In its 4-year bashing of “white” people, what the left failed to understand is that historically speaking, European mistreatment of other Europeans is what gave rise to and fed into European mistreatment of non-europeans. There is nothing that europeans did to non-europeans that they didn’t first do to each other.
The scapegoating of women and Jews and other minorities during the Black Plague predates the Atlantic Slave Trade by a century. To put not too fine a point on it, if your response to mistreatment of minorities is to bash white people, you ensure that the mistreatment of minorities will continue because “minority” is a fluid category not a fixed one.
After all, Christopher Columbus Day is only a thing because Italian immigrants were perceived as dark and backward and lynched by their non-catholic counterparts. The outcry that ensued led to the establishment of our contemporary holiday.
It’s worth meditating on that again: If your response to mistreatment of minorities is to bash white people, you ensure that mistreatment of minorities will continue.
President Trump’s reflexive assumption that a tragic plane crash in DC was the fault of “diversity hiring” proves this point. So too does the right’s newfound comfort with vice signaling and Churchill bashing.
Last night I read about farmers struggling in the face of President Trump’s slashing of federal funding. Some of these folks voted for him. I have no idea what skin color these farmers are and, frankly, I don’t care. Many of these farmers are wondering how they’re going to make end’s meet in a month. Some are now in debt as they will no longer be getting grants they were promised in the previous administration. This makes me angry and sad.
The antidote to all of this is for us to learn how to care for each other.
Can we do that before it’s too late?
God, I really hope so.