Tuesday, July 16, 2019

What to Do About Trump's Open Racism

So now Trump's racism is so obvious and blatant that it can no longer be explained away as something else. Telling nonwhite American citizens, even those born here, to "go back where they came from" is about as obviously racist as it gets. 

Like many, I have felt that over time, bigotry in America has gotten better. The overt segregation that still existed and the common and openly racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments and attitudes I heard in my youth had undeniably subsided. I still think there is less of these attitudes now than then, but not as much less as I thought. 

And Trump has given permission for those holding these views to come back into the open. We have to stand now as always against these tropes and push them back into the sewers where they belong. Otherwise we will devolve back into an openly discriminatory state and society and possibly descend into fascism itself. Many politicians have very little spine to stand for principle when the political winds start to blow in the direction of evil. 

That is why we who believe in the common humanity and equality of all people must do what we can to establish that the majority do not favor exclusion and racism, and that those politicians who foster or enable them will not prosper on Election Day. That's really the only message a lot of them take to heart.

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