Mississippi Goddam

(The title is an old Nina Simone song which doesn't really fit this post, or then again, maybe it does.)
________________________________

American bigotry is thrashing around desperately these days.  Mississippi is the latest example, where the governor just signed the state's new Religious Freedom Law, which purports to "protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations, and private associations from discriminatory action by state government." 

(I'm not religious, but this seems appropriate.)

Whoa!  Is that some grade-A Orwellian doublespeak or what?  Since when do organizations have moral convictions?  Discriminatory action by the state?  What it really means is that you or your business may wilfully discriminate and Mississippi will, by law, do nothing.  It means hypocritical "Christians" may now cite "religion" to legally excuse damn near any form of bigotry or prejudice against those they dislike.

This law is the opposite of everything it claims to be and is almost certainly unconstitutional.  Just like in Indiana, Georgia, and North Carolina, hundreds of major businesses will condemn the law, and will inevitably be amended or repealed.

But this is how the "states rights" conservatives are playing the game now.  Whether its voting rights, abortion rights, LGBT rights, etc., some red state will pass some figurative F.U. law and say, "We know it's unfair and unconstitutional.  We don't care.  What are you going to do about it?"  It's a keep-'em-busy game of whack-a-mole -- postpone, delay, litigate, and drag it out so you can hang on to your hate as long as possible.


Upon reflection, I think Nina Simone fits after all.  Here she is, in a righteous performance from 1965: