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Serious thanks for this question. I'll attempt a thread. #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist is a handy way of naming a spirit that gets hold of people. As a Tennessean who attended a segregationist academy for twelve years, I know feelingly that it's had hold of me. https://twitter.com/MmeKCasey/status/1266855538136158209
Calling it a spirit helps me have compassion on myself and others while also acknowledging that I've often been complicit in a system that's often served the ends of white supremacist terror. My blindness to it doesn't change the fact of it. WSAP is real AND ridiculous.
This statue (a white supremacist terror idol) has been worthy of ridicule my whole life long. Have I ridiculed it at any point in my fifty years in Nashville? No. I'd never done the research. It's been an abomination all along. Yesterday, it came down. https://twitter.com/ElliottStephenB/status/1266889433489563653
I think @GovBillLee & @michaelwsmith & @StevenCurtis & @SenAlexander & @MarshaBlackburn & @drmoore know it's an abomination. Do they feel free to say so? Maybe not. Why not? #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist
See what I did there? I referenced all these famous people without calling them white supremacist or antichrist AND I referenced an awesome movie about America. I'm not name-calling. I'm naming a force, a power constellation that doesn't like to be named, a power-exerting spirit.
I'll never be able to see that spirit as clearly as my sisters and brothers of color, but I am, I pray, teachable. Thoreau says we all crave reality in one way or another. I think this is true. How much reality we're willing to acknowledge publicly is another matter entirely.
#WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist (as a phrase) helps me acknowledge more reality that I'm generally comfortable with, but I owe it to myself (and others) to accept & act on more reality as I age. It's my job as a fellow creature citizen to try to be more real.
I talk about this in my books, but @DaultRadio was kind enough to put to the question to me directly. He's awesome. https://www.thingsnotseenradio.com/shows/1917-dark
ALSO, the form of #BelovedCommunity called church has named these challenges before (See Barmen & Belhar) and even as recently as January 2017: https://www.ame-church.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Episcopal-Statement-Council-of-Bishops-re-Trump-Actions.pdf
"More reality that" should've been "more reality than." Also, @E_Reid35 is calling out @vp for behaving like a #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist host body on the federal dime here: https://twitter.com/E_Reid35/status/1266522701826531337
The airy nexus awkwardly conjured in this gesture (in front of a church that did not consent to the photo-op) ALSO has "Senior White House" official(s) afraid to voice their shame & disgust publicly. It's name is #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist https://twitter.com/mrmedina/status/1267594686513872896
Hurray for Jesus, but this is the jargon of #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist. Note the evasion. Every honest expression of moral seriousness is waved away with the positing of a dualism: We don't need ____, we need God. It's dispiriting. https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1268383698174369795
#WhiteSupremacistAntiChrist host body can't help itself. https://twitter.com/CAPAction/status/1268931242122194945
From what I can tell, #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist is what dissuades these three elected officials from praising the five @MetroSchools teens who staged a peaceful #BlackLivesMatter 
demonstration of over 10,000 people in Nashville last week. https://twitter.com/GovBillLee/status/1269365945530748928
demonstration of over 10,000 people in Nashville last week. https://twitter.com/GovBillLee/status/1269365945530748928
Shorter @robertjeffress: Empty your own mind & allow it to be filled with #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist or be destroyed. https://twitter.com/robertjeffress/status/1269357546151776258
