Opinion: A desperate Trump trumpets a racist past

DISNEY

OPINION

Deeper into the rabbit hole we go; where up is down, night is day, science is just a theory and being anti-racist is racist.

Unbelievable, but its true.

Last week, Donald Trump issued one if his fiats, otherwise known as an executive order, that essentially bans diversity training for the military and federal contractors. 
The executive order claims that anti-racism and anti-sexism efforts are, in fact, the real examples of racism and sexism.

"Instructors and materials teaching that men and members of certain races, as well as our most venerable institutions, are inherently sexist and racist are appearing in workplace diversity trainings across the country, even in components of the Federal Government and among Federal contractors," Trump’s order says.

“Americans should be taught to take pride in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!” tweeted the White House Mad Hatter.

Trump's latest missive claims that anti-racism and anti-sexism efforts are, in fact, the real examples of racism and sexism. Earlier this month, he issued a similar order to federal agencies.

Trump, who has been called a racist by more than a few people, doesn't want to hurt the feelings of white men. Trump is targeting trainings that cause anyone to “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex” as not allowed.

His latest executive order goes along with another policy he began publicly pushing last week: "patriotic education" in a speech he gave at the White House Conference on American History on Sept. 17 held at the National Archive Museum where copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are displayed.

Basically, he wants to return to the school lessons that warped the truth, that negated the loss of Native Americans' tribal lands, the broken treaties. He wants to skip over the ugliness of slavery part because it is too negative and casts a bad light on white slave owners. The Chinese Exclusion Act would be relegated to a line or two in history books; the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII would be painted as a justifiable evil; the colonization of the Philippines  would be cast as saviors carrying out "the white man's burden" of civilizing the "little brown brothers" and the thuggish takeover of the Hawaiian monarchy as a business opportunity.

"Critical race theory, the 1619 Project, and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together. It will destroy our country," the president said Thursday.

Trump said schools need to focus instead on "the legacy of 1776," when American Colonies declared independence from Great Britain. And he would prefer if no one mentioned that most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were slave owners.

The newly formed committee, Trump said, will be called the "1776 Commission" — a not so subtle dig at The New York Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning "1619 Project," which detailed the country's history from when the first enslaved Africans were brought to America's shores and which is available free online.

"American parents are not going to accept indoctrination in our schools, cancel culture at work or the repression of traditional faith, culture and values in the public square," Trump said.

Sure, one can laugh at these outlandish pronouncements as just political stunts meant to rile up his base but it would be dangerous to ignore what Trump is doing: further dividing the country along racial lines by appealing to a genuine fear held by many Whites that they would lose their privileged status in American society.

Its dangerous because it reinforces that perspective of history that has long been taught to generations of American students; that places Whites above all others, a view shared and espoused by white supremacists.

It is why "patriotic" and overwhelmingly white domestic militias are called the most dangerous threat to democracy, according to the FBI. It is that belief that causes them to gather their arms, to freely walk the streets with automatic rifles, unbothered by the police. Their threatening presence at demonstrations against racial inequities threaten the marchers protesting the inequities ingrained in so many of our institutions.

The same day Trump was making his speech, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a poll rhat found that 70% of Americans support anti-racism education policies “to reduce and prevent hate and extremism.” 

A separate poll by the Pew Research Center found that a similar majority believe that acknowledging the flaws and mistakes and continuing to overcome those missteps of our country makes the United States stronger today.

The Trump administration’s attempt to clamp down on teaching a comprehensive history and clamping down on diversity awareness training, which are related but in not the same things, is part of his larger push to reinforce the belief held by his base  that there is a conspiracy on the part of academics, activists, and journalists on the left to rewrite history.

“Let’s face it, so many people believe in conspiracy theories now. So now that (Trump) has ginned up all this angst over conspiracies to take away people’s rights, he’s really scaling it up,” Crenshaw told Time magazine.

Trump has made it clear and plain that his mantra of "Make America Great Again," is code for "Make America White Again." He might be solidifying his supporters but its a dangerous strategy that emboldens the haters and threatens to rip our country apart.

As for the direction of our country under the current White House occupant, one can only sympathize with a bewildered Alice after stumbling into Wonderland, things are getting "curiouser and curiouser."

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this article is news laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.