Racism is nothing new as these cruel events in the last century remind us. We were lulled into a false sense of unity with the Civil Rights movement. No more segregation, no more "whites only" signs, no more casually calling blacks the N-word or other derogatory terms, no more openly giving them the hate stare. The color line was broken in sports, films and schools. Why they're even on TV. Thank God that's over.
But it was not the end to ancient grudge. The pretense of equality was like the polio vaccine, it was not a cure, merely a shield. It was still there, waiting to mutate into another strain to infect and spread. It's main ally fear, helped weaken our defenses and now it's back for another surge.
It's not just the bleeding Liberals or ungrateful minorities sounding the alarm this time, but conservatives as well.
President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter, MichaelGerson, has a message for people who are excusing President Trump's racism:
"I had fully intended to ignore President Trump’s latest round of racially charged taunts against an African American elected official, and an African American activist, and an African American journalist and a whole city with a lot of African Americans in it. I had every intention of walking past Trump’s latest outrages and writing about the self-destructive squabbling of the Democratic presidential field, which has chosen to shame former vice president Joe Biden for the sin of being an electable, moderate liberal.
When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020. It is a cause for shame. . . And all of this is being done by an ignorant and arrogant narcissist reviving racist tropes for political gain, indifferent to the wreckage he is leaving, the wounds he is ripping open. . .
Some political choices are not just stupid or crude. They represent the return of our country’s cruelest, most dangerous passion. Such racism indicts Trump. Treating racism as a typical or minor matter indicts us."
racism, Trump, Gerson
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