Words matter in racial
conflicts: a President Trump could put oil on the fires
The horrifying events of last week, videos of police killing
of black men with excessive force in Baton Rouge and Minnesota and the sniper
murders of five white police officers in Dallas dramatize the violent racism
infecting our country that has surfaced once again. How the leader of our
nation sets the tone with words either puts oil on the fire or cools the flames.
Donald Trump’s
divisiveness and willingness to tolerate racist supporters and to get a rise
from his audiences with his name calling of others than white males make him unsuited
to lead this country. Instead of the
fair and even handed response of a Barack Obama to the violence in Baton Rouge,
Minnesota, and Dallas, imagine for a moment a President Trump. We can expect more hatred and violence in
this country than we already have. Racial hatred begets racial hatred and
retaliation begets never ending retaliation.
Trump shoots from his
lip with a stream of consciousness and his base of supporters include white
supremacists. He at minimum lacks
sensitivity to the issue of race relations or he feigns ignorance, as when he
pretended he did not know David Duke personally ( a leader of the KKK) so he
could not condemn his support. Postings by such race hating groups show their
leaders encouraging their members to vote for Trump. This is not new news; it
has been reported frequently and often in the press for the past six months.
Trump has a history of retweeting tweets from such racist groups either out of
ignorance of the source, or not caring, and, worse, because he agreed with the
contents. However, his oratory and his
past are giveaways of where his heart lies. Saying quietly through spokespeople
or in his own words that he does not welcome white nationalist groups’ support
is hardly sufficient. I cannot remember
his flamboyant oratory ever soaring to the same passion disavowing hate groups’
support. Yet at the same time he called
with vigor for Muslim bans or anti- immigrant wall building, characterizing Mexican undocumented immigrants as criminals
and rapists. He was the most outspoken birther voice in America in an attempt to
delegitimize President Obama by claiming he was born in Kenya and not in
Hawaii. Those should be clues of his racist and divisive persona that have been
on record since 2011.
Here is the problem:
words matter. Trump’s blessing of
“political incorrectness” is a code permitting many to be speaking openly about their hostile attitudes toward minorities that
before were uttered under their breaths.
Their words encourage others to repeat them aloud, too, making slurs acceptable
in certain quarters of society. Failure
to condemn racists and disrespecting minorities not only fails to still the
violent waters of racial conflict, it gives tacit permission for those
attitudes to flourish. Failure to be
even handed and calming in the face of racial violence or police attitudes and
actions toward minorities would make this country an even more dangerous and
tense place.
In times of such raw racism and strife this summer, imagine
how a Donald Trump would emerge as a champion of racial harmony. I cannot, for one, imagine it.
and too much more to list: Just google Trump white
supremacists.
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