By Manny Otiko
Last week I defriended a Republican Facebook friend who said he was surprised by the wave of racially-motivated attacks carried out by Donald Trump supporters in the wake of his shock election victory. He said he didn’t know anyone who would behave or act like that, and doubted the reports.
That was the final straw for me. I sent him a note explaining my reasons for cutting ties. I said I could no longer maintain contact with someone who was deliberately ignoring evidence of people suffering, when it was staring him in the face. No one should be surprised by these acts. Trump rode to victory by tapping into a vein of white resentment of the advancement of blacks, Latinos, women and gay people. He also deliberately courted white nationalists by speaking their language and addressing their issues. Sometimes it was blatant. Donald Trump Jr. was a guest of James Edwards’ white nationalist radio show “The Political Cesspool.” Later, Edwards was given press credentials to cover a Trump campaign appearance.
Trump’s campaign chair was Steve Bannon, former CEO of Breitbart, the alt right site. Bannon was accused by his ex-wife of saying he didn’t want his children to go to a school because it had too many Jews. During his campaign, Trump was endorsed by the KKK’s paper, and white nationalist groups rejoiced when he won. According to Raw Story, Michael Hill, president of the neo Confederate League of the South, celebrated Trump’s victory and urged him to “drive a stake” through the heart of “the globalist-progressive coalition of Jews, minorities, and anti-white whites.”
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid described Trump as “America’s nightmare.”
“The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America,” said Reid in a statement. “I have a large family. I have one daughter and twelve granddaughters. The texts, emails and phone calls I have received from them have been filled with fear ― fear for themselves, fear for their Hispanic and African American friends, for their Muslim and Jewish friends, for their LGBT friends, for their Asian friends. I’ve felt their tears and I’ve felt their fear.”
It is clear that this is no ordinary election. I went to bed on election night, and expected to get over Trump’s win in a few days. But I’m still reeling. A few days ago, I was hit with a wave of depression when I realized that millions of Americans had voted for someone who had encouraged racial hatred. They greenlighted his supporters’ behavior. They said they were okay with children from minority backgrounds being terrorized. Teachers have reported increased incidents of Latino children being harassed in their schools. Latino children have been left in tears as their classmates told them they would be deported. Black college students have received messages about lynchings. Muslim women have stopped wearing the hijab so they won’t be attacked.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has recorded more than 400 incidents of racially-motivated attacks since Trump’s election. I was in a black Facebook group a few days ago and someone posted a message saying that this was the time for black people to arm themselves. Eighty percent of the posters agreed. A Jewish friend of mine also recommended I do the same.
Is this the image America wants to send to the world? After the election of Barack Obama, America looked like a progressive country that elected a black man to the highest office of the land. He was the leader of the free world, and America looked head and shoulders above the Europeans when it came to race relations. That all changed last Tuesday. To quote CNN commentator Van Jones, what we witnessed was a “whitelash,” a huge step backward.
Over the years, I’ve watched hundreds of films and TV shows about Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich, In an article on Big Think, Columbia University law professor Tim Wu, says Trump used tactics similar to Hitler by exploiting white America’s fears of their declining population.
“If you study carefully the rise of the Third Reich, it is fascinating how well the speakers of the Third Reich targeted unconscious, unspoken but truly present fears, hatreds, powerful emotions, you know, far beyond the thinking mind,” said Wu.
Evidently Hitler’s rise and tactics were backed by the German people. They not only elected him, but they were okay with him victimizing Jewish people. Now I live in a country that is okay with the victimization of minority groups. I always knew America was a racist country, I just never knew how bad the resentment was. But after Tuesday I know.
