Leading Us In Hate

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Five years ago, African American male Eric Garner shouted, “I can’t breathe,” as a Caucasian New York police officer choked the life out of him with an illegal hold.  Although the incident was filmed via cellophane, no charges were brought against the officer for lack of evidence. 

In 2009, an African American Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., was arrested for attempted burglary outside his own home by a white police Sargent.

Racism is nothing new.  President Donald J. Trump didn’t invent it.  However, his leadership has legitimized racism, bringing it from the shadows into the light.  What was once something to be hidden and ashamed of has become an undeniable official policy. 

Publicly Traded MEME

In a speech regarding the riots in Charlottesville Trump said there were, “very fine people on both sides.”  One of those sides was a group of Nazis chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”  Americans don’t agree on much, but can we at least agree that NAZIS ARE THE BAD GUYS!?!?  Can we make that leap together?  By linking both sides morally, Trump legitimized the Nazi’s racist point of view. 

From seeds such as the above statement, a truly frightening forest has enveloped the country. Our government is imprisoning thousands off immigrant men, women, and children who’s only crime was seeking asylum from oppression and violence.

According to The Atlantic, one camp in El Paso, Texas, designed to house 125 people, is housing 900 freedom seekers in standing room only conditions.  Among the inhumane conditions being reported are;

• extreme cold temperatures
• lights on 24 hours a day
• no adequate access to medical care
• no access to showers or soap for basic sanitation
• dark foul-smelling water
• and inadequate food.

Meanwhile, our president, via Twitter, sent an invitation to four Democratic congresswomen of color to just "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."  Three of the congresswomen were born in the United States of America.

Like I said, Donald Trump didn’t invent racism.  He didn’t import it from somewhere else.  The embers have always sizzled on our shores.  President Trump has merely breathed upon those embers and ignited a blaze of hate across our country.