 |
| Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez |
In mid-March, I was the guest speaker at a graduate seminar on democracy, a racially diverse class that had mastered the art of talking openly and honestly across their lines of difference. For a while we explored American history and political theory, then we turned to the presidential race.
A white student reminded us that David Duke had urged white supremacists to support Donald Trump as a way of advancing their “racial purity” goals. She spoke of how distressed she was that Trump had taken 24 hours to disavow Duke’s support, first saying he knew nothing about this infamous man — a notorious anti-Semite and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan — whenthere’s clear evidence that he did, as do most people who read the news.
She went on to say that she was “truly shocked” at the blatant racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny in Trump’s public utterances — and at the fact that millions of Americans support his candidacy in spite of all of this.
An African-American student spoke next: “I have to say that, in my view, a great deal of Trump’s support is not in spite of the hateful things he says but because of them.” She continued,
“My black friends and I get almost amused when our white friends tell us how shocked they are at what they’ve seen about this country since Trump began winning primaries with millions of votes.We’re not at all shocked. White supremacy in the U.S. has never been hidden from us. We’ve known about it for a long time, ever since the first black person was enslaved and shipped to these shores. For generations, we’ve had to be on high alert, lest America’s deep-rooted racism bring us down. Trump simply puts it out there where more people can see it.Just this morning [here she teared up] I had to stop my beautiful 14-year-old son as he was about to go to school and remind him to take off his hoodie. I won’t allow him to wear it lest someone should see his hoodie and black skin as justification for shooting first and asking questions later. Yes, high alert all the time…”
Watching the class and myself react as this woman spoke, I saw how being compelled to look at hard realities that elude most white Americans can pry open our eyes, our minds, our hearts. Then I realized that I’d found what I’ve been seeking — something potentially redemptive about the sordid, shameful, soul-sucking spectacle called Trump and his campaign.
Maybe, just maybe, Trump’s hateful bloviating will give us a chance to look at ourselves in the mirror, to be appalled by what we see, and to redouble our efforts to clean up our act. Maybe we will develop antibodies to some of the toxins with which our body politic is laced, or at least become more honest and humble about how unwell we are.
Trump is a one-man microcosm of much that’s diseased about American culture: its crudeness, its greed, its braggadocio and bullying — both born of profound insecurity — its lack of empathy, its false equation of wealth with success, its eternal need for “an enemy,” its nativism, its racism, and DNA-deep commitment to white supremacy. The more he rubs our noses in our own pathologies — peddling a version of “greatness” that would be comic if it were not twisted, tragic, and lethal — the more it becomes at least possible that his ugly campaign will strengthen our resolve to make America confess and repent, again and again and again.
Of course, nothing of the sort will happen as long as we focus exclusively on “him” and “them,” as if defeating “the enemy” will do the trick. As that great guru Pogo said nearly fifty years ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Please continue this article here: http://www.onbeing.org/blog/parker-palmer-looking-at-trump-and-seeing-ourselves/8756
No comments:
Post a Comment