Tag Archives: kristi-noem

Racist Caricatures and Dog Whistles are Nothing New in America

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The White House altered the photo of Civil Rights Attorney, Nekima Levy Armstrong, following her arrest after participating in a protest at a Minnesota church where the pastor is an ICE agent. Homeland Security director, Kristi Noem, shared the correct image (on the left) on social media, but called the peaceful protest a “riot.”

Employing racist caricatures are in keeping with this regime’s political ideology. And following the Supreme Court’s heinous decision to allow for racial profiling, they have taken this to the extreme. ICE, under the direction of the DHS, has been mostly targeting Black, Brown and Asian people in their recent pogroms in Minneapolis.

Of course, none of this is new in the United States. There is a long legacy of denigrating Black women. Whether it be the mammy, or the “angry Black woman” or the Jezebel, or the “welfare queen.” Stripping the humanity away from Black women has been a fundamental feature of white supremacy in America. Along with this dehumanization of Black women came the terror and violence of the state, with rape, medical experimentation, forced sterilization and lynching being the most common methods.

The protest on the church in Minnesota was also not a “riot.” And the use of that term is loaded with racist dog whistles itself. In truth, the protest was totally justified given that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, is an ICE agent.

White Christians have long supported the white supremacist arrangement of power in the United States. In particular, southern white evangelicals, who played a major role in justifying slavery with Bible verses and later supporting Jim Crow discrimination and segregation.

Throughout the centuries-long history of white European colonialism and conquest in North America, racism has played a central part in its ideology and culture. And little has changed in this regard. Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian communities have long suffered under the boot of American “democracy.” Now that the net has widened to include white people, perhaps some will begin to understand that none of this is new.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Civil War or General Strike? Americans must choose wisely.

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If there are still Americans that think they can wait for the midterm elections in November or 2029, they are deluding themselves. You cannot vote your way out of an authoritarian state.

The Trump regime is actively building a police state and ICE’s reign of terror in Minneapolis is a portent for what is coming. They are kicking in doors without a warrant. Abducting kids from school or their workplace. Disappearing people, mostly Black and Brown people, off the street in broad daylight.

The regime is sending a clear message that they will not tolerate opposition. In fact, all opposition will eventually be viewed as being “radical left” domestic terrorism. That slogan on Kristi Noem’s podium which read “One of Ours, All of Yours” wasn’t just a threat. It was policy.

And the Democratic Party will not offer any meaningful dissent as they capitulate and appease the fascist regime. Indeed, liberal intellectuals like Ezra Klein are encouraging the party to go even more toward the right than they already are.

Does anyone really think “we stand with Israel” Chuck Schumer will stand up against the brutality of the American state when he won’t even say if he would abolish ICE or reduce its funding, even after it committed murder in plain site? Or Hakeem Jeffries who supported a genocidal state? Or liberal darling, Gavin Newsom, who is opposing a tax on billionaires in his own state?

This is the nascent stage of open fascism. It isn’t even full blown yet, since most Americans are still able to express their frustrations online. But that, too, will eventually be suppressed.

I once encouraged Americans to get out if they could, especially if they are Black, Brown, an immigrant or queer. Or to move to blue states. But even those states will be under siege, as we see in Minnesota.

Right now, more and more Americans are posting their frustration and rage online. More Americans than ever before are saying that civil war is inevitable. And they are preparing. Whether or not they are right, we should all be shocked that so many are saying these things out loud in a country awash in guns. And because words are often the precursor to action.

The only things that will stop this is for white Americans to look to Black, Brown and Indigenous movements. To learn from their oppression by the racist American state and their struggle against it, which goes back centuries. To learn how to build movements, community and sustained resistance. To understand that the powerful are not omnipotent, and a people united are the biggest foil to a brutal ruling class and regime.

Another is to strike. Not a small strike. A nationwide, general strike. The only thing that will force change is to hit the regime economically. Grind its financial machine to a halt. Make its parasitic billionaire class squirm. This is not without tremendous risk. We all know how violent the regime is. But there are limits to every power. And money is their god and their drug.

Will Americans do this? Right now, many are. Every day, thousands of ordinary people are getting out on the street to oppose ICE in Minneapolis. They are organizing and assisting those targeted. They are putting their bodies on the line, even after they murdered Renee Nicole Good in cold blood.

As the cost of living continues to rise exponentially and more Americans are crushed by state violence, more and more will look for solutions. Channeling this rage into non-violent, collective action can turn things around. But the window for that is closing rapidly. And once it is shut, it could take years or decades to pry it open again.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026