“You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”
– Donald Trump to the Black Community, August 2016
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You just knew this was coming. It’s been laying there like a dead body on the side of the road the whole time, the hum of flies buzzing, while everybody pretends its not there. You just knew that eventually Trump and his minions would show their ugly asses and pull the curtain back to expose the tiny little dwarf of a man pretending to be…whatever.
Eventually the racism had to seep out unapologetically, without pretense.
At least we’re not pretending anymore. Whew! Progress!
It should come as no surprise that this candidate is so roundly endorsed by white nationalist organizations, including the KKK, neo-nazis, and the “Alternative Right”. Indeed, the only true surprise in all of this is the fact that so many Trump supporters I happen to know are otherwise kind, loving, intelligent people. Meanwhile, my head is spinning like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. WTF??!
If you really listen, there’s really only one thing that’s been said since the beginning of this campaign: its us vs. them. This is the consciousness from which all bigotry emerges: we’re superior, you’re inferior, and the inferior need to be contained. Gender, race, religion…It’s all the same. The denigration against anybody who’s “different” from (Trump’s profile) blares like a death metal concert at full blast on Sunday morning before coffee.
What would make any rational person think that somehow black people would be excluded from it?
If you really listen, there’s really only one thing that’s been said since the beginning of this campaign: its us vs. them. This is the consciousness from which all bigotry emerges.
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Of course Trump is going to stand up in front of a white crowd in a white community and issue a statement to black people as though they are our “untouchables”?
Rather than address the Black community with reverence for any number of noteworthy traits: proudly representing the USA with epic dominance in the Olympics this week; unprecedented quantum leaps in accomplishment and achievement in the past 100 years despite monumental obstacles; an infinite list of contributions to science, medicine, the arts, social justice, politics, freedom, and lifting this nation to the highest in every arena. Instead, he speaks of them as free-loaders to be pitied, with no capacity to succeed or take care of themselves without him on his white high-horse. His statement portrays someone living with his head buried in the sand for the past 50 years – or more accurately – with his head stuck up his ass.
Um, Newsflash: a very dignified black man – raised by a single mother – lives with his graceful family in the highest office in the land today. He actually has the job you’re trying to get, and has held it for 8 full years with less controversy than you’ve had in just two weeks of your brief circus act.
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Here’s the real problem: Trump, alone, is nothing. He’s just a tiny-minded, shrunken old man with some money. Maybe. Reports coming out now suggest his debt rivals the national deficit. So, there’s that. Regardless, he’s running on his image as a “successful businessman”.
But as for Trump, he’s proven to be the Howard Stern of politics: popular because he says the things that other people are thinking and feeling, but muttering only in private. Not because he “tells it like it is”, but because he has no capacity to reflect on himself before diarrhea of the mouth sets in. Howard Stern got away with it because he was a comic, who never took himself too seriously.
What’s become frighteningly clear about this Trump thing: it’s much larger than Trump. What he’s succeeded at is pulling the cover off of this ugly plague that’s fighting to dominate the narrative of our culture.
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What’s become frighteningly clear about this Trump thing: it’s much larger than Trump. What he’s succeeded at is pulling the cover off of this ugly plague that’s fighting to dominate the narrative of our culture.
The Walking Dead have arrived, and they thrive on anti-intellectualism. This is a demographic steeped in white nationalistic, fundamentalist, conservative worldviews.
Reports from the floor of Trump “rally’s” illuminate this: it’s well beyond political ideology. This is about certain personal & religious values becoming institutionalized deep within the system.
Make no mistake: we are witnessing the rise of radicalism in our own country. Extremism is dangerous in any flavor. Republican, they’re no more “dangerous” than Muslims. It’s radical extremists that are dangerous, whether they live here, or Afghanistan, or the South Pole.
They are driven by emotion (fear), not intellect; by passion, not reason; by concern for personal security, not the collective good of all. This is the danger we are currently facing, and his rhetoric is simply giving it torque.
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Trump’s statements should concern his own supporters because they illuminate the lack of any skill to navigate multiculturalism.
This is a massive blind spot.
