By now no one is surprised that President Donald J. Trump can be guaranteed to embark on Twitter rants for various and sundry reasons. The latest tirade, however, is with an unexpected cohort – four Democratic Congresswomen representing a diverse constituency. The four dubbed “The Squad“ has elicited charges of racism when Trump said that they should “Go back where they came from.” He has not backed up, and has renewed his attacks stating, “They are not capable of loving the U.S.”
The “Squad” consists of Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. During a recent North Carolina campaign appearance, his audience repeatedly chanted the phrase “send her back” alluding to members of the squad. This is reminiscent of the racist habit of attacking foreign-looking Americans by telling them to “go back where they came from.” The Congresswomen are all American citizens; three of them were born in the U.S., and the fourth is a naturalized citizen.
The aforementioned phrase has elicited a firestorm of racist charges, and is arguably one of those racist daggers that has been thrown at most people of color at one time or another. Very few “non-standard” Americans (read W.A.S.P.) have been able to escape that epithet, and many were born and raised in America. It was a common practice for African Americans, for example, to be told to “Go back to Africa.” Latin-appearing individuals have been told to “Go back to Mexico, or Puerto Rico.” East Indians have been told to “Go back to India.” What is patently clear about this latest resurgence of racist rhetoric is that Donald J. Trump is indeed the Lord of the Racist Flies. He and his acolytes have been fanning the flames of racism to such an extent that they threaten to destroy the fabric of an already fragile American social fabric. It is further dividing the country, and it is pretty clear that the Trump theme of “Make America Great Again” really means “Make America White Again.” The problem with this, however, is that America was never really “white.” When the European colonists came to what is now called North America, it was populated by Native Americans and others of a darker hue. The colonists raped, pillaged, plundered, stole land from those residing on it and even gave blankets riddled with smallpox to indigenous tribesmen in an effort to speed up the genocidal process. After that, they stole Black people from the African continent and engaged them in one of the cruelest forms of slavery recorded among humans. They broke up families, killed people at random, and profited from 246 years of free labor, which is one of the reasons they were able to economically dominate the Western world. European Americans can be seen, therefore, to be some of the most ruthless, vicious, greedy, savage, and barbaric denizens of this planet. And yet they consider themselves superior to the Black and Brown people, who, interestingly, make up the majority of the world’s population.
To be fair, there are very many white people who do not demonstrate the previously mentioned characteristics. Even during slavery, there were whites who opposed that demonic institution and allied themselves with the abolitionists. Today there are also allies among those who do not identify with “white supremacists.” It can be safe to say, however, that the majority of those who align themselves with Trump are not among the more enlightened whites and probably identify as white supremacists, or, at the very least, don’t disavow that stance.
In the Christian Bible the Book of Revelation mentions “Four Horses of the Apocalypse.” These are seen to be four horsemen envisioned as world harbingers of the Last Judgement. They symbolize Conquest, War, Famine and Death, respectively. Clearly, Trump, who is allegedly the leader of the Free World, is helping to implement this apocalyptic vision. The callous, inhumane treatment of people both inside the U.S., as demonstrated by vile racism and economic violence toward indigenous Blacks and others; his treatment of people at the U.S. border; his denial of climate change; and his penchant for saber rattling are harbingers of doom. If people of saner minds and purer hearts don’t unify to stop this racist, fascistic plague, we may witness the end of human existence as we know it. A Luta Continua.
