Pat Taub
GUEST POST by BARBARA BENGELS
I was swimming at the local pool, relaxing and trying not to think about politics. To my dismay, I overheard two gentlemen swimming next to me, saying sotto voce, “Soon the whites will be in the minority. We already are in some parts of the country.” It was clear from their voices that this was an appalling concept to them.
No longer able to relax, I immediately wanted to ask if either of them was Hispanic or Native American. If not—and of course they weren’t—clearly their ancestors were part of the “white” race that had killed and stolen the lands we now live on. We were the intruders, the aliens, the villains.
Savagery of Americans murdering Native Americans (Smithsonian Magazine)
For those who would complain about how much better we are than the poor, unwashed masses Trump talks so vehemently about, have you ever been to elegant Mexico City? To historic San Juan? To see burning crosses in Louisiana or Alabama?
Are we really so superior, so high and mighty?
What is the real issue then? Isn’t it that they’re just afraid—and perhaps even guilt-ridden—at the way white people have treated minorities? And if their white faces are no longer the majority in just a few years, what if they’re treated the way they’ve been treating brown and black skinned people?
What if those new majorities want their turn? What if it’s white sons being pulled out of cars, shot in the back multiple times, treated worse than dogs. Our children and grandchildren’s necks could be clamped under a black knee, crying for mother: “I can’t breathe.”
Isn’t this what those swimmers—and Americans throughout the country– are really afraid of?
Some time ago, I heard Doc Rivers, a black LA Clippers coach, nearly cry as he commented, “You hear Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear. We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones that were denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. All you do is keep hearing about fear. It’s amazing to me why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.”
Coach Doc Rivers
