Donald Trump has unleashed division and hate in this country not seen since the Civil Rights movement. It was his pathway to a stolen victory. But two thoughtful men in the South had prescient words we must digest.
Every so often, I get up in the morning having no clue what I am going to write about that morning. As I scan Feedly, a few excellent news sites, Facebook, and watch some cable news channels, I get a flavor of what I want to write. My Coffee Party USA colleague Charlotte Vaughan Coyle tagged me on a note that in itself had a message.
I hope you have heard/read the recent remarks by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Here is a bold, brilliant argument that cuts to the heart of the issue without denigrating any person or group.
Also here is a post from my friend Jim Rigby, a progressive pastor in Austin TX. He marches, protests, prays at the State Capitol every chance he gets, but he offers this wise warning to us all. We are not only doing the work of Resisting; we must also be about the work of convincing/encouraging/converting.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
Landrieu gave a compelling speech on race in New Orleans that The Times-Picayune described as follows.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu last week (May 19) delivered one of the most honest speeches on race I’ve ever heard from a white Southern politician. I know, that’s not saying much. It’s a low bar Landrieu vaulted over. But just because so many white elected officials in the South won’t speak frankly to their constituents about race doesn’t mean what Landrieu said isn’t worthy of praise.
With his courage in presiding over removal of three Confederate statues and a white supremacist memorial — and his sensitive, spirited defense of those actions — Landrieu has not only secured his place as one of New Orleans’ more notable mayors; he also might have propelled himself into the conversation for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
While some courageous politicians like Mayor Mitch Landrieu are taking political risks, we have a president who uses the very forces they are fighting to traumatize, divide, and conquer. But we do not have to either acquiesce to the torture or stoop to the level of the president and his cohort.
And that is where Pastor Jim Rigby’s words are so prescient at this time. His Facebook post had some inconvenient truths as well as advice we should all heed.
Austin Texas Pastor Jim Rigby
Jim Rigby first points out a truth many of us have been trying to cauterize in the psyche of people we encounter one on one or in crowds. It convinced enough people in the states in the Midwest that Trump won.
Remember the task of a demagogue is to convince majority populations that they are under assault from every quarter by minority populations. Only that false belief can justify continuing to oppress them.
But as Rigby says, demagoguing by others do not give us carte blanc to emulate them or use similar methods. In fact, we must be careful even in humor and satire.
While we must protect those being scapegoated, Muslims, LGBTQ, feminists, immigrants, et. al., we must also be very careful not to appear to justify the cultural paranoia being used as propaganda. Kathy Griffin’s use of a bleeding, decapitated head of Donald Trump was meant to be funny, but now right wing media is abuzz with the image “proving” that liberals really do mean to hurt conservatives.
Rigby then pointed out two recent white supremacists acts not just for the sake of pointing them out.
Jeremy Christian, the Portland man who harassed Muslim women and then stabbed their defenders saw himself as a defender of American values. In court, he shouted, “Free speech or die, Portland!” “You (America’s enemies) got no safe place. This is America. Get out if you don’t like free speech!” “Death to the enemies of America. Leave this country if you hate our freedom.” “You call it terrorism, I call it patriotism. You hear me? Die.”
Yesterday, religious right activist “Coach” Dave Daubenmire declared on his “Pass The Salt Live” webcast that America needs “a more violent Christianity.” He showed pictures of Donald Trump pushing aside the prime minister of Montenegro. “Look at him! They’re all little puppies, ain’t nobody barking at him … He’s walking in authority. He walked to the front and center and they all know it, too, man. He just spanked them all!” Coach Dave also praise a Republican politician for body slamming a reporter who asked difficult questions, ‘Yes, a fighter! Go, dude, go!’ … Who won? The dude that took the other dude to the ground.”
Just because some of us are beginning to see the fascistic underpinnings of our culture does not mean the violence against targeted people has not always been a bipartisan agenda for our nation. We must learn and teach some very difficult lessons. Mindless patriotism is and has always been terrorism to those who live on the other side of our boundary.
Pastor Rigby articulated an inconvenient truth that more people should know not just in passing but as the driving force of much of our dysfunction.
The white power structure of this nation is and has always been terrorism to those of a different hue. Militant Christianity is and has always been terrorism to those of other mindsets. Heartless capitalism is and has always been terrorism to those without property.
And here is Rigby’s most impactful advice which I agree with completely.
I am in no way suggesting that we be passive victims to this mindless violence. I am saying the way out demands principles, reason and compassion. And, we must each find the humility to admit that we are part of the problem, too.
The brutality and dishonesty of the Trump movement can be traumatizing, but we cannot heal from that trauma if we sink to the same level. In this time of madness, it is very important that we keep our hearts and heads clear. In a time of ignorance and cruelty what is most needed are fully functioning human beings.
It is the message all must heed. In many recent blog posts, I implored Progressives to drop what many times can come across as self-righteousness that can stifle a dialogue before it begins. It is not enough to be right. It is not sufficient to have morality and dignity on one’s side, for if one is unable to convert that into changing others and even oneself, it is all for naught.