Alright - so first real post here. There's so much to delve into with regard to
this election and what the future might bring us. But for now - I just want to acknowledge what
I believe everyone is either sensing or witnessing - and that is a palpable tension
that seems to be foreshadowing threats of - or even acts of - violence.
These threats of violence are being directed at folks on all sides -
that includes Trump supporters. I want
to be clear about that to my friends who supported Trump. I do know and I have witnessed news reports
of acts of hate towards people who voiced support for Trump (or just seemed to
match the profile). There are two main
examples I know of - this one,
where a traffic accident led to a white man being beaten and his car seemingly
stolen while he was dragged off - this is horrifying. Police reports of this incident point to a
traffic accident that then spun out of control to a hateful attack on the man
for either having a Trump bumper sticker - saying he voted for Trump - or
maybe, just being an older white man.
Regardless of all this - this is abhorrent.
The other prominent example of violence towards a Trump
supporter is that of a young girl at a high school in California being accosted
by a black girl for having posted something in support of Trump on Instagram
the evening before the election. Again -
friends of mine who supported Trump - this is unacceptable to me and anyone I
know - regardless of whom we supported for President. I should also note that this prompted a
campus-wide protest in support of the girl that was attacked - you can read
about it here.
Before I acknowledge the reports I've seen of
intimidation, threats and violence towards ethnic and religious minorities from
the few bigoted folks that are emboldened by a Trump win - let me make the
following plea to all my conservative, Trump-supporting friends. These reactions of violence and hateful
rhetoric are only beginning. I'm sadly
confident it's only going to get much worse.
Please, please, please - as you see examples of this - please disavow it
all. Please bear witness to attacks and
threats of attacks on anyone and try your best to deescalate the tensions. Every time you see a report of an attack on
someone from a supposed Trump supporter - please don't then feel the need to
find as many examples of these attacks on Trump supporters as a means of tit
for tat false equivalency.
There are conservative media sites out there - the
top two to name are Breitbart and Infowars.
These are not news sites bound by any inkling of journalistic integrity
and rigor. They are sites meant to
misinform and provoke. They, and many
like them, are going to try and get you to dig deeper into your foxholes. Please
don't. Stay informed - watch the evening
National news, read your local and National newspapers. If you spend one hour watching or reading
news from an organization that is editorially conservative - do yourself a
service and try to spend an equal amount of time obtaining information from an
organization that is perceived or acknowledged to be of a liberal bent in its
commentary. Please stop feeling and feeding the need to be right - and please
try to start feeding the need to understand.
Back to the sad necessity of pointing out what
everyone is likely hearing about - and that is the sharp rise in hate crimes
towards ethnic and religious minorities in our country. You can read about examples here,
here
and here.
I have no idea what can be done to staunch this. It
may be impossible. The one thing I wish
would happen, that I think would be immensely helpful - but that I'm saddened
to say is probably very unlikely - is that Trump make a major post-election
speech as soon as possible. I'll give
him some help, although I'm a lousy speech writer. Here goes:
"Dear
all people of America - those who supported me, and those who did not. I want to be everyone's president. I want to heal the divide that's widening in
our country. I must acknowledge that
during the campaign and for the past eight years, I have been at times
insensitive and unnecessarily provocative.
I called into question the legitimacy of our first black president's
place of birth, when I knew that he was born in America. I have referred to ethnic and religious
minorities as those unworthy of our trust and respect - and I now know that
this was unhelpful and counter-productive.
I am sorry for having said these things - and I want a chance to set
things right.........."
Something like that. Will we ever get anything remotely
close? Anything short of it will likely
only allow these protests and horrible acts of violence and intimidation to
continue. We cannot function as a
society on these terms.
We need to stop the bleeding here - but can we?
Friends that I've included on this email - please
write me with your thoughts and feelings whenever you have the chance - take
your time. Please be as positive and
constructive as possible.
dvt
