Lately, the news has been fraught with fear-mongering, hatred, racism, bigotry, and general malice and negativity toward all. Maybe the news has always been that way. But maybe not. To me, it seems worse. This trend started before our Republican front-runner came onto the scene, with multiple shooting incidents, by whites, non-blacks, and police officers, on blacks. The violent and deadly result was often in response to some action or provocation that warranted a much tamer response, culminating in questionable “investigations,” apparent attempts to hide the truth, and, in too many cases, insignificant consequences. For instance, on the pretense of neighborhood watch, a Hispanic man follows a young black man and ends up shooting him. He is found innocent. A white man doesn’t like the loud music being played in a car by some young black men, and shoots and kills one of them, injuring several others. First trial ended as a mistrial on the murder charge, oddly enough, since he was the one with the gun. Second time around he was, rightly, convicted. Police officers, on multiple occasions over the last few years, have killed young, unarmed black men and boys, with little or no justification. In too many of these cases, the murders have gone unpunished. What these cases have done, however, is brought racism back into the light of day where, for now, it sadly belongs. The civil rights movement may have been the catalyst for the creation of laws designed to protect minorities from blatant racism, but it did not end racism. The White Supremacist movement remained, albeit smaller, largely impotent, and relegated to the shadows.
No longer. In late 2015, Donald J. Trump tossed his hat in the ring as a presidential contender. His rallies have become increasingly frightening, guided by a narcissist who spews hatred against women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, gays, refugees, immigrants, prisoners of war, heads of state, you name it. And his followers have not hesitated to rally round and champion his cause, which, for the most part, appears to be hatred. Nothing more, nothing less. His audience appears overwhelmingly white as far as I can tell, although a surprising mix of young and old. Innuendos and slurs fly, and feeling the burn in this case (as opposed to feeling the “Bern” on the other side of the fence), is caused by the scorching heat of hatred and bigotry. It continues to ratchet up. Each day as new slurs are tossed about, the escalating fear has become almost palpable. This man could, in fact, become our new president. What an embarrassment. And while he is embarrassment enough, his followers add yet another level to that embarrassment. We have not come a long way, baby. Not even close. As a matter of fact, we may be moving backwards.
At the end of the movie The Help, one of the maids, Aibileen, poses a question to Miss Hilly, a women whose cause célèbre is keeping the races separate and unequal in her home town of Jackson, Mississippi. “Ain’t you tired, Miss Hilly? Ain’t you tired?” she asks. This is a question to be asked of all of those who hate, simply because they – apparently – love to hate. They hate because someone believes in a different god; because someone is a different color; because someone wears different clothing; because someone is different – in some way – from themselves. It is hatred caused by fear (although isn’t all hatred caused by fear?). It is hatred which now has become mainstream and acceptable, at least by a significant number of Trump (and a fair number other Tea Party Republican) followers. They relish the hatred. Thrive on it. Wallow in it. It makes them feel strong and powerful. They are people who have found validation in Trump. They lack self-esteem, and probably suffer from self-loathing as well. Maybe even other mental health issues. Issues which do not allow them to grasp and understand reality. They are a sad lot, and so I would ask them the same question Aibileen asked of Miss Hilly, because hatred and fear take so much more energy than love and acceptance:
Ain’t you tired?
~ jwb ~