Yes Dick. You do look like a criminal

On the 6th of June 1968 our science teacher ‘popsy’ Delaney entered the classroom and whispered two words to our woodwork teacher Seamus Jones, ‘he’s gone’, turned on his heels and walked out. Being more in tune with politics than woodwork and possessing a good ear I knew immediately that the ‘he’ in question could only be Robert Kennedy. Rumors were out that he had been shot during the night in L.A. Shortly after being declared winner o f the California democratic primary and certain to be the party candidate in the upcoming election Kennedy was shot to death in a murder most foul. But it wasn’t only him that died that night. Subsequent history has shown that along with Kennedy died the last best chance of saving race relations in America. Though not without his faults Kennedy surprised even his enemies with his performance as brother jacks attorney general. He had even had the gall to question the hitherto untouchable j Edgar Hoover the head of the FBI who everybody in Washington knew had the goods on them all. When Kennedy complaints to hoover went too far the fibber threw a few photos on the table that showed the steady stream of females entering the White House to keep jack happy including the gangster molls. Kennedy also went after the mafia and in particular fought with Jimmy Hoffa the teamsters union boss. This outraged the criminals as it was they who old joe Kennedy had prevailed upon to deliver the worker vote for jack in 1960. Kennedy greatest moment came three months before his own death on the night they shot martin Luther king. Campaigning in Indianapolis as the news broke he bravely spoke to a black audience and they say his speech helped to defuse the explosive atmosphere. With Kennedy out the way was open for the republican nominee Richard ‘do I look like a criminal’ Nixon who strode to victory having gone behind Johnson’s back to the Vietnamese and having implemented the famous ‘southern strategy’ to capture the rednecks vote. This strategy was no more than a thinly veiled racist dog whistle to white southerners to be used later by Reagan  bush and trump. It’s more naked manifestation would be used in local elections by the likes of Huey long and George Wallace. Indeed Wallace having lost an election early in his career to an even bigger racist bigot vowed ‘never to be outniggered again’. Anyway in 68 Nixon let the Dixiecrats know that all that civil rights and voting rights stuff introduced by Johnson would be shelved once he got in and he made good on that. Nixon ‘do I look like a criminal’ famously taped every White House conversation and this would of course cause his downfall in 74. One tape only recently released has him taking a call from Reagan then governor of California after the African vote at the u.n had seen China replace Taiwan. Reagan unleashes a racist rant about the Africans finishing up with ‘ these people are not even comfortable wearing shoes’ and Nixon ‘do I look like a criminal’ roars his approval. In actual fact and true to form it was maneuvering by the French and Brits that got China u.n recognition in 71. At all events the failure of successive administrations to address the race issue has led America to today’s sorry impasse. The problem is now though that the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is an ignoramus. Writing in the Baltimore evening sun on the 26th of July 1920 the great H. L Mencken had this to say about the upcoming presidential election and the candidates, ‘a third rate political wheel horse with the face of a moving picture actor, the intelligence of an agricultural implement dealer and the imagination of a lodge joiner. Not even a credible specimen of a second rate man. ‘ He went further, ‘on some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire and at last the White House will be adorned by a downright moron’. That day has arrived.