A small history lesson in Fascism for all my readers today!
Back in 1919 in Italy the fascist paramilitary group the Blackshirts came into being and were not disbanded until the end of World War II. The Blackshirts were organized by Benito Mussolini as the military tool of his political movement. Their “methods” became harsher as Mussolini’s power grew and violence and intimidation against his opponents became commonplace.
The concept behind the Blackshirts was copied by others who shared Mussolini’s ideas and brand of fascism. Sir Oswald Mosley in the United Kingdom had his group of Blackshirts too. In the United States they became the Silver Shirts, in Mexico the Golden Shirts, in Brazil Green Shirts and blue became very popular in the Irish Free state, Canada and Spain.
And of course we can’t leave out Adolf Hitler can we? He liked brown and so the Brown Shirts of the Sturmabteilung (you may better know them as the SA) came into being. But Adolf being a traditionalist and a lover of Mussolini’s fascist ideas also formed a Black Shirts brigade. Perhaps you might know them better as the Schutzstaffel? No? How about those champions of freedom the SS? Ring a bell now?
So why the history lesson today? Well, I was met by a local news headline in one of West Virginia’s papers that there was a statewide uniform standard planned for W.Va. sheriff’s departments.
Can you guess what color shirts they’re planning on adopting? Yep! Black! All of the sheriff’s departments in West Virginia are working to adopt a similar uniform of a black shirt and gray pants.
You have to admire the irony of such a move in a country where the population thinks they’re the champion and defender of democracy.
