Recently, there was an interview with members of the Ku Klux Klan circulating on the Internet. One Klan member said that he felt that Blacks should not live in the South (of the United States) and that he thinks that Blacks are descended from animals. He is also not above advocating for removing them forcibly from the South if they are not willing to go on their own. Basically, he felt that things are leading up to a race war!
On another front, there was an Internet video about a Black Lives Matter event wherein a Black female leader requested that all white people move to the back of the event, and that only Black people should be in front. Her frustration with white people can be understood in light of what Blacks have endured, but she must also understand that some white people have always supported the Black movement since before John Brown lost his life in 1859 due to abolitionist activities.
What these situations portend, however, is an increase in racial tensions in America, and all sides need to be cautious if we are to prevail as a nation. We all know that white people have done some absolutely egregious things to Blacks through the years. In fact, there was a time when Black people were not even considered to be human beings. But as said previously there have always been those whites who have opposed this bad behavior.
Here is the crux of the problem: there are white people who hate Blacks and will do whatever they can to hurt them, AND there is another variety that goes against this hatred. On the other hand, there are a lot of Black people who love their communities and will do whatever they can to help uplift them, AND there are a number of Blacks who actively practice self-hatred. These are among those who are creating havoc in the Black community in an unfortunate wave of Black-on-Black murders.
On top of this conundrum there is Donald Trump, whose hate-mongering is epic. It is beyond belief that so many Americans support him, even though he has shown to be unfit to lead this country in a number of very important ways. He has insulted a Gold Star family who lost a child serving this nation in Iraq; he has insulted women; he has even, incredibly, mocked a handicapped reporter! Trump has called for the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails. ( Isn’t this treasonous)? He has insulted Black people. Basically, Donald Trump has shown significant and obvious character flaws; he has allegedly cheated people thereby selfishly benefitting from them. He has not released his income tax returns, and has allegedly said that he was not going to release them. Yet he gets a pass by his supporters. Why would anyone want this kind of dishonest hate-spewing demagogue to be president of the United States? Diplomacy is probably a word that he cannot even imagine, let alone pursue, and yet there are those who want to elect him to the highest office in the land. Most of these are white but, get this, some are Black! One of Hillary Clinton’s campaign slogans is “Love Trumps Hate.” Though many people think that this is true, a large number of people in the United States openly espouse hatred. Many of them are among Donald Trump’s supporters.
Once upon a time in Germany, the people went along with overt hate speech delivered by a charismatic leader and millions of people lost their lives. That country also lost the Second World War. The future of the United States is going to depend upon whether the hate mongers are outnumbered by those who espouse love and inclusion. In this regard, we truly hope that “love does trump hate,” because the entire world will be impacted by the outcome. If the wrong person gets access to the nuclear button, the folly of blindly following a hate monger will ultimately bring the whole world to the brink of Hell. A luta continua.
