Is This What Trump Really Stands For?
By DW Davis
@DWDavis (25812)
Pikeville, North Carolina
December 22, 2016 7:49am CST
At a mall in Louisville, Kentucky, an older white woman went on an expletive deleted, xenophobic, hate filled rant against two Latinas in a JC Penney store and used as her justification the recent election of Donald Trump whom, she said, was going to fix the problem of non-white, non-English speaking people living in America.
Trump supporters I know insist that the recent spate of such tirades, justified by the perpetrator by invoking Trump's name, should not be blamed on The Donald.
Folks I know on the other side are just as insistent that it was Trump's campaign rhetoric that gave people license to publicly voice the racism and hatred toward minorities and foreign born people living in the United States, and declare him responsible for the wave of White Supremacist movements coming into the fore during and since his campaign culminated with him winning the White House.
As a political agnostic, with anarchist leanings, I believe the seeds of this problem were sewn years ago and the roots grew deep and strong during the Obama years. Now the vicious, poisonous branches of tribalism and xenophobia are sprouting into the public eye in such displays as this.
When you see or read stories such as this one from Kentucky, of which there have been several since Trump's election, do you blame President-Elect Trump? Further, do you believe Trump is not only responsible, but that the people acting this way are correct in thinking the President-Elect feels the same way they do?
A JCPenney shopper went on an expletive-laden, racist tirade against two Latina customers earlier this week, telling them to "go back where they belong" in a rant that was caught on video.
12 people like this
9 responses
@topffer (42156)
• France
22 Dec 16
I have read exactly the same kind of xenophobic comments in UK just after the Brexit. People are expecting a lot from these populist candidates who are promising them the moon, but they are usually deceived later. We will probably have a Trump like candidate at the second turn of our presidential election next year. She also surfs on xenophobic/racist feelings, and has a completely unsustainable economical program : raise of minimum wages, lower gas, electricity and taxes, etc. In brief, tomorrow we will have free lunches
.
.4 people like this
@topffer (42156)
• France
22 Dec 16
@DWDavis By itself the Brexit can be a great opportunity for Europe, as Britons were blocking a lot of things since they joined and have never really played a united Europe game : they kept their money, did not signed the Schengen agreement... But these nationalist/populist/xenophobic parties are worrying, and if the EU was falling because of them we will not be long to have a new WW.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215346)
• Chile
22 Dec 16
Americans in other countries are not much willing to learn the language of the country, I know from my own experience. And they usually recieve help from the natives, wherever they are. That is the way it should be everywhere. I don´t know if the white americans remember that their forefathers came to the US from Europe, many of them poor and helpless. The only native americans are not white.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215346)
• Chile
22 Dec 16
@DWDavis Good for you. My English accent is horrible, but I must say that many americans have a horrible accent too, including the lady who is ranting agains latinas.
2 people like this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
22 Dec 16
@marguicha When I try to speak Spanish with my Hispanic students, they cannot hide their smiles at my terrible accent.
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11121)
• Malaysia
22 Dec 16
It went viral on social media today, I just watched the video. I'm not in the US but I find this very disturbing.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215346)
• Chile
22 Dec 16
@DWDavis I think that your country has been divided for a longer time.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
22 Dec 16
@marguicha There have always been divisions in our country, but prior to Obama, I had seen those divisions healing. Over the last 8 years, both political parties have done their best to turn racial and social groups against on another for the parties advantage and a lot of the progress made from the 1960s to the 2000s was lost. I don't blame Obama, he just happened to be President when the politics of divisiveness became the order of the day on both the left and the right to a level not seen in American politics since the late 1850s and early 1860s.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
22 Dec 16
I don't like Trump at all @DWDavis but I don't think he's an instigator in the current problems. People today just need an excuse to continue "political correctness" as a means for their bit**ing.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
22 Dec 16
He's got the racists feeling empowered. Dark times are upon us. As Hunter S. Thompson used to write, I have the Fear.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
22 Dec 16
I hope the rational Trump supporters (and there must be a few) will stand up and denounce the haters among the ranks of Trump followers. My fear is now that they've been empowered to publicly flaunt their bigotry and xenophobia they will not be silenced. Pandora's box has been opened.
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (36434)
• Toccoa, Georgia
22 Dec 16
What some people don't realize is that there were Hispanics, Blacks and other types of non Whites who voted for Trump and was proud to do so.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
22 Dec 16
I really love listening to people talk in their first language. The majority of the cleaning staff where I work are from Poland and they natter away to each other in Polish. They do speak English, obviously, but when in their little group they speak to each other in their own language. It saddens me that they might one day be forced to fear backlash for doing so. I think that people like having an excuse {Trump, Brexit, Terrorism} because they can hide behind it and say what they want.
1 person likes this
