In my hometown of Waterloo, our city’s Human Rights Commission “held a press conference Tuesday responding to flyers distributed in Waterloo and Evansdale earlier this month asking people to join a neo-Nazi group” according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
“Papers from the Aryan Freedom Network were placed on doorsteps by disguised individuals around 1 a.m. on Nov. 11th.” I was previously aware of this and noticed several people posting their outrage and surprise that this could happen in our relatively small community.
I asserted this is a byproduct of Donald Trump’s negatively-charged immigration rhetoric and is the subtext, as perceived by racist groups, behind returning America to greatness; the return to white dominance. The “Great Replacement Theory,” which has been forwarded by high profile right-wing pundits, contends there is a plan by left-wing conspirators to replace white America with non-whites. That has been a call to white supremacists to spring into action and Donald Trump has emboldened them.
Racism is like a novel virus, it spreads most prolifically when its existence is denied. It is only from calling attention to it, isolating its carriers, that it can be contained.
Who are the carriers?
Ignorance and inattention are the indiscriminate hosts. I’m a white male in America and I’ve benefited from policies that favor white males in America. I have no trouble buying a home, getting a loan, or being allowed to stay in my car if I’m pulled over. At least not because of the color of my skin. That is the insidious viral microbe and if I’m not consciously working to change those conditions then I continue its infection.
Pew Research reveals it’s harder for minorities to get approved for conventional mortgages and often pay higher interest rates.
The Prison Policy Initiative reveals disparities in our criminal justice system between black and white Americans.
Or we can look at how injustice is systematically realized in myriad cases where extreme prejudice is applied toward Black citizens in situations where a White suspect generally walks or at least is processed without life threatening consequences.
That is the systemic spread of a vicious virus made airborne by the unsuspected until we collectively break its chains. Antidotes to unequal justice make progress at times, such as the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, but that is progress in the rear-view mirror. We have to wonder what America was, and is, if we need amendments and laws to protect Americans from Americans who don’t understand basic human rights.
The undercurrent of prejudice runs deep and the current rise of populist-nationalism, favoring white ethnic history, denies the existence of such systemic racial issues.
President-elect Trump’s supporters call him a “culturalist,” meaning he acknowledges and accepts cultural differences. However…Trump categorizes races so subtly even he may not be aware of how his white-privilege shows. That was illustrated by “the kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” He refers to “the” Blacks and “the” Mexicans. That may seem benign, but it isn’t. “The” is a determiner to generalize a reference.
Harmless? No. It places people into categories that stereotype; it is the foundation of prejudice. It is another dog whistle to racists.
Why, it must be asked, do racist groups support Trump and view him as their champion? Spare the defense of Trump that “he doesn’t share their beliefs or condone their actions,” because the result is clear that they (racists) identify with his.
“They aren’t sending their best” and consistently feverish rhetoric to cast immigrants into suspicion as thugs, thieves, murderers and drug peddlers is candy to the racially and culturally prejudiced. So was calling COVID-19 the “Chinese” virus; categorizing blame by ethnicity is the same not-so-subtle subtlety to conjure American superiority. At least to the weaker minds among us.
Donald Trump does not openly consider himself a racist (he told us so), yet he promotes, consciously or otherwise, what and who is racist.
Racism is a scourge; a disease; a virus carried by ignorance. To fight it we must be hyper-aware of its existence and religiously adhere to the principles of freedom and equality.
Welcoming the examination of liberty and justice for ALL is what will determine how healthy we are. Easy to write, hard to convince, because it demands being individually critical of our own condition.
