A Stain on America's Soul

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This entry will appear on my political and Christian blogs.

Publicly Traded MEME

Pundits are trying to hang America’s penchant for hate and killing on one political party or the other. Granted, having our fearless leader joke about shooting Mexicans in the panhandle in front of an eager crowd doesn't set an example of patriotic unity. Nor, does it help to have the same leader stand silent for 13 seconds as hundreds of his supporters chant, “send her back,” as if Minneapolis Representative Ilhan Omar isn’t an American citizen.

Surely, President Trump has contributed to racial tensions across the country. Many progressive thinkers have cited this fact to lay the rash of recent mass shootings at his feet.

Others blame Mitch McConnell and the NRA for preventing the passage of gun regulations.  While universal background checks would probably prevent a few people from buying guns, there's no evidence to suggest that such legislation wouldn't prevented any of the recent massacres.

By my way of thinking, the problem lies with us.  Say what you will about the powers that be, they're only personifications of an America which doesn't value life.  Yes, the president created the zero tolerance policy for our southern border, but it was ICE officers who detained am American teenager for three weeks for the color of his skin.  Trump may have been at the podium, but it was hundreds of “normal citizens” who were chanting for a member of congress to be deported for the color of her skin.

At this point, I know what you’re thinking.  What does the behavior of ICE agents have to do with racism at political rallies and gunmen shooting innocent people at garlic festivals and entertainment districts.  They're all symptoms of the same stain on America's soul.

Put simply, we’ve become a country of people who can view certain portions of society as beings less than human.  Think about it.  People who value people don’t shout, “send her back,” simply because her skin has more pigment than theirs.  People who value people don’t separate families, trying to escape oppression, and confine them to standing-room-only pens of squalor.  People who value people don’t kill random innocents in order to relieve stress or make a point.

People who value people embrace people and accept, even celebrate, their differences.  People who value people welcome asylum seekers with food and blankets instead of guns and handcuffs.  People who value people find a mugging victim along the side the road and pay the innkeeper to see to his/her needs.