morgan, but by this time I knew what \u2018Confederate\u2019 meant. \u00a0It meant that the man on this granite pedestal fought to keep my family enchained. <\/span><\/p>\n I really don\u2019t think I can articulate how that made me feel as a little Black boy. But I can tell you it wasn\u2019t good. <\/span><\/p>\n It was only a matter of time until that I realized that flags, memorials and buildings dedicated to those who fought to keep my ancestors in chains were all over the beautiful city and state that I still lovingly call home\u2013 conspicuously displayed on courthouse lawns and university campuses. <\/span><\/p>\n Despite this early education on race relations, and the fact that I was well aware of the Corbin, Kentucky race <\/span>riot<\/span><\/a> and prominent Kentucky <\/span>Klan activity<\/span><\/a>, I never feared that I would be killed by White Supremacist violence. Perhaps it was because I lived in \u201cthe city\u201d and primarily traveled between the cosmopolitan meccas of Lexington and Louisville. Besides, Klan members were most often portrayed as old, uneducated White men living in eastern and western Kentucky, places we seldom traveled. \u00a0Or perhaps it was due to adolescent naivety or toxic ideas of masculine invincibility. \u00a0Most likely it was a combination of all these factors. \u00a0Still, the idea of being killed due to my race seemed far-fetched. \u00a0Until it didn\u2019t. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was walking home from Jacobson Park, which, at the time, many might have considered the outskirts of the city. I could have gotten a ride from friends that were also at the park but I didn\u2019t. \u00a0It was a beautiful day and I wanted to walk, no matter how far. Along the way a flatbed truck sped by and some young, White males yelled something out of the vehicle. I could not decipher what they yelled but I assumed it was pleasant. \u00a0I even waved at them, as if they were merely saying hello. \u00a0A minute later, though, I noticed the truck circling back towards me. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This time their shouts did not need decoding: \u00a0\u201cNigger!\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I was shocked into momentary immobilization. This was not the first time I had been called a nigger. Not by a long shot. But this was the first time that I had heard the racial epithet annunciated in such a way that I thought it would be the last word I would hear before I died. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The truck turned back around and I was still stunned. \u00a0\u201cIs this really happening?\u201d The first rock barely missed my face. \u00a0\u201cYes, this is happening.\u201d \u00a0I ran. And I found a place to hide in some bushes off the side of the road. As I hid in those bushes listening to them taunt me and detailing how they planned to kill \u201cthat nigger\u201d I began to prepare for the worse. \u00a0\u201cIf I\u2019m going die,\u201d I said to myself, \u201cI\u2019m going to die fighting.\u201d \u00a0I picked up a stick and a rock of my own and I waited to be discovered. <\/span><\/p>\n Luckily, I wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n Understandably my parents were distraught when I finally made it home. My mother prayed. My father made me get in the car and we went searching for that truck. We never found it. I\u2019m not sure what would have happened if we had, but I do know that I had never seen such fire in my Dad\u2019s eyes. <\/span><\/p>\n Still, what was most unsettling was having to describe the perpetrators. They were so incredibly\u2026normal<\/em>. They were not dressed in white hoods. They were not old. They were young, white males not much older than myself dressed in everyday clothes. They seemed no different than the many young, White males I had encountered in my life. <\/span><\/p>\n They looked like several of the young, White Supremacist in the Charlottesville <\/span>rally<\/span><\/a> this past weekend; the same rally where Heather <\/span>Heyer<\/span><\/a>, a brave woman who stood up to homegrown terrorists, was killed and another 19 hospitalized. <\/span><\/p>\n Strangely, the terror I felt that day in the bushes\u2013as I listened to those men argue over who would noose me first\u2013is not what keeps me up at night. Nor is it the horrid sight of all those White men and women in Charlottesville\u00a0with torches, shouting Nazi slogans and homophobic slurs as they protected the monument of a U.S. traitor who fought to keep Black people as chattel. Condemning these acts of White rage is easy. \u00a0Any decent human being can \u2013 and should \u2013 do so. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s the other routine, everyday practices of White Supremacy that truly worry me. Because those are the things that take more work to call out. \u00a0It\u00a0requires us all\u2013you\/me\/we\u2013 to assess how we perpetuate systems of oppression. Identifying Nazis, fascists, and Klan members is easy when they show up en mass with torches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The real American horror story is that these White Supremacists will go back to their normal, routine jobs \u2013 deciding who gets hired and fired, who goes to jail, who gets promoted or held back in school, who deserves a home loan and who does not, and who merits a warning versus a bullet during a routine traffic stop. <\/span><\/p>\n But they are not the only ones going home and blending into society; so are you\/ me\/us. And you\/me\/we will fail to recognize all the ways in which we benefit from White Supremacy and all our various unearned privileges, yet continue to perpetuate and justify the oppression of others. That\u2019s the real nightmare. <\/span><\/p>\n Still, we should not minimize this recent gathering of White Supremacists, which the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated as the largest assembly of hate groups in decades. White nationalists are plainly staking a claim that they plan to take back \u2018their\u2019 country or, to put it in more popular political parlance, \u201cTo Make America Great Again.\u201d As Trump continues to blame \u201c<\/span>many sides<\/span><\/a>\u201d for the violence and to commiserate with the \u201cvery fine people\u201d in the White Supremacist mix, lets also be clear that he is not only sympathizing with Nazis; he is plainly justifying their terror and sanctioning White Supremacy. White Supremacists are literally <\/span>tweeting<\/span><\/a> thank you notes to him for the entire world to see. \u00a0They see him as one of them. And he is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s response to this White rage is certainly deplorable, though not surprising. While\u00a0Trump did not create modern day racists, he certainly curated racism and xenophobia as a means to his political ends. It\u2019s those claiming to be shocked by Trump\u2019s abysmal conduct who really leave me confused though \u2013 as if they have been blindfolded, spun around in a circle, and their worldviews left shaken and disoriented as they attempt to navigate this place that looks like their home, this supposed meritocracy, but feels utterly warped. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those of us in the crosshairs of Trump\u2019s vile rhetoric and potentially devastating social policy initiatives have always recognized that the house is crooked. <\/span><\/p>\n We all knew what his campaign slogan meant when he repeatedly howled \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d From racist diatribes about Mexican immigrants and Mexican-American lawyers, to self-proclaimed Muslim bans, to choosing one of the most homophobic politicians as his running mate, and appointing known White Supremacist to his cabinet and to the U.S. Attorney General\u2019s office, we all knew where we were headed: to a resurgent and emboldened anti-Black, anti-semitic, misogynistic, and xenophobic covenant with the underbelly of White nationalism. \u00a0Much\u00a0like\u00a0the era that\u00a0those\u00a0men who are memorialized as Confederate heroes sought to preserve. <\/span><\/p>\n What do we do with this groundswell of White Supremacy? \u00a0I do not pretend to have any definitive answers but I do have some suggestions. \u00a0And if you ever contemplated what you would do if you lived in times of extreme injustice \u2013 such as Indigenous genocide, slavery, the Holocaust, Japanese Interment camps, the Civil Rights Movement, the continuous and disproportionate killing of unarmed Black men and women by state sanctioned authorities \u2013 you no longer need to wonder because we are nearing the precipice of such a time. \u00a0What are you willing to commit? \u00a0What are you willing to sacrifice? \u00a0What can you do?<\/p>\n 1) Do not go back to life as usual<\/em>. \u00a0Life as usual is what has gotten us here in the first place. \u00a0If, after Charlottesville you are still working the same, parenting the same, ministering the same, teaching the same, and\/or talking to your friends and loved ones the same, then you are part of the problem. If you remain neutral, the White Supremacists win.<\/span><\/p>\n 2) Stop saying\/posting\/tweeting #ThisIsNotUs.<\/em> Yes, it is. It really, really is. We need to acknowledge and take stock and ownership of the ways in which we perpetuate the societal structures and cultural norms that produce the conditions that allow White Supremacy, sexism, homophobia, and classism to flourish. <\/span><\/p>\n 3) Have\u00a0<\/em>difficult conversations<\/em>. This is easier said than done but it is important that you\/me\/we keep challenging ourselves. Talk with people that have been doing the work for a good long time. They likely have knowledge and experience that can help you see the world in a more inclusive way.<\/span><\/p>\n 4) Be prepared to get your feelings hurt.<\/em> \u00a0And when you do, commit yourself to keep coming back to the table. \u00a0I speak from experience. \u00a0I\u2019ve spent the majority of my professional life working to understand and end violence against women in the US and abroad. I\u2019m often the only man in these spaces. \u00a0I\u2019ve been embarrassed and yelled at on several occasions because I asked foolish questions. \u00a0I certainly got my feelings hurt. \u00a0But I did not run away. \u00a0I stayed. \u00a0I listened. \u00a0And I thanked the women for making me a better person. \u00a0We have to be willing to put ourselves out there and to make mistakes if we are truly committed to doing this work.<\/span><\/p>\n 5) Donate your time and money<\/em> to organizations that are doing the work. Do some research. Support groups where your skill set best meets the\u00a0need. \u00a0It\u2019s one thing to \u201clike\u201d or post an article on Facebook but we need you out in those streets \u2013 and in the boardrooms, houses of worship and social justice organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n 6) At the same time, don\u2019t underestimate the power of social media<\/em>. #BlackLivesMatter, #WomensMarch, and others have demonstrated that social media can be a formidable organizational tool. \u00a0Use it wisely. <\/span><\/p>\n 7) Get involved in the political system<\/em>. \u00a0I know that many are politically fatigued but it\u2019s important that we call our local representatives, encourage others to vote and work to repeal restrictive voting laws that disproportionately and negatively impact Black and Brown communities. <\/span><\/p>\n 8) And, for goodness sake, model the advocates in my <\/em><\/span>hometown<\/span><\/a><\/em> that effectively worked to relocate Confederate monuments.