DEA? ATF? The fact that the "Patriot" Act was basically written and ready long before it was put up for a vote?

But of course now I'm on the other side of the argument. The point is that even though it's a long arc, this doesn't invalidate the current urgency. "Slow at first, then all at once"

“All at once” was 2001 for a lot of people.

Latinos are the current targets, but they weren’t the first.

If you set your metric at targeting and marginalizing racial groups, you undermine your point even harder re "Patriot" Act being the start.

But also, am I supposed to come away with the conclusion that this is all in line with business as usual and there is nothing to worry about as long as I am white?

You are conflating America being racist as hell with the establishment of the surveillance state post-9/11, which was largely focused on Arabs.

America has been a racist cesspool for hundreds of years, but since 2001 it has also become a highly advanced surveillance state that has militarized its own police force.

You may not like it, but this has been developing for 25 years and has just now started to (barely) affect white people.

You've skipped over my two counterexamples of the DEA and the ATF, and their supporting laws criminalizing substances and tools. Those have been around much longer than merely 2001, and had already created some pretty totalitarian spectacles of government attacking the People.

Also driving this conversation towards race reeks of race-to-the-bottom "privilege" politics. Which is why I facetiously asked if your intention is to encourage white people to become less concerned.

Sorry I saw you self identify as a Libertarian and lost interest.

Habit I retained from University.

I did no such thing. I said "libertarian" - note the small 'l'. The capital-L party has preemptively defeated itself with an over-indulgence in axiomatic rightist thinking. This makes it so its large scale effects will only ever result in a changing of the government to autocratic corporate rule.

And FWIW I only threw that out to make a speed bump for the fascists who want to write off everyone disagreeing with them as some blue haired progressive. You can try actually addressing my points, either in this tiny thread or in the more substantial branch above. I promise I will try to not dump knee jerk reflexive dismissals at you the way "Libertarians" often to.