On Today’s Morning Edition, Georgia Got Something To Say
This morning, NPR’s Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep broadcasted from WABE’s studios in Atlanta. Georgia has emerged as a “rapidly changing” state, and NPR came here because they consider Georgia to be one of the “Divided States of America.” One of the families they featured today includes the Arno family of Lawrenceville. (Here are links to their interviews with Georgians from Macon, Atlanta, and Milledgeville.)
Jimmy Arno is an auto mechanic, and a Christian – although his family does not attend an organized church. He is proud of the sacrifices his family makes to enable his wife Dami to be a stay-at-home mom – and the Arnos believe that we are a “country in trouble.”
“I want grandchildren, but the way this country is right now, I don’t want to do that to these children. Think about what it’s gonna be like in eighteen years. If a child is born right now, on its eighteenth birthday, what is this country going to look like if it continues the way it is? And that’s what scares me.”
When Inskeep asked what is going that wrong “here, in the richest country in the history of the planet,” Arno responded that you are liable to be shot or attacked, whether you are in a movie theater, at a mall, or in Atlanta. Inskeep noted that despite data and statistical evidence that US crime rates are near historic lows, the Arnos feel strongly that they are at risk of violence. Dami Arno noted that were several “BLM” protests at area high schools, including the school their children attend.
In fairness, their concerns about an attack are not grounded in fantasy. In June, WAGA reported that Dami Arno and her daughter were the victims of an unprovoked, apparently random attack by a woman wearing a burqa.
It should not surprise you that the Arnos are Trump supporters. Arno is eager for Trump to “stop the flow” of illegal immigrants (again, despite evidence to the contrary that immigrants take jobs from native-born workers). He is also concerned enough about the country’s direction that he told Inskeep that – while the Arnos have no intention to start a war – he intends to join a local militia group out of concerns that if Clinton wins, and if there is martial law or a civil war following a subsequent government overthrow by “patriots,” he can help uphold the Constitution as the nation is rebuilt. His family, he says, will be ready.
NPR will feature this same group of Georgia voters tomorrow, when we will hear their reaction to the debate.
About Author
Teri
Teri Anulewicz is a Democrat who represents House District 42 in the Georgia General Assembly. She previously spent nearly a decade on the Smyrna City Council. A native New Orleanian and quasi-Texan, Teri graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1998. She's been a front page contributor since 2015, and she compiles each Tuesday's Morning Reads.
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“He is also concerned enough about the country’s direction that he told Inskeep that – while the Arnos have no intention to start a war – he intends to join a local militia group out of concerns that if Clinton wins, and if there is martial law or a civil war following a subsequent government overthrow by “patriots,” he can help uphold the Constitution as the nation is rebuilt. “
It’s so strange that people like Jimmy Arno and me live pretty close together, and if we met we’d be completely civil to one another, and maybe even develop a friendship based on courtesy and a shared fondness for a sports team or a pastime– but on the internet he sounds like an absolutely insane doomsday prepper patriot, a xenophobic nativist, et cetera, and he’d probably think I was part of an international communist/globalist conspiracy to take his guns from him and force him to work on a collectivized farm as the mechanic.
Idk, just felt the need to share the shock of revulsion I felt.
While reading this all I could think of was the old Jeff Foxworthy skit about the media interviewing people after a national disaster.
“They never interview the doctor or lawyer after a tornado hits. It’s always the lady in the moo moo with curlers in her hair. Welp…. it just came atta no wheres!”
I had the exact same thought. His local version of it was even if the tornado hit Buckhead…
I’d like to remind Mr. Arno that citizens who premeditate the killing of US troops and law enforcement officers are not called patriots, in this country or any other. They are called traitors. My guess is that Mr. Arno uses different language for black and brown people who take up arms against the government than he does for white “patriots” who do so. I’d love to be wrong about that.
Selective editing is selective.
I am so jaded with paid media (especially NPR) that I see this as just another wedge piece designed to keep us all divided.
Note the main motivator for his politics is fear. This has been going on since 9/11 and you all frikkin’ know it. 80% of you ‘fear’ this or that, so you form your opinion to avoid that mythical outcome at any cost to your liberty.
But this is not new. I’ve been saying this here (well over there too) for many election cycles. Filter out the attempts to manipulate you through fear.
Be an American. Fight the Power.