Once you get past the fact that racism, bigotry, and xenophobia are inherently ignorant and disgusting, it becomes dangerous when condoned by authority. Most minorities have had a turn in the barrel. A native American population that had the nerve to defend against extermination was systematically wiped from the American landscape with the countenance of the government. The enslavement trade may be the most egregious and well-known of the atrocities in the United States, but again, it was government policy. In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act. Effectively, it became the first blatant ban of immigrants to the United States with the ostensive purpose of barring the influx of Chinese workers who “endangered the good order of certain localities.”
Japanese-American soldiers who fought for the U.S. in World War II had to swallow the ignominy of fighting; at the same time, their parents, siblings, and families suffered through internment back home, authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Recently, the government [Oklahoma Supreme Court] again refused the effort to pay the last surviving members, Viola Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, reparations for the Tulsa, Oklahoma, massacre in 1921. People of all stripes have heard or indulged in sometimes silly but most often insidious racial stereotypes. Jokes become perception, and perception becomes hatred. Hence, the latest iteration—Haitians are eating captured pets.
What started with a woman who wrote about a neighbor's missing cat on a social media post transformed into an authoritative lie by both the GOP presidential and VP nominees. Like most racist tropes, it morphed into a population of hardworking people being subjected to threats of death and bombings. Most of us have been in the presence of a colleague who tells an off-color joke at the watercooler or a person at the bar or restaurant who talks in hushed whispers, with a phrase that usually starts with, ‘Did you hear the one about….’ Some laugh uproariously, others grin uncomfortably, quickly, hoping the subject changes. What has changed drastically in America is the public acceptance by our ‘leaders.’ As a black man who has seen his fair share of racism in my life, I want to gag when I hear mainly white Americans say, ‘This is not who we are.’
Gone are the days of hushed tones and uncomfortable whispers. The former president of the United States [Donald Trump] has called Haiti, El Salvador and African nations “shithole countries.” He purposefully painted targets on the backs of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Americans, calling the COVID-19 virus the “Kung-Flu.” Mr. Trump took particular merriment in using the nickname for the virus—milking it in front of approving audiences, who were emboldened to use the racist epithet publicly. The perception still lasts in the minds of many because it was validated by authority. The poison of beliefs based on race is what makes the story about Springfield, Ohio, live.
In the late 1990s, after years of attending black-dominated congregations. I remember reading that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that the most “segregated hour” in America was church on Sunday. I wanted to be part of the change, so I joined a racially diverse church’s effort to bring in more people of color specifically for that reason. After the first month of wonderful fellowship, a white woman sat beside me during the morning hymn. The particular hymn was rousing and upbeat. I stood along with the other congregants and clapped my hands. The woman nudged me in my side and smiled. I smiled back, thinking she was just being encouraging. A few piano runs later, she nudged me again. I looked at her quizzically as she said over the din, and as I leaned over to lower my ear, “I know your people can do better; get into it!” She then showed me by raising her hands above her head, clapping and swaying while dancing a quick step.
I stopped clapping and stared dismissively at her. She was poked by what I assumed was her husband, and she stopped. After services, she asked if she had offended me. I told her, “No, you offended yourself.” We later became friends. Sometimes, it just takes calling it out. So, when your acquaintances want to speculate with you about Haitians eating pets or any other racial trope, do not offend yourself; call it out.
Vote Against Guns
