Friday, February 24, 2017

The Trump Tribe

A post by a pastor in Florida has gone viral.  In it, he describes the experience of taking his daughter to see President Trump in Florida. 
I felt like people were here to worship an ideology along with the man who was leading it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the song per se – it was this inexplicable movement that was happening in the room. It was a religious zeal....
and of course, the crowd responded appropriately. But then, some people held up signs of protest....and the True Believers became outraged.
The two angry, screaming ladies looked at me, both of them raised their middle finger at me in my face and repeatedly yelled, "F*#% YOU!" Repeatedly..... 
My daughter was shaking in fear as she clung to me. The one man behind the protesters shoved himself forward, grabbed the lady by the arm and screamed with multiple expletives, "I'm going to take you out! This is my president and nobody has the right to disrespect him and nobody has the right to keep me from hearing him!"....
There was palpable fear in the room. There was thick anger and vengeance. He was counting on it. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it would not have taken very much for him to have called this group of people into some kind of riotous reaction.
I am sure I am not the only one who called up memories of these images:



And then, a man in Kansas decided to shoot two men because they were dark-skinned and he thought they were Muslim. (They were actually from India). One died.

This racism and white tribalism may be Trump's country, but it is not my America.


3 comments:

Erp said...

Being from India doesn't mean they couldn't be Muslim; India has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world. However being seen as brown even if Christian is probably sufficient (consider the attitude towards people from Mexico).

IT said...

True, although he apparently thought they were middle easterners.

Marshall Scott said...

Erp, you are correct. What was critical here was simply that they were "foreign" - dark skin and notable accent. I would note that here locally (and for me this is a local story) religion has not been part of the discussion one way or another. There is a significant community here of immigrants and first- and second-generation Americans of Indian or Pakistani heritage, and masjids and churches and a Hindu temple to serve as needed.

We here are not that long past the violent deaths of three at our Jewish Community Center. I would note that this metropolitan area rejects this violence, from the Kansas citizen who stood up for the other victims to the Missouri bartender who called the police on the shooter.