In a day and age where it seems like “politically correct” is an oxymoron, it’s important to pay attention to the words and actions of those in public office.
When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green and Rep. Paul Gosar speak at the white extremist-backed America First Political Action Conference where Nick Fuentes asks for a round of applause for Russia and the crowd chants “Putin! Putin! Putin!” in response, there is no need to err on the side of caution, give them the benefit of the doubt, or worry about the context in which it happened.
Nope.
Feel free to use the common sense given to you and believe who they are showing themselves to be.
This is also true of your local and state politicians.
Sometimes, we get caught up in what’s happening at the national level and forget to pay attention to the things closer to home… and that can be a mistake.
Much of the legislation that directly impacts our daily lives happens on this level so it’s incredibly important to know where your elected officials stand. In many states, religious beliefs and personal convictions are driving legislation that impacts your civil and human rights. As a result, it’s imperative to watch and believe who these people are showing themselves to be.
A good example is Sullivan County TN Commissioner, Mark Vance.
I mean, his comment on the February 6th 2021 Facebook post by the Bristol Herald Courier should be your first hint as to who he is. The article was about the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump and the attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Vance’s comment read:
“This wasn’t a insurrection it was a plan event by the Democrats. Just like Portland and Washington state.”
As I stated in a FB post regarding this comment, despite the run-on and incomplete sentences and the incorrect verb tense, the meaning of Vance’s comment is clear: He believes Democrats planned and carried out the attack on the Capitol as well as coordinated the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland and Washington State.
Now, you’re probably thinking that many Republican politicians would agree with him and that there’s nothing wrong with what he’s saying.
I disagree.
Here’s why: It’s not just this one statement that shows us who Mark Vance is. It’s a long list of misogynistic, sexist, and racist posts and comments.
On June 22nd at 10:18pm in response to activist Shawn King’s call to have statues of Jesus removed along with confederate statues because they have also been used as a tool for white supremacy, Commissioner Vance made a FB post stating: “Making any comment about this socialist agenda will create tension and controversy. But when they want to remove Statues, pictures of Jesus and claiming [sic] White Supermacy [sic] is WRONG!!! Let the war begin!!”
Now, you might take a look at the sentence structure and believe that all we have here is a lack of punctuation and proper grammar. (Because we’d all like to give someone talking about White Supremacy the benefit of the doubt, right?) — Remember, what I said at the beginning of this article about that.
Again, I have to disagree.
Here’s why: As I reported in a subsequent FB post, concerned citizens, including Sullivan County Commissioner Angie Stanley, commented within minutes of the post going up suggesting Vance clarify the meaning of his post as it appears to support white supremacy. For whatever reason, he chose not to take the post down or edit it.
In fact, the post remained up as originally posted for approximately 13 hours (5 hours after I initially contacted him about it) and was only edited after the brilliant independent journalists at The Tennessee Holler reported the information I had given them.
I don’t know about you, but the non-racist people I know would immediately take efforts to remove or correct a post that people have said appears to support white supremacy. They definitely wouldn’t wait 13 hours or until a media outlet called them on it.
When a local station, WCYB, reported on the post and the subsequent controversy it sparked, Vance claimed “This isn’t me.”
Again… believe who they show you they are, not who they say they are.
In an exchange regarding his comments and an apparent attempt to disparage me, Commissioner Vance asked me “Is it true that you’re for killing babies and for the Muslim community?”.
Based on that comment (which has been a common theme for those trying to discredit me during my protests against political and corporate corruption) one might draw the conclusion that Mark Vance has Islamophobic or xenophobic beliefs as well.
In case you’re wondering about the “killing babies” part, it’s because I support a woman’s autonomy over her own body. Apparently, for Commissioner Vance, that means I support killing babies despite leading a 24/7 healthcare protest outside a hospital for 257 days sparked by Ballad Health’s plan to close the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that saved my granddaughter’s life. (You can’t make this stuff up folks.)
The issue of women’s autonomy brings me to the next example of why we should 100% believe who Mark Vance has shown us he is.
In 2018, controversy found the Sullivan County TN Commissioner once again after his Facebook page had a post calling women who participated in the Women’s March dumbasses.
Not to worry though folks, Vance claims that he didn’t actually write the post. In an interview with WCYB, he claims that someone hacked his ipad as a joke (ummm, what?) but that he does agree with the sentiment. What’s interesting that Vance made a follow-up post that began by saying, “Saturday I made a post on Facebook in regard to the government shut down and I included the comment about the March in Washington.” It also says, “I referred to these people as dum a Women.”
The Bristol Herald Courier reported that Vance said he accepted responsibility because he understands it was his page and he’s responsible for the content.
Why is he in office?
For the same reasons the Republican party needs to have a “discussion” with Reps. Greene and Gosar regarding their appearance at an event hosted by a man labeled as a white nationalist in court filings by the Department of Justice who literally called for applause for Russia from the very stage they spoke on.
The American people continue to turn a blind eye and give a deaf ear to what is clearly laid out before them. There seems to be this overwhelming cognitive dissonance that allows these individuals to say and do things that are clearly prejudicial and detrimental to minority segments of our society.
We witnessed the same thing with regard to former president, Donald Trump. From “nasty” women to “the Blacks” and “shit-hole countries”, Trump repeatedly showed us who he was.
Short of public lynchings or burnings at the stake, I’m not sure anything is going to get people to see the politicians for the people they are showing themselves to be.
And I’m not even sure that would do it.
Meanwhile, these politicians continue to sit in positions of power that create the laws and policy that governs our lives.
How can a man adequately represent the women in his district if he believes her choice to exercise her constitutional rights makes her a dumbass?
How can a man who believes his love of Jesus justifies a call to war in defense of white supremacy properly represent the Black and Brown people of Sullivan County?
How does this man represent the religious freedom this country was founded upon?
How does a woman who speaks at a white nationalist event equitably represent the BIPOC individuals in her district?
The answers are simple and the same for each of those questions:
They can’t.
They don’t.
These politicians (and many others) are clearly and consistently showing you who they are.
Believe them. Please.
