Reading the commentaries about Trump’s Super Tuesday wins and how he’s now viewed as a problem leaves me with much to say on the subject:
Trump is not an American problem. He’s not. A Trump presidency will be an American problem, but for the duration of his wandering into the political arena, Donald Trump has been and currently is a white people’s problem. Let me explain.
Trump began laying the foundation for his racist political propaganda campaign back in 2010 with the President Obama “birtherism” shenanigans. Black people collectively called racism on that bullshit. Overt racists joined in that lynch mob. For the most part, white people were silent. Black people knew then Trump as political candidate was coming.
When Trump went after women, liberal women and men/women of color called him out on this bullshit, too. Even GOP women did when he went after FOX News personality, Megyn Kelly. White men stood still and said nothing.
When he went after Hispanics and Latinos, calling them rapists, his racist support reached a groundswell. We tried to call foul on this bullshit. White people said to ignore him because he was a joke, nothing harmless, and could never be President.
When he said he would refuse Syrian refugees, calling innocent children fleeing a region ravaged by war and genocide terrorists, we were disgusted. You guffawed and said nothing, some of you even tried to rationalize it by saying “let’s care for Americans first.” Yes, the same Americans you never think about: the poor, the sick, the recipients of hate.
When he made the outrageous proposal to institute a badge system for identifying Muslims, you were tight-lipped and shifty-eyed. It made you uncomfortable because it was reminiscent of Hitler and WWII, but not uncomfortable enough to say anything because truthfully, you still flinch in the airport when you see a man of Middle Eastern descent speed past you trying to make his flight on time. You clench your purses when that man is seated on the plane next to you. You imagine he is a terrorist, when he is only a father of three, eager to get home to his family.
When Trump said he had to “research” the background of the Klan, you said not one bloody thing. American terrorists, domestic killers are supporting this man who pretends in his 60+ years to not know what they are about!? He sat on several national programs, gave the KKK a “wink-wink” and pretended to be oblivious. Let me remind you, as he does often, he is a Harvard graduate, he knows better. Still calls for his disavowal weren’t as fervent as they were for President Obama to disavow Jeremiah Wright before you would vote for him. Wright spoke some very harsh and very real truths about white America and your collective feelings got hurt. When we say Trump hurts ours, you say he’s not to be taken seriously, or worse “he’s just being honest.” Silence with words.
Now, the day after Super Tuesday, it appears his becoming the GOP presidential nominee is imminent. That means that he could become President and occupy your lives for at least four years, and a maximum of eight. You see this, finally, but the alarm has been ringing about this man and his insanity for more than a year, yet as far as you are concerned only now he is a problem.
No. He’s always been a problem. He’s just the problem you acknowledge, NOW. See, it’s not the racists who support him that made this possible, it has been the relative silence of the white people who don’t and the refusal to mobilize your privilege of power into a movement against him. You’re always demanding we, as people of color (PoC) police our races and fellow skinfolk. Well, now is the time you police yours. Donald Trump’s not acting as an individual when an entire group of people who look like him have conspired (yes, conspired) through their silence to create an atmosphere in America where this is tolerable. It’s not just your racist skinfolk’s support of this man that shifted political power to him, it’s also your skinfolk who refuse to speak out who need to accept the blame. It’s you. It’s your apathetic response to a man threatening to be a boil on the butt of America. It’s too late to fix the fact he will likely be the GOP nominee now, it’s just too damned late. But I am not going to tolerate what I am seeing a lot of on social media by so-called white “progressives”: the blaming and finger pointing at black people, Latinos and women for not supporting Bernie as the reason for Trump’s super Tuesday victories.
Uh-uh. No sirs and ma’ams! We didn’t create that monster. We didn’t let him roam around aimlessly, exuding his ether of hatred. We didn’t take him as a joke. We didn’t allow discomfort on matters of race to overcome and render us speechless. And we shouldn’t pay for it. That’s all on you and your refusal to tame this beast.
So how can you fix this? Well, before November, you have the chance to talk amongst yourselves and paint him as he really is and why he is bad for everyone. Your skinfolk always accuse PoC of “dividing by race” when we do it, so what is the point? Use your voices and stop this madness. The sooner you take responsibility for this sham of a human being, the faster some of your more rational skinfolk will wake up and turn the Trump show off before it’s no longer a show, but a painful reality.
Aisha K. Staggers 