On Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023, a 21-year-old white supremacist named Ryan Palmeter drove up to the Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida’s predominantly Black New Town neighborhood wearing a tactical vest, mask and blue latex gloves. He got out of the car, grabbed his Glock pistol and AR-style rifle emblazoned with swastikas and allegedly killed three people, all of them Black, before turning the gun on himself.
Now, that kind of unbridled violence and hatred is bad enough. But it gets even worse when you add the context that, one day earlier, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy lashed out at Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a Black woman and a Democrat, calling her and Black author Ibram Kendi “the modern grand wizards of the modern KKK.”
In Congress, she’s been relentless in her fight for reproductive justice, justice for immigrants, consumer justice, justice for seniors, justice for workers, justice for survivors of sexual violence, criminal justice reform and healing for those who have experienced trauma.
In short, she’s everything the MAGA Republican can’t stand: a smart, strong woman of color who refuses to sit down and shut up.
Tell me again why Black folks should vote Republican? I don’t think I heard you over the gunshots.