Quiz time! Can you spot the difference between these two statements?
"Blacks might be more likely to die from chokeholds because their arteries do not open as fast as they do in normal people." — Los Angeles Police Department Chief Daryl Gates (1982), defending the LAPD's use of chokeholds that resulted in the deaths of several Black men being restrained by officers.
"Why would you add to that clear and present danger by bringing in Palestinians who, let's face it, they view us as infidels. They not only hate Jews, they hate us." — Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (2024) on Fox News commenting on the Biden administration's potential plan to allow some Palestinians into the U.S. as refugees.
Answer: Gates' comments are par for the racist course, depicting Black people as physiological aberrations to excuse excessive brutality. But you gotta hand it to Johnson for his clever trick of not only casting all Palestinians as terrorists but also pretending to care about Jews while at the same time excluding them from his conception of "us" Americans.
Previously: Sen. Ron Johnson stunned when CNN asks him to back up his MAGA lies (video)