<\/em>\u00a0Historians have demonstrated that Confederate memorials were erected primarily to <\/span>intimidate<\/span><\/a> Black people and their allies. As a scholar, I assure you that we are not trying to rewrite or forget the past. On the contrary, we need to know our history so that we can help make sense of what is happening today. We are simply asking that turncoats and those that fought to kill, rape, and to keep people of African descent in perpetual servitude not be revered as national heroes, effectively solidifying racism in stone (and sometimes children\u2019s toys). Between Google, museums and good old-fashioned books I assure you that the Civil War will not be forgotten. <\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re still not there yet and you believe the mythology that the Civil War was not about slavery, I suggest that you read the declaration of causes that explained rationales for leaving the Union. \u00a0In short, in the declaration of causes you will find: a) an unambiguous defense of slavery; b) some seceding states making the case that slavery should be expanded; c) an admonishment of abolitionism because the possibility of freedom encouraged slave revolts; d) Georgia and Mississippi both suggesting that slavery was essential to the Southern economy; and e) the Confederacy suggesting that the compact between states and the federal government was null and void because Northern states often refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required that runaway slaves be returned to the South. <\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re still<\/em> not convinced that these memorials should be relocated, then perhaps you will accept the perspective of the great-great <\/span>grandchildren<\/span><\/a> of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee, all of whom advocate for the removal and\/or relocation of the memorials of their infamous relatives. Still not persuaded? How about following the lead of General Lee himself who not only <\/span>opposed<\/span><\/a> Confederate monuments, but also wanted to purge the Confederate <\/span>Flag<\/span><\/a> from public spaces after the Civil War. And if you\u2019re still on the fence, I want you to imagine yourself as my parents: attempting to explain to their two young, Black sons why an army of pro-slavery, treasonous men and women fighting against racial progress should be glorified, put on a literal pedestal and outstandingly displayed in public places.<\/span><\/p>\n And if you\u2019re still not convinced?\u00a0Then\u00a0shame on you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He has also written op-ed and guest blog essays on the <\/span>George Zimmerman verdict<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Bashir and the International Criminal Court<\/span><\/a>, and the <\/span>Orlando Massacre<\/span><\/a> among others. \u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In his free time Shawn enjoys volunteering with his therapy dog, practicing the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and competitive eating competitions. \u00a0Pies and cupcakes are his gastronomic specialties.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Guest post: by Shawn McGuffey When I was in elementary school I loved the Dukes of Hazzard. The funny shenanigans of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane kept me laughing, while the co-stars Bo and Luke Duke\u2019s \u201cforget the rules\u201d attitude appealed to my mildly rebellious spirit. And the show\u2019s elaborate car chasing sequences kept my young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":5091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1573,1576,1581,1583,1582,1199],"class_list":["post-5088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alt-right","tag-charlottesville","tag-confederate-statues","tag-dukes-of-hazzard","tag-hate-groups","tag-kkk"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"7868d12c30c6653cb699d4ff1f5a8e65--union-territory-equestrian-statue\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/333\/2017\/08\/7868d12c30c6653cb699d4ff1f5a8e65-union-territory-equestrian-statue.jpg\")
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C. Shawn McGuffey, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology and African & African Diaspora Studies at Boston College. \u00a0A native of Lexington, Kentucky, his scholarly work primarily highlights how race, gender, sexuality and social class both constrain and create the choices survivors pursue in the aftermath of trauma. \u00a0Two of his current projects focus on sexual trauma. \u00a0One examines how gender, sexuality, and race shape parental responses to child sexual abuse; and the other investigates the social psychology of Black rape survivors in the U.S., Ghana and South Africa. \u00a0A third project investigates the ways in which Darfurian genocide survivors navigate the International Criminal Court; and a fourth examines Black LGBT views on same-sex marriage and civic engagement. \u00a0McGuffey is the recipient of three American Sociological Association section awards: \u00a0the 2006 Sally Hacker Award for research excellence, a 2009 \u201cBest Research Article Award,\u201d and a 2016 \u201cDistinguished Article Award.\u201d \u00a0In 2016 he also received the Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems. \u00a0The Ford Foundation, a Research Incentive Grant, and the Institute for Liberal Arts have supported his research. \u00a0He has given invited lectures at the Center for Children and Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, The Center for the Study of Violence and Prevention at the University of Colorado, Harvard University, and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n