Approaching people from a set of limited assumptions, rather than approaching them with humility, is dangerous. It’s disrespectful. It’s generally prudent to approach others with the awareness that we don’t know everything there is to know about their culture. A President absolutely MUST possess grace enough to bow and say, “I don’t fully understand, but I’d like to. Would you please help me to understand so that I can know how to best serve you?” It never hurts to take a KINGLY approach when claiming to be a Sovereign 😉
Take note: Trump is giving a classing workshop on how NOT to address people he doesn’t understand.
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The world we live in today is getting smaller by the day. Obama may have been the first president to really grasp this emergent reality. What he did was foster tremendous goodwill in the world, which served not only our interests, but the entire globe. Multicultural competency is a fundamental, non-negotiable requirement for this job in today’s world.
I’ve slogged through the trenches in this arena. 13 years ago, I was appointed the first Director of Student Diversity initiatives at the College of Charleston. Everybody knows Charleston has suffered deep and ancient historical racial problems. 80% of the enslaved Africans that came into this country entered through the Port of Charlestown, and it didn’t stop there. That a white man (me) was the first Diversity Director on that campus should say plenty. Perhaps they didn’t really expect me to do much. Instead, I eschewed the typical “let’s all pretend we’re colorblind and say we appreciate each others differences by sampling each other’s food” diversity events. Rather, I instituted an Intergroup Dialogue program that brought diverse populations together to LISTEN to each other share their experiences. I started working around gender differences, faith-based differences, even LGBT issues as a way to introduce the model.
People asked me, “Why are you starting with those issues? Why not race?”
My response: “It’s not about race. It’s about how people respond to things they don’t understand.” The way people deal with LGBT issues or faith-based issues will mirror the way they deal with race.
The fundamental competency needed to work through those gaps in understanding is humility. The willingness to come to the table with an open mind and ears, to bow one’s head with respect and simply say, “I would like to understand your experience better. Please help me to understand such-and-such.”
A very simple elegant model.
And it worked like a charm. We surveyed thousands of students following the dialogues and found an astonishing 98% “superior approval” rating over 2 years. There was no finger-pointing, no attacking, & nobody was talked “down” to. The foundation for these dialogs was simple: I want to understand you better. Please help me to understand your experience.
Take note: Trump is giving a classing workshop on how NOT to address people he doesn’t understand.
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The real indignity is that the above statement isn’t “black voter outreach” at all.
It’s clearly a message he’s delivering to whites. Literally (to all white crowds). And substantively. His words are the embodiment of institutional racism.
The media (and we) can poke fun of him all we want for his failed “black voter outreach”. But what he’s doing is intentional: It’s not black voter outreach. He’s talking to his boys: his base. The intent is to give people ammunition and talking points for (continued) racism. And he does this right out in the open. Whatever happened to all that “change” he was promising?
Over the past year, there have been a few skirmishes around the Black Lives Matter movement, spawning this ugly little piece of idiocy called All Lives Matter, which as a set of words makes perfect sense, but as a “movement” is just horseshit. It stinks of racism and white fragility. But until now, the connection between that and this Trump phenomena was operating sorta under-cover. No more sorta.
The real indignity is that the above statement isn’t “black voter outreach” at all.
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An enlightened response to the Black Lives Matter movement could have been, “Hmmm, I’d like to understand this better. Please tell me why you feel this way?” That might have opened up a national dialogue.
Instead, the knee-jerk reaction (All Lives Matter) punched a hole in that balloon. The original meaning of the word “sin” is (latin) “to miss the mark”. All Lives Matter is a classic sin. Trump’s statement highlights from where this sin emerges. They’re all eating wormy apples from the same tree.
Historically, our relationship with people of color in this country is shameful. As white people, whether our ancestors participated in slavery or not, it is abjectly incompetent to show up at the table pretending nothing ever happened. “That’s all over now, leave the past in the past” I’ve heard many say. To pretend that inequities don’t still exist, that the criminal justice system is simply responding to black people’s “violent tendencies”, is to stonewall an important conversation that needs to happen here. But it’s not our place to be telling black people about themselves. No candidate has the right to stand up to the podium and speak to black people as though they understand them, or can “fix” them. Only “broken” things need “fixing”, and most of the black people I know don’t seem “broken”. As far as Trump’s perspective on the Black community here, perhaps if he went into the Black community and actually listened to the people, he might have an awakening.
