When I first envisioned this post, my intent was to base it on [link url=”http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/frenzy-hatred-brexit-racism-abuse-referendum-celebratory-lasting-damage” title=”this article from the Guardian“]. It depicts in fairly stark and disturbing terms how “gleeful racism” — primarily against Eastern Europeans and Muslims — broke out in the UK almost before the Brexit votes were fully tallied. And the issue isn’t over. They [link url=”http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/world/europe/brexit-immigrants-great-britain-eu.html” title=”continue to mount“].
A lot has changed since then.
Here in the U.S., we’ve since had three shootings — one in Louisiana, one in Minnesota, and one in Texas — that have served to enflame the country. All the shootings have some stigma of racism attached — some slightly under the surface, some overt. We already live in a divided nation — politically, racially, socially, economically — that can be sliced and diced any number of ways. All of the characterizations are valid, and all of them diminish our society and bring it further and further from the “Shining City on the Hill” characterization of times gone by. We are arguably no longer that nation that other nations aspire to be. When [link url=”http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/09/travel/bahamas-us-travel-advisory/index.html” title=”the Bahamas“] along with [link url=”http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/07/10/tourists-warned-about-u-s-travel.html” title=”the UAE“] issue warnings about traveling here, that’s a marker of how far we’ve fallen.
Have you already picked your side?
If you’ve already picked your side based on any of the slice-and-dice categories listed above (or any other that might appeal to you), then consider this humble missive to be an effort to get you to think again.
There is a reason that “E Pluribus Unum” (from many, we shall become one) is on the Great Seal of the United States. E Pluribus Unum, and our founding fathers, along with everyone that has served up to this point to make our country great, did not and does not stand for or tolerate categories. Or discrimination based on categories. Or racism of any sort. For anyone to assert that our country does stand for that, or wants to “take back the country” for “real Americans” — that person is being disgracefully unpatriotic, and should not be listened to. Period.
Maybe the so-called ‘Race War’ isn’t about what We thought it was.
So I found [link url=”http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/07/there_is_a_war_over_race_in_america_but_it_s_not_whites_vs_blacks.html” title=”this article in Slate“] to be particularly enlightening. In it, the author makes the case that:
- Blacks who hate whites and whites who hate blacks are on the same team.
- Muslims who hate Westerners and Westerners who hate Muslims are on the same team.
What team is that? The team that wants to start a race war! Any race war will do. And so the categories of slicing-and-dicing really boil down to two: Those that want a race war, and those that don’t.
The author supplies plenty of justification for his perspective. Three shooters all overtly stated in their own ways that the purpose of their murders was to begin race wars: Anders Breivik of Norway, who killed 77; Dylan Roof of South Carolina, who killed nine; and Micah Johnson of Texas, who killed five.
And then, of course, there’s Osama bin Laden, and we know how that turned out. And Adolf Hitler, and we know how that turned out. And … (fill in the blank)
So we have choices to make.
From this point forward, we need to make our choices well. There’s very little margin for error. The driver for most of the discord in the world today continues to be climate change. Climate change is making certain regions of the world uninhabitable, and this is only going to accelerate as time goes on. Climate change is the driver of migration, and migration brings people together who do not know each other. This generates a reflexive, defensive reaction that results in blaming the “unknown other” or the “out-group” for society’s problems — whether the out-group had anything to do with the problem or not.
Here in America, we have designed a country that welcomes out-groups to our country. Everyone other than Native Americans are immigrants. All of our immigrant forefathers have taken advantage of this welcome in one way or another. I myself came from Germanic and Scottish heritage; I’m grateful to the citizens of America who welcomed my ancestors.
This concept of retaining a welcoming stance to immigrants is a perspective that those who advocate race wars cannot see. Some, like Dylan Roof, hold a perspective that hasn’t been valid since the end of the Civil War. Some, like those politicians that would banish Muslims and Mexicans from the U.S., are living embodiments of what our country is not, and has never been about.
We need to make the choice about whether or not to listen to them. And we need to do it right.
Learn more:
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