Re-Open Howard County and Their Praise for Racists

The recent police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, against the backdrop of hundreds of years of oppression and countless lost Black and Brown lives, have led people across the country to rise up in protest against racism and police brutality.

Meanwhile, a cowardly, feckless sociopath skulks around the grounds of 1600 Pennsylvania.  Bull Connor with a Twitter account.  His words and deeds have “inspired” some of his followers to encourage and/or engage in violent acts, up to and including murder.  Tragically, some of those toadies are in positions of authority…ranging from local police officers to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Turning locally, much has already been written about Re-Open Howard County and their true motivations.  Yes, they may issue statements that are soaking wet from their crocodile tears, but their mask continues to slip. 

On the evening of May 30, on their official Facebook group page, they touted three “great speakers” who offered their perspectives at the Re-Open Maryland rally in Annapolis held on that same day. One, Michael Peroutka, was described by Re-Open Howard County as a “constitutionalist.”

The question is, whose constitution?  The United States?  The Confederacy?  Another nation?

Peroutka is perhaps better known in Maryland for being a one-term Anne Arundel County Council member, having fluked his way into a GOP nomination in 2014, he lost his re-election bid (in the primary) in 2018.

But before then, he was a member of the League of the South, a “white nationalist, Neo-Confederate, white supremacist” organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated this organization as a hate group.  This should not be surprising given the League's worldview as well as their connection with various neo-Nazi groups.

From Wikipedia:

“On December 6, 2012, the Human Rights Campaign called Peroutka an "active white supremacist and secessionist sympathizer" due to links to the League of the South.^[15][16]Peroutka told The Baltimore Sun that he "continues to be a proud member of the League of the South,"… and

In 2012, a video of Peroutka showed asking a group to stand for the national anthem, then leading them in Dixie.”

Dixie.

He claims to have left the League of the South, having once served on their Board of Directors.  But has the organization left him?

If Re-Open Howard County can praise such a figure in public, who else are they adulting in private?

In solidarity.