. @MargaretRenkl really brings the love of God to my community here. Fun fact: @RevBeccaStevens (who Margaret mentions) performed Governor Lee's sister's marriage ceremony. Maybe righteous communal discernment will win out. We live in hope. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/opinion/protests-white-christian-racism.html?referringSource=articleShare
I don't mention #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist specifically in the review of Susan Neiman's Learning From the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil, but it names much of what I believe she's addressing. https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-culture/cover-story/article/21091204/spell-binding-learning-from-the-germans-considers-americas-moral-possibilities
I know #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist is a mouthful, but we sometimes need extra syllables to explain how the same @TNGOP that wants to make the Bible our official state book also insists on taxpayer-funded idolatry. https://twitter.com/WSMV/status/1270419239015514113
Baby steps. Yay for this, but @jdgreear gave @vp a platform & @drmoore gave VP a pass when VP & @SecondLady flew to Indianapolis on our dime to publicly shun the Christian witness of @E_Reid35. Repentance requires specificity. Go granular or go home. https://twitter.com/RELEVANT/status/1270415196125908997
White supremacist terror idols throughout the country are coming down while @SenAlexander, @MarshaBlackburn @TNGOP, & @GovBillLee refuse to even pretend to play catch-up. #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist demands their silence. Hear @SenAkbari. https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1270745441349652480
Area millionaire who'd like to be thought of as a strong leader feels he can't afford to commit verbally to a desire to see a white supremacist terror idol removed. https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1270786493804695552
I'd love to think this is a Flannery O'Connor reference, but I believe it's #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist doing it's thing. I wish someone at her church would say something. https://twitter.com/VoteMarsha/status/1271462247282479104
Welcome to the civilized world. If something within you resists these witnesses & their words, I'd like to humbly assert that what your sensing/feeling is #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist. Get free of it today. Consider/join/follow/ @brotherjones. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1271750066257170433
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Forgive the thread within a thread, but this call to #EmbodiedSolidarity is, to my mind, righteous. I invite @taylorswift13, @michaelwsmith, @scottsauls, @drmoore, @erlc, @DavidAFrench, & all Tennesseans of goodwill to discuss, amplify, &/or respond to it. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1272177423803715585
Here's the scene yesterday. Urged to move along by State Troopers who, from what I could overhear, kept trying to make a distinction b/w "The Governor's Office" & @govbilllee himself, @brotherjones_ & his colleagues decided to "hold space."
Given the proffered distinction ("Office" vs. Bill himself), the eternal question ("On whose authority...?") was unsettled, even as the State Troopers moved in on these lovely, thoughtful, free citizens.
You'll notice that the Trooper to @brotherjones_' right is refusing to social distance OR wear a mask. As our crowd cried out to him (Give him six feet!"), he was, I'd say, visibly moved. I think @govbilllee owes this Trooper an apology.
Nevertheless, he wouldn't move OR don a mask, even when @brotherjones_ offered him one.
Individuals within the crowd asked the Trooper to consider his place in history, his family, his ethical responsibilities, & whether or not his pride was so strong that he'd let it dictate his behavior in this moment. Some offered to fund him if he lost his job for backing away.
In what strikes me as a cruel turn, the unmasked Trooper was replaced by another wearing a mask. You will note that she is a woman of color. I believe @govbilllee owes her an apology too.
Then came the barricade & another Trooper who also declined to respect our guidelines concerning masks & social distancing. Are both suspended when Troopers are ordered (by someone somewhere) to intimidate?
