I have been in the car a fair bit and I’ve read a lot today. I hadn’t heard much about the 50 year anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch to the moon, but I have been reading and hearing about the President and the backlash. We all know that the President told four Congresswomen to go back to the countries where they came from. We all know that he called them haters of America. If you just read the statement, you would have thought that a Nazi, or a Klansman said that.
This wasn’t some one-off; decades ago, he went after the Central Park Five, demanding for a death penalty. This wasn’t some guy who is mad about losing his Secretary of Labor or losing his case in trying to put the citizenship question on the census, or mad about the Mueller upcoming testimony to Congress. This was Trump being himself, feeling completely comfortable in his own white skin.
White men don’t suffer for telling people to leave America. White men don’t suffer for telling people to do what he says or they need to get out. If your Congressional Representative is one of the 187 that voted against condemning the man’s tweets as racist, then you know where you stand. The fact that only 4 Republicans voted to condemn should let us all know where we stand. It wasn’t worth condemnation. Following and subscribing to racism doesn’t mean that you are always a part of the ruling class either; some of the best perpetrators of racism are people that can also be the victims. How can a black Republican be standing now when they’ve stood so silent on everything else.
While I am not demanding regular Republican voters voice public opposition, I must say that my friends who are quick to tell me how stupid they think A.O.C. (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) is, or how much of a socialist Bernie is, or how far left the Dems are, or how much they thought Obama wasn’t Presidential are church mice today. Are you quiet because you think what Trump said was ok, or are you quiet because you’re afraid of the backlash you’ll get for breaking ranks among your Conservative tribe?
I think people, no let me be specific; white people have the wrong impression of people of color when they complain about racism. I think white people mistakenly think of it as a cry about someone not liking us, or us being too soft to take some harsh words being levied at us. If that’s all it is, baby, I could come back on you and make your momma cry with words of venom. As much as the safe space kids have misinterpreted it, racism isn’t about trigger (yes, I said trigger) words that people say to hurt you. Racism isn’t about a small man spewing small words; to think such falls into the trap. We all say small words; many of us say them in jest, in anger, in explanation of our truth. That’s not racism on its own.
There are several levels of intolerance, and while I will discuss this another day, this is essential:
Preference—a choice you lean to based on what’s available; now we may have a lot of reasons why we lean one way or another, favorite color, food; but usually having a preference doesn’t mean you exclude others. You can like chocolate AND vanilla ice cream, or cake and pie.
Prejudice—a strong preference for one versus the other, and we make these choices and harbor our preferences based in predetermined beliefs about the other. Again, you can be prejudiced against blondes AND still find a blonde attractive, or dye your hair blond. Sometimes these are those things driven out of survival; don’t go down the street in a bad neighborhood, don’t date someone who isn’t the same religion as you. You don’t generally like black people, but _________ is ok…..
Bigotry—most people probably fall into this camp for their level of discomfort. This is a strong dislike which allows us to be misled about the object of the bigotry. Much of this is ingrained ignorance; disliking someone from another background but never quite knowing a sample size large enough to make an informed decision; i.e. I met this one _______________ and he/she was____________. This is also were a lot of people of color land, particularly in the age of Trump. When I was a kid, tribes were for Jews, Native Americans, and Africans. Now, conservatives get on TV and talk about how America has gone ‘tribal’. The President says that Democrats hate America. I’m gonna let white folks in on a secret; people of color have a lot of distrust of white people, especially the ones who call themselves liberals; we’re just waiting for your hood to drop off. I know a lot of us struggle everyday with not categorizing all white people into some batch heap of deplorables, and I’ve seen people struggle with maintaining friendships. It’s hard to work from a position of equity in a relationship when you don’t think your friends see you as equals. When I first became an African American Studies major, I’d see all these professors who were very cool with white people, and I couldn’t understand how you could know the history, teach about the atrocities and be as accepting as that. By the time I hit my senior year, I got it, and as much as Trump tries to take it out of me, I will understand and defend and believe in and love the humanity of my white brethren.
“You see, their problem is…”
“I wish they weren’t so….”
“I can’t understand those people…”
Racism—this one goes hand in hand with hate. Whenever you hate something, you usually make attempts to eradicate it. This is the reason why many people of color argue that they cannot be racists; I agree. It isn’t that they can’t be filled with hate and bigotry; they just haven’t created a system to exploit it. Hence, hating people enough to eliminate or minimize an entire group of people to the point of giving them a subhuman status is the goal. What also follows is a strategic, planned goal to separate people into distinct groups, for the purpose of elevating some and lowering and leveling others. The fact that we have a President that has for decades proven that if given the opportunity, he would use his efforts to do just that.
