Refuse & Resist!, a national organization building a movement of resistance to the repressive Right wing political agenda, denounces the bombing of a nightclub in Atlanta frequented by gays and lesbians.
For many gay and lesbian residents, Atlanta was a safe haven far from the hatred found in some small Southern towns. No longer.
A supremacist group may be found responsible for this bombing. But these bombings are a part of something larger. The bombings in Atlanta and the burning of Black churches are related. They are all one attack.
This attack is launched from the highest offices of the land. The political agenda of the Right which has as its philosophic base of male supremacy, white supremacy and fundamentalist Christian morality has been adopted by members of both political parties and is now becoming the law of the land. In the past year, California voters adopted the ironically titled "Civil Rights Initiative" which effectively dismantles affirmative action in that state. The Supreme Court sanctioned racially segregated voting districts in Georgia. President Clinton enacted "welfare reform" that will result in one million more impoverished families. The number of jails has grown exponentially to accommodate a generation of criminalized people of color. Police, without censure, beat and murder those they are called on "to protect". Immigrants are denied access to health care and education. Abortion providers are harassed daily and even murdered.
The real conspiracy behind this most recent bombing in the conspiracy of hatred engendered by these political programs, which Refuse & Resist! has come to call the politics of cruelty because of its punitive and scape-goating nature. In order to justify these programs, this politics of cruelty, these politicians find ways to exploit the racism, sexism and homophobia that we all harbor. They create scapegoats and tell outright lies. Women, immigrants and blacks are portrayed as threats to white male jobs. Gays and lesbians as a threat to their patriarchal vision of family values. A generation of people of color is to be feared because of their "inherent criminality". They have tried to divide us into separate camps to keep us from realizing that we are all under attack. It is that hatred directed from above that created the climate where churches burn and abortion clinics are bombed.
Even if the Atlanta bomber is found the politics of cruelty will still be with us. A movement of resistance to the whole repressive politics which unites men and women, gays, lesbians and straights, people of color and whites, immigrants and native born, activists and everyday folk is the only solution.
Let this bombing be the signal that we are all under attack. The time is now to unite to fight back.
To the racists and the woman haters,
To the gay bashers and the welfare slashers,
To the prison builders and the executioners,
Because we see the hope of a better future,
We will Refuse and Resist!
Sincerely,
Robert Rockwell
National Secretary
Refuse & Resist!
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Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org