We live in hope. Please follow @brotherjones_ & create & defer to liturgies that firmly rebuke (instead of cravenly enabling) #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist. Visit #IdaBWellsPlaza
. @popesaintvictor appeared & got some lovely footage after I left. I should also mention that @dorothydaydark took most (if not all) of my pictures. It takes a village to out an antichrist. https://twitter.com/popesaintvictor/status/1271967039054319618
I'm situated in Nashville, but Oxford's relatively nearby. Have a look at what they're thinking through down there (via @johntedge). There are no unrelated phenomena: https://twitter.com/ProfessorTwitty/status/1272219322765672450
These are the lovely people @MarshaBlackburn calls misfits & anarchists. According to the oaths, offices, & baptisms she shares with @GovBillLee & @SenAlexander, they are her employers AND her family. It's time to say Hello. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1272453430611714048
#BabySteps By acknowledging our teenage activists, @SenAlexander has partially broken free of the silence that grips @MarshaBlackburn & @GovBillLee. He reviews history w/ @TimScottSC, but he still won't speak of the terror idol he's approved for 42 years. https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2020/06/10/lamar-alexander-more-white-people-must-change-attitudes-racism/5333660002/
#TimeStamp Morally serious people of Tennessee, this is your cue. All elected officials & friends & family of elected officials are welcome to partake of this clarifying moment in our state's history. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1272532883442409472 #IdaBWellsPlaza
#WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist, meet #ExorcistExtraordinaire, @chancetherapper. https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/1272160337307918336
#WhiteBlessing is code for #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist. Here's where @lisasharper firmly but lovingly rebukes both: https://twitter.com/lisasharper/status/1272869423033061376
Back to our story still in progress, I have little to add (4 now) to @natalie_allison's excellent reporting. Please study/watch/listen. The care with which #idabwellsplaza activists urge Troopers, reps, & @govbilllee to join civil society is breathtaking. https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1272654626567983104
You'd have to ask each of these elected officials why they declined to respond to our hollered requests to be escorted in as their guests. I confess some faces looked like #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist gloating to me. h/t @ariaster
Our story continues. Last night, @brotherjones_ told me that what we were doing is #Pentecost. I feel it in my bones. Who will @GovBillLee serve? The people of Tennessee or the spirit of empire? Empire marketed as Christian is antichrist. Pay attention. https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1272904786019565573
Zooming out, I reluctantly conclude that @GovBillLee & @MarshaBlackburn have been barred by @parscale & 45 from praising their own nonviolent people. Luckily, @MargaretRenkl (& @nytimes) remain free to praise righteousness. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/nashville-teens-protests.html?smid=tw-share @BLM_Nashville @teens_4equality
. @ogles4staterep needs to publicly apologize to @brotherjones_ today. Franklin, TN, mind your people. https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1272928291855482883
Here's another witness to last night's proceedings. It takes a village to out an antichrist. Unless I'm mistaken, that's @DKtheDrummer on drums. https://twitter.com/JoeBandy_/status/1272657892919914496
As a self-styled millionaire of faith mulling a run for governor, I don't think serving #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist was among @GovBillLee's career goals, but how does one rightly characterize his treatment of @brotherjones_ & company? https://twitter.com/SergioMarBel/status/1272921281516748808
One possibly helpful answer to @brotherjones_ question is this: #WhiteSupremacistAntichristPoltergeist. It's got @TNGOP spooked. Friends don't let friends cower in fear. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1272972446027694080
#Babysteps. Journalists, ask him he still approves the white supremacist terror idol that went into the Tennessee State Capitol when he became governor over forty years ago. https://twitter.com/Tennessean/status/1273000156653334532
Here's Kwame Leo Lillard, who protested our white supremacist terror idol in @SenAlexander's day, & @brotherjones_. https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2019/03/27/civil-rights-movement-jim-crow-justin-jones-kwame-leo-lillard/3279359002/?fbclid=IwAR0iO7r4kcxYtU1kXQ_etd8w7gH-Hlg9qhjZ-BGF0H5JkJVnfvOUDwabDlU
I have a very brief #whitesupremacistantichristpoltergeist Tedtalk which you can download or cut/paste or write on a receipt for free. *clears throat* https://twitter.com/DavidDark/status/1273244975774478338
God will not be mocked. @brotherjones_ and his colleagues are promoting our general welfare at great cost and great risk to themselves. @GovBillLee needs to honor them for their service to our state. We live in hope. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1273251916898807809
Before reading, @natalie_allison 's helpful account of @brotherjones_ & #TeamThoughtfulness making a righteous fuss when @tngop, @CSexton25, & @williamlamberth tried to dishonor #AshantiPosey & thereby debased themselves, study this exchange carefully. https://twitter.com/brotherjones_/status/1120804310437253120
Here's @natalie_allison: "39 members voted 'present.'" How could that many adults behave so cravenly? What possesses them? I have words for it. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/17/tennessee-house-gop-fails-pass-memorial-black-teen-shot-killed/3203226001/
