My Take: Now I know why
American history is defined as a contest by those who believe in equality and those who don’t.
Having just read "The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story," now I know why white racists want it banned. Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning collection of essays, stories and poems by numerous authors, clearly exposes how American racism has created the injustices of slavery, segregation, discrimination and continued mistreatment of Blacks. The 1619 Project is an unmitigated damning indictment of America’s racist past and present. Every American, including high school students, should read The 1619 Project. It details what racists have done and continue to do.
The United States of America is once again at a dangerous crossroads in our historic struggle between the political descendants of enslavers and those who uphold the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence: "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.”
Most Americans are not racists, as attested by the election of President Barack Obama, but racists are a significantly powerful minority. Despite Trump’s words to the contrary, his actions as president and a businessman make him a racist.
In 2016, with the help of the Electoral College, and by the Supreme Court’s continuing gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Trump was elected with a minority of the popular vote. The pro-Trump Supreme Court just assisted Trump by granting him de facto amnesty for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, by keeping his name on the ballot. Thus, nullifying section 3 of the 14th Amendment of our U.S. Constitution.
Republicans, including Bill Huizenga, who supports Trump's re-election, refused to remove Trump from office because of his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. With Trump’s racists now in total control of the Republican Party, racists are poised to re-elect Donald Trump, who continues to espouse white christian nationalist fascist positions, even saying he wants to be a dictator.
Racists now blame Black people for dividing the nation, saying they already have equality. Racists accuse those who support diversity, equity and inclusion as being racists as an excuse to shut down DEI efforts.
Refusing to treat Blacks and whites as equals, racists have always been with us. They are attempting to spread their fascist-like tendencies to the whole nation. These tendencies are found in Republican-controlled states from Ohio to Florida and Texas that continue to disenfranchise Black voters. Racists supported slavery, segregation and today’s discrimination. Racists have been quite willing to use violence and even a civil war to maintain white over Black. Today’s racists are no different, calling for violence to overturn an election, and even a new civil war, if necessary, to end our democracy based on equality.
This is fascism.
The current Republican majority in the House of Representatives — who do nothing to improve life for Americans — is controlled by representatives many of whom supported Trump’s attempted coup by refusing to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. This Republican group of election-deniers has elected one of their own as speaker of the House, Texas Rep. Mike Johnson, who is second in line for the presidency. Johnson states that his positions are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, with our Constitution subservient to it.
Note: The Bible supports slavery.
After the 2020 election, Johnson actively solicited help to keep Trump in office.
Trump is an amoral narcissist. What will prevent him from selling top secrets? Trump cares only about himself, “ME!” as he named himself recently, certainly not us or the U.S.
It is not Trump who really scares me; it is the 73,559,030 cult-like followers, including Huizenga, who voted to re-elect him in 2020, even after we witnessed four years of a narcissistic want-to-be-dictator. It is obvious that Trump’s racist cult continues to support him even after Jan. 6, 2021, and even after he has bragged about abusing women, slept with porn stars, been found liable for sexual abuse, engaged in business fraud, and been indicted on numerous other crimes.
Your vote in November will, once again, decide between those who support equality for all Americans and those who oppose it. If Trump and his racist/fascist supporters win, America will no longer be a place where “freedom rings” for us all.
— Don Bergman resides in Holland.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: Now I know why
