President Donald Trump Defines Racist; But That Doesn’t Mean Everyone Else Does
African-Americans like Georgia state lawmaker Erica Thomas have to be careful not to add fuel to the fire of racism under the administration of our current president.
Sure, President Donald Trump is a bona fide racist, pure and simple.
One does not constantly do and say racist things and not actually believe in racist dogma.
Furthermore, a decent person does not sow racial divisions just to personally benefit from it like President Trump does.
However, just because Trump is a racist does not mean that all people with a similar skin tone are racist.
It does not even mean that all of his supporters are racist.
Many are, let’s be clear.
One just has to look at the rallies in which Trump’s supporters chant, “send her back” in reference to congresswomen of color.
But despite the racial strife that exits clearly because of Trump, African-Americans have to be careful not to add fuel to the fire.
We should speak truth to power and educate people on systemic racism in this country, but we cannot become bigoted ourselves.
When we do that we become no better than Trump and the White nationalists he once described as fine people.
Georgia state politician Erica Thomas finds herself in hot water now because instead of deescalating racial tension in this country, she escalated that tension when she falsely accused a Cuban-American Democrat, who is anti-Trump, of telling her to go back where she came from in a racist manner.
The Georgia lawmaker, who is nine months pregnant, got into a dispute with a man with fair skin at a local Publix grocery story.
The man of Cuban decent had some choice words for Thomas because she had too many items to use the express checkout lane in the grocery store.
Allegedly, the man used some profanity and might have told Thomas to go back to where she came from.
The man said he does not remember telling her to “go back” at all and if he did, he might have just meant to go back to a regular checkout aisle.
However, the Georgia politician said that she used the express lane because she cannot stand on her feet too long because of her pregnancy.
Thomas said that the incident was racially motivated.
The man disagreed with her allegations of racism.
Because of who Thomas is in the state of Georgia, the news media got hold of the story and ran with it from local outlets to the New York Times.
The problem with that is the story was embellished and just added to the tension that exists as it pertains to race relations.
Throughout Trump’s tenure, I have heard people from the African-American community call all of Trump’s supporters racist because how can someone openly support someone so ignorant?
While I question the wisdom of anyone who applauds when Trump tells American citizens of color to leave the country if they disagree with him, if African-Americans begin stereotyping White people the same way Trump stereotypes us, we are also part of the problem.
Some voters supported Trump because of his conservative views on abortion.
Some voters supported Trump because of his track record in the business community.
Some voters supported Trump because of his embrace of evangelical Christians on issues like same sex marriage.
But others did vote for Trump because they thought he would make America White again.
The problem with lumping all of his supporters in the same bunch is that it is the same thing as some White people thinking that all Black people are criminals.
It’s the same logic that made some White people think that it was O.K. to kill Trayvon Martin because he was a Black guy in a hoodie, and a Black guy in a hoodie had allegedly burglarized houses in Martin’s father’s neighborhood.
It makes no sense.
Furthermore, what makes even less sense is for Black people to think that all people with White skin are Republicans and support the current president.
I personally know countless White Americans who detest what Trump stands for.
Furthermore, I know countless White people who reluctantly voted for Trump because of his conservative views on hot-button issues.
Nevertheless, they hate how he has divided this country since becoming the 45th President of the United States.
To really fight back against Trump, African-Americans have to avoid getting in the pigpen with him.
Trump has a pigpen mentality and when you stoop to the level of a hog you inevitably get just as dirty as swine.
To fight back against Trump, African-Americans and non-racist White Americans have to refuse to let hatred and racism divide us.
Trump is truly what is wrong with America.
He is everything that is vile about America’s history.
He is racist.
He is misogynistic.
He is sexist.
He is elitist.
And he only cares about people who look like him and come from the same/similar zip codes as he does.
He is the definition of unpatriotic.
America stands for equality for all.
America stands for freedom.
America stands for unity.
Trump only stands for himself.
American history is filled with people who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Trump, via his racist rhetoric, shows that he is willing to sacrifice his country for his own personal gain.
Unfortunately, Thomas did the same thing apparently.
She stoked racial fears to get public sympathy.
Actor and singer Jussie Smollett did the same thing to promote his entertainment career, saying that he had been brutally beaten in a racist and homophobic attack.
Later it came out that Smollett orchestrated the whole ordeal because he was upset with his salary from the Fox soap opera, “Empire.”
So while Trump is what is not great about America, every human being has the negative and evil character traits that the president possesses.
Those with class and decency choose to suppress those negative feelings and negative thoughts because intelligent people know that negative actions lead to negative results.
Therefore, while we criticize Trump, African-Americans have to know that we have the capability of being racist too.
We just do not have as much power as our White counterparts.
But we do have enough power to not feed into the negativity and racism that surrounds Trump.
We are better than Trump.
Therefore, let us not stoop to his level.
Make the president come up to our level.
