President Trump needs to act as a 21st century leader and not as a leader of the 19th or early 20th century.
Although the US Constitution was clear that