At this moment in American history, it’s particularly worth remembering that persecuting the Jews, and eventually killing millions of them, achieved nothing towards helping the Germans to improve their country.
Similarly, persecuting and killing the Tutsis didn't do a thing towards helping the Rwandans to improve their country.
Both countries are much worse off due to their dark periods of history, and those who know history better than I do will surely know of countless other examples.
Despite these historical precedents, Trump is trying to convince the 2020 voters that persecuting immigrants and minorities is going to help improve America, to help make it “great again.” This brazen lie by the con-man in the Oval Office, which so far seems to be the only defining message of his campaign, simply doesn't fit what we’ve seen in history. Rather, all historical evidence indicates that this would be perhaps the worst thing possible for America, and something that many Americans vowed to prevent after witnessing the atrocities of Hitler in World War 2, with their simple yet impassioned words: “Never again.”
The founding fathers of America declared boldly: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” All of America’s greatest leaders have been those, like the founding fathers, and Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, and now “the Squad”, and countless others whether known or unknown, who have helped to move America away from its humble beginnings as a tyrannically-ruled British colony, gradually away from slavery, misogyny and other abominations, towards greater equality for all, in terms of respect, opportunities, and rights. Americans are still a long way from actually living up to all of our ideals, but it is these ideals which, more than anything else in this “great melting pot”, have defined what it means for us to call ourselves American.
Looking back over the last 243 years, it’s also very clear that all Americans have prospered as we’ve gradually inched closer to our high ideals. Our country was founded on principles such as religious liberty, and freedom, and representative democracy, and has been one of the most prosperous countries on the planet. These are the principles and ideals that have kindled hope in the hearts of oppressed people all over the world. Our legacy has attracted some of the best, brightest and most courageous spirits on the planet, and magnetized them to come here in their own pursuit of happiness. Many have risked everything to pursue this dream. In this context, when Trump denounces minorities, or immigrants, or anyone else for being less “American” than he is, we should never forget that he is the one betraying our American ideals.
Jesus Christ, and the Jewish prophets who came before him, taught that we should love our neighbors. When Trump’s tyrannical regime kidnaps immigrant children from their parents, and locks them in cages without basic sanitation, or when Trump’s followers try to convince us that Trump is some kind of “Savior”, or that we should join with them in repeating hate-filled chants against Trump’s personal enemies, we should remember that Trump is betraying not only our American values, but also the teachings of Christ.
And lest we leave anyone out of this majestic brotherhood of all mankind - equal children of our Creator - we should remember that all religions in some way teach these universal moral principles of loving one another, and of doing unto others that which we’d want to have done unto us. By instead spreading hatred, and encouraging the vile and corrupt, Trump is betraying everything that is morally right, and aligning his moral compass with evil itself.
This is a time of darkness for all Americans who care about justice, or feel compassion for those who are being oppressed by our own government, or personally attacked or threatened by Trump or his followers.
For all Americans who may be getting tired or discouraged after these many months of enduring this tyrannical regime, I’d like to share a few encouraging quotes from a very wise man: Mahatma Gandhi. Although he was not an American, he embodied and exemplified our American ideals very well, for our ideals are in fact rooted in universal, eternal, truths and realities.
"A good person will resist an evil system with his whole soul. Disobedience of the laws of an evil state is therefore a duty."
"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."
"Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time."
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.”