The time for political sensitivity is over
Racism is present all over the world, but 52 years on from the ‘end’ of the civil rights movement, racism in America is running wild. And following the first of three presidential debates, it is more evident than ever.
On the stage of Cleveland's Health Education Campus (HEC) at Case Western Reserve University, Donald Trump attempted to dominate the debate by bullying the entire operation into submission, asserting himself as the strong, alpha male who can lead this country. Instead, he put forth an image of a petulant child who is in too deep. He also confirmed what should have already been obvious: he is racist.
When asked about his ending of racial sensitivity training (RST), he responded: "I ended it because it's racist. If you were a certain person you had no status in life, it was sort of a reversal."
He openly admitted that people who wouldn't normally do so were experiencing a reversal to having no status. He added that RST was teaching 'very sick ideas', and teaching people to hate America.
Later in the debate, moderator Chris Wallace, very frankly, asked Trump to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and tell them they need to stand down, his response was truly astounding. Watch it for yourself.
We’re living in a country in which racism is treated as nothing but a political issue. It is no longer as simple as equality for all. If you’re liberal you see racism as a global crisis that must be ended and remedied with incredible urgency and vigor. If you’re conservative, racism is something you deny exists, a hoax, ‘not as bad as people make it out to be’.Chris Wallace: "Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down..."
— Axios (@axios) September 30, 2020
Trump: "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left." pic.twitter.com/4vrPocKzcu
That may seem reductionist to say, to reduce it to just two sides, so clearly defined and generalized, but in reality it is that simple. There is a clear right and a clear wrong, and you’re either all in, or you’re out.
For too long, the Right have attempted to squash any efforts to bring about change and equality, the ‘leftist snowflakes’ do nothing but get offended and try to take away Americans' freedoms. Any argument against a racist, or denial of their ‘opinion’, is seen as taking away their freedom of speech or being confrontational.
We are beyond trying to reason, we are beyond allowing anyone who votes for Trump or the party he represents to say they only vote for them based on specific policies or because they ‘can’t vote Democrat’. The age old: “I’m not racist, I just like his policies for business or the economy.”
You have good genes. You know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it’s about the genes, isn’t it? Don’t you believe? The racehorse theory you think was so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.
- Donald Trump, September 18 2020, Bemidji, MN
In saying that, you are admitting the racism within his administration, the racism that he incites, his support of corrupt and racist police departments and institutions, his support of white supremacists, and his treatment of immigrants, do not matter enough to you. The struggles of people of color, and all minorities, are less important than your own personal wishes and goals. You would prefer to believe you’re not paying as much tax; you would prefer to think you have more employment opportunities; you would prefer to think you’re pursuing the ‘American dream'; than you would see equality for all and an end to the mistreatment and murder of people of color.
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| MURDER: Too many black people are murdered at the hands of police https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/ |
You may see my words as confrontational, inconsiderate, narrow minded or unhelpful, but it cannot be made any more clear. When it comes to racism, there is only one side. You can only be against it, or you are racist. Enough ‘subconscious’ or ‘unintentional’ racism. If you are not acknowledging racism; if you are endorsing people who refuse to acknowledge it, actively make it worse, and are racist; YOU are racist. If you don’t understand that yet, and you still haven’t realized that these issues exist and you cannot make the changes needed to try to rid at least this country of it, you can no longer be reasoned with.
It is no longer time to be sensitive to your ‘opinions’. There is no discussing these issues with an eye to you justifying your feelings or actions. You are racist. Trump openly admitted tonight that he supports right wing extremist groups and gave them an invitation to 'stand by'. If you vote for him, that is what you support.
| BIASED: Incarceration rates are one of the biggest indicators of America's racism |
To bring about change it is far more effective to work with
others to bring them along, rather than call them out and ostracize them, and
until recently that is how I, and many others, have tried to operate. But it
clearly isn’t working. At least not nearly fast enough.
Millions of Americans still pound the table for Trump as president, defending every awful thing he says as something that it isn’t, finding an excuse to excuse racism and more. If reasoning still isn’t working, if mountains of tangible evidence isn’t enough to make them see, imperative change must be forced.
They didn’t put themselves — and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group. Excuse me, excuse me. I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue (Robert E. Lee) and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.
- Donald Trump, on neo-Nazi protestors in South Carolina, August 2017
There isn’t time to bring everyone along with sensitivity and compassion. Where is their compassion for immigrants? Where is their compassion for black people murdered by police and white supremacists? Where is their compassion to the millions of minorities living in extreme poverty with no opportunity to get out?
People must be made to feel uncomfortable; people must be
forced to see their shortcomings; people must be called out. When it comes to
racism, it’s no longer good enough to preserve a racist’s feelings when trying
to convince them of something. Let them get offended, let them lash out in response,
let them show their true colors.
The change this country must go through, to achieve the status it so deeply desires, must happen now. And it clearly won’t happen unless we give it no choice.
President Donald Trump is racist, and if you vote for him? You are, too.
https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration
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