Nah. Not gonna happen.
True Story: Empathy is the closest possibility we have as a species to help us understand another person’s experience. Empathy is a gift that can be cultivated, but not by insisting on being “right”. The only intelligent approach to dealing with people that are different is to show up with a genuine curiosity and willingness to learn.
Ooops, there’s that word again: humility.
If a candidate does not have the requisite humility to do this, that person is dangerous. Above all else, the presidency requires a high degree of emotional intelligence and cultural sensitivity. Perhaps nobody reading this article will have as much opportunity to interact with people from other cultures as the president of United States.
Trump said, “The only way to change results is to change leadership. We can never fix our problems by relying on the same politicians who created our problems in the first place. A new future requires brand new leadership.”
Okay. He may be right. New leadership, I can get behind that idea.
That doesn’t mean HIM, though. In fact, absolutely NOT him. Because he’s not “new”. We’ve seen his type before, and, lest we forget, it gave rise to the mantra, “Never again.”
No. We are a progressive country, and we will not go backwards. Get thee behind us, Trump. Take your donkey’s ass back from where you came.
NEVER AGAIN.
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Photo Credit: Associated Press
Join our #StopTrump task force today.
(Weekly conference calls with like-minded people who want to stop a candidate who is racist, sexist, bigoted, incites violence and is demonstrating no competence for the job at hand.)
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This is not insignificant Greg. Everyone knows we’ve got serious issues. Is trump the answer? Probably not. But we know the Democrats aren’t. At all. It’s a lie Greg. They’re starting to get it. People all over the nation are getting it. The Democrats are all about emotion. That’s all you got. Obama proved it. And Clinton doesn’t change from it one bit. And you know it too. Trump is behind maybe 5 points. Does this NOT yell you how much we all hate the Clinton’s? The Democrats have painted trump as a hater and a xenophobe. You name it.… Read more »
Wow. A bit emotional eh, other problems you want to share? And you do not like republicans of any type…Obama – no scandal news? You read much? We keep up on your retreats. I am sure that will help you. “differences with an open -heart” your marketing spin says – I think you need to update that copy. No open in your writing and good reason for me and others to dump this site.
Enjoy your closed world Greg
TRedd
Read this: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article96761192.html The modern day “Joads” are a massive segment of the people who want to vote Trump. The left has called them “privileged” for years. The right has taken advantage of them. Now they have someone who will actually talk to them. They’re overlooking asinine statements (where you focus) because someone is treating them like they actually matter. You might want to practice some of that empathy you write about. The far left’s outreach to poor whites is just as bad as Trump’s outreach to Black voters. Remember all the statements our President and his appointees made about… Read more »
Today’s NBC News/Survey Monkey Weekly Election Tracking poll results of registered voters show potential black voters are continuing to swinging in Trump’s direction. He’s up from 1% to 8% since last week and this is huge. If Trump captures 25 percent of the black vote it is predicted that he will win in a landslide. America’s failing inner-cities have been controlled for the last 50 years by Democrats. If things are that “good” why do we have #Blacklivesmatter? Bill and Hillary Clinton earned nearly a quarter billion dollars, or $237 million to be precise, since leaving the White House in… Read more »
Btw. I’m going to short circuit the comebacks here. Your article is vastly opinion. OK. You have one. You support it with feelings. Again, yours. Fine by me. But if there is any expectation of debate here it ain’t gonna happen. Look at the article. I’d be debating someone’s opinions and feelings. I could state fact and facts all day long and it’s a waste of time and breath. So I’m not gonna do it. I believe you’re wrong. But it’s my belief and feelings. If I were a political candidate I’d easily go into that debate. This isn’t the… Read more »
I could go on and on about how the black outreach is an oxymoron for both candidates. But Clinton ain’t no black savior that’s for sure. So give trump a chance to help black people. The Democrats sold them out overcome years ago. So why stick with them at all? That makes no sense to me at all. And no we haven’t seen the likes of trump before. You’re of course referring to some other countries but not here. You think you know how it’s gonna turn out if he wins. But you don’t.
Nailed it.
Awesome brother. All my relations to you.