Franklin Graham Brings His Fascist Road Show to Berkeley
No Handmaid’s Tale! No KKK! No Fascist USA!
June 4, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
Berkeley, Friday, June 1—Protesters mobilized by Refuse Fascism and faith organizations rallied and marched to confront and denounce Franklin Graham’s “Decision America Tour.” The protest and the Berkeley stop of Graham’s tour were covered by many media outlets. One called it a “clash of ideologies”—and it was. On one side was Christian fascist Graham exhorting people to “fix” America by being blind, unquestioning, and obedient followers of Jesus Christ AND Christian fascism. On the other, were people determined to stand with humanity, people who do not want the Handmaid’s Tale future of enforced patriarchy, female enslavement, and Christian fascism that the Trump/Pence regime seeks to hammer into place.
Graham included Berkeley in his 10-city California tour to attack what the city is known for—radical thought and activism: “Progressive? That’s just another word for godless,” he told his audience. “Sanctuary cities are a little picture of Hell,” he said on Fox News.
Who Is Franklin Graham?
Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church
Trump would not be president without powerful support from reactionary Christian fundamentalists like Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham.
Graham revels in Trump’s assaults on oppressed people: “He offended gays. He offended women. He offended the military. He offended black people. He offended the Hispanic people. He offended everybody! And he became president of the United States. Only God could do that.” (No, actually a powerful section of the U.S. ruling class and millions of racists did that.)
Graham’s a white supremacist who blames Blacks and Latinos for being shot down in cold blood by police: “Listen up—Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and everybody else. Most police shootings can be avoided. It comes down to respect for authority and obedience. If a police officer tells you to stop, you stop.”
Graham backs U.S. aggression around the world, and is a fanatical supporter of Israel. He attacks Muslims as followers of “a very evil and wicked religion.” He sees increased tolerance toward LGBTQ people as a sign that “We’re in a sick world, very sick.”
Facing Off with "God's Army" and Rabid Trump Supporters
At the protest rally to oppose Graham’s hateful message, two prominent Bay Area Black pastors spoke, as did a staff person from Revolution Books, and Christina DiEdoardo, an activist lawyer from San Francisco.
Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church, denounced Graham’s “fraudulent spirituality” and his attacks on gay people and on immigrants. “We’re not fools. We will not be conned, we will not be steamrolled, because we are all one people in the fight for freedom and justice and equality.”
Rev. Dr. Charley Hames, senior pastor of the Beebe Memorial Cathedral, and President of the National Action Network’s Oakland chapter, said, “We will not be silent, but we will stay woke, we will stand firm, until this fascism will leave not only this area, but our country.”
Later, protesters marched into the area of Graham’s “revival” and faced off with what seemed to be non-uniformed security (some wearing shirts printed with “God’s Army”) and a group of bellicose Graham and Trump supporters.
An agitator for the march called out the whole “revival”: “I am going to tell you why we are here to protest Graham” and ripped into the fascist character of Graham, and the Trump/Pence regime.
A woman from La Colectiva, an immigrant women’s organization from the Mission District, silenced the rabid Trump supporters when she spoke passionately in Spanish about the Christian fascists complicity with the Trump regime’s brutality and murder of immigrants, including children.
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