Being a racist isn’t about being a mean person, or being old fashioned, or being some sort of traditionalist. A white person who Is racist is like me hating mosquitoes; I hate their existence, I don’t think they have much value, and the only thing those blood suckers are worth is serving as food for bats, spiders and birds; I kill them when I get the chance, and if I do something that hurts them I have zero care…and don’t even ask me what the value a flea or tick has…
The fact that the most powerful person on the planet has been given the power and influence over people and policy to enact this is frightening, and most white people cannot or will not understand racism in this form. People suggesting racism are reduced. Once you understand racist behavior, you don’t have a hard time understanding how people can be housed in kennels at the border, or how an ICE raid focuses on Latinos and not the Canadians or Greeks or any others who have higher rates of illegal presence in the US. Framing suspects, owning or raping or torturing people are easy things to get, once you understand racism. When you don’t understand racism, you say things like:
‘Maybe he says the wrong things, but…’
‘Yes, he went too far…’
‘I just wish he wouldn’t say things like that…’
‘The other people are taking this out of context…’
‘We all say things like that…’
First, we all don’t say things like that. Even if you feel it in your heart in a fit of road rage, it’s pretty difficult to be an adult and come to the conclusion that it’s ok to openly voice this opinion. Second; he’s the President of the United States. Third; he’s the President of the United States. 435th; he is the President of the United States; you cannot utter these things, it just is wrong. Why? Aside from the façade that we expect our leaders to not think that way; the way they feel–as they show it– has power. When Ronald Reagan said he loved Jelly Bellies, their sales catapulted and they moved out of 61st and Lowell warehouse one block from me to a facility 100 times larger in Fairfield, two years later. Words matter; when a President utters racism, people die, pure and simple. Cops feel less compelled to see all people as humans, educators see some people as intellectually incapable, business leaders see some groups as less talented; and politicians make policies to make life harder on those people to fully participate in society. And there are people out there that see these comments as confirmation that their hate is justified, and should be acted upon for the sake of their beliefs and values, their country and their God.
What I have heard is that Democrats, or the media have attacked Trump’s words, and people are calling them a ‘dog whistle’ to his base.
Let’s examine this.
We human beings cannot hear dog whistles because the frequency is blown at a level to which we cannot pick it up. Are people saying that most humans cannot hear what Trump is saying because he is speaking in a manner that most of us cannot understand?
Dog whistles are used to bring the dogs to a certain point; are we saying that Trump supporters need to be led? Are we saying that they can unconditionally be led to a certain point, without the ability to act independently? Keep in mind that polls have shown for the last 2 years that the rabid fringes of the Right have never left Trump, and he has held onto most of the Republican Party during this time as well. Does he think that there are more of us who can hear him?
We do know that the more racist the language, the likelihood that those nonwhite Republicans are jumping off the ship. Are those people who are speaking about the dog whistles also telling those minority folk that they need to step back?
Moreover, what does it say about the white population, when it is more than implied—it is stated by the Democratic Party and the media, that they are worried that if a person speaks vile, racist language about people of color, that eventually white people are going to lap it up and buy the rhetoric? What does it mean to be white and be told that you don’t have the ability to hear racism without joining the pack?
Are we calling Trump supporters animals? I mean, you cannot blow a dog whistle and get people to listen unless they’re dogs in the first place……
Now, does the President really despise immigrants?
Trump’s momma: Immigrant Trump’s Daddy’s Daddy: An Immigrant.
Trump’s current and his first wife: Immigrants. Trump’s current in-laws: Immigrants
Keep in mind half of these people could be considered illegal immigrants, depending on the definition and to when they came to America; so Trump certainly hasn’t proven he hates illegal immigration.
He hates nonwhite people immigration; that’s what it proves.
I will never vote with a Party that stands behind this crap, but he knows that. He is banking on my white friends to break ranks with me. If you tolerate his act, and you let him continue to lash out, then what does that say about your ability to love America, and how can you possibly be looking forward to this country having any semblance of unity?
Now some of those people will argue that the resolution wasn’t perfect…really? Is that why they haven’t been doing their jobs over the last, well, forever? None of the bills, resolutions presented are perfect? None of the things they’ve introduced to Congress are perfect either? I thought the goal was to form a more perfect union, not to wait until we could form THE perfect union.
Speaking of union, I wonder how our grandparents would feel about us today, on the 50th anniversary of an event that united all of America, the culmination of a promise made by a President who sought to make us united through civil rights, the promise continued after Kennedy was gunned down by President Johnson, who after coming from a conservative state, frequently using ‘nigger’ in his private speech, making the added efforts to right the wrongs of the past and to push for civil rights in a decade where every person dedicated to equity was gunned down. They were not perfect, yet they did not wait to make change.
Today, we are hearkening back to both the economic prosperity and the racial depravity of the 60’s, but there is no unifying band at the end of this decade. We started this decade with fear, and we’re ending it with anger; the whole decade wasn’t a total loss, however. We made some small steps for health, for diversity; but I fear that the only way we find something to rally is going to be evil. We have enough to worry about; the environment should take all of our efforts—we need a 5 trillion tree planting or a 100% effort to remove all trash from the Pacific Ocean and our rivers. We need to have something larger than ourselves.
It takes courage to give up hate and fear, something we lack so much of today. This week, let’s look for the Right Stuff in each of us.
holowe 