It should be easy. Really, some questions are easy to answer. Other questions are hard and might require more nuanced answers. But here in the year 2020, in the United States of America, it should be easy for any clear-thinking adult with a moral compass to say, “I condemn racism and white supremacy.”
Given time to think about it, and maybe a visit to the thesaurus, one could replace the word condemn with abhor, censure, denounce, disapprove, disparage, deplore. That is only four letters into the alphabet.
Donald Trump is not only the president and commander in chief; he has become a skilled “critic in chief.” He has absolutely no trouble finding a variety of ways to condemn and disparage people and groups that he dislikes. Crooked Hillary, Sleepy Joe, Little Marco, Lyin’ Ted, The Radical Socialist Left, Nasty Kamala, (well nasty is applied to lots of women he does not like) are just a few examples.
If a news report doesn’t suit Mr. Trump, he condemns it as “fake.” Poor countries on the African continent are “s---hole” countries. Immigrants from Mexico and Central America are criminals, rapists, terrorists and bad dudes. While he concedes that some are good people, by using the word “some,” he implies that most are not good.
Mr. Trump has disparaged Americans in the military who were prisoners of war, Gold Star families, and those who fought and died defending our country. But he couldn’t bring himself to call racists and white supremacist “losers.” Why does he want to avoid offending racists and white supremacists?
When asked in the first presidential debate, Mr. Trump did not condemn racism. He paused, asked for clarification, wanted to hear about specific groups and then said that the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.” Those words do not condemn racism or white supremacy.
The next day, Mr. Trump had a chance to fix his bad answer to an easy question. Instead, he said he didn’t know anything about the Proud Boys. I suppose his phone has only the Twitter app, and he can’t do the simplest search. Mr. Trump did say that they should “stand down,” which is slightly better than “stand by.” But “stand down” is in no way a condemnation of racism. Meanwhile, the Proud Boys have incorporated his initial words into their logo.
Along with other far right conservatives, Mr. Trump will not say that “Black lives matter.” They might respond with the words “all lives matter.” But if someone believes that all lives matter, then it should not be hard to acknowledge that “Black lives matter.”
I was told that the phrase “Black lives matter” is a racist statement. It could be racist if the phrase was “ONLY Black lives matter.” But those are not the words. It is a statement of inclusion, not exclusion. And the reason so many people say “Black lives matter,” is because it has become a necessary affirmation when the words and actions of others say the opposite.
I was asked by a friend to provide just one statement made by Mr. Trump that shows he is a racist. While that is not a hard challenge, proof of a person’s beliefs about race can be seen just as clearly by what is not said. Proof of a person’s beliefs about race can be seen by actions or inaction such as refusing to rent apartments to Black people, as Mr. Trump did in his real estate business.
A few years ago, there were lots of jokes completing the sentence, “You might be a redneck if …” I am not implying that being a redneck makes you a racist. But let’s play the game.
You might be a racist if you are unwilling to condemn racism and white supremacy. You might be a racist if you are unwilling to say that “Black lives matter.” You might be a racist if other racists think you are. You might be a racist if people of other races think you are. You might be a racist if you discriminate in your business dealings. You might be a racist if you are willing to vote for a racist.
The president of the United States should take every opportunity to forcefully and clearly condemn racism, white supremacy, bigotry, anti-Semitism, religious intolerance or hate. Mr. Trump dodged the question. As of Oct. 8, he plans to dodge the next debate. He also has dodged the draft and dodged paying his taxes.
But really, it should be easy to condemn racism.
October 10, 2020 at 11:45AM
https://dentonrc.com/opinion/it-should-be-easy/article_960b97ab-0cea-5208-b6f9-cd8cfe3ca1bc.html
It should be easy | Opinion | dentonrc.com - Denton Record Chronicle
https://news.google.com/search?q=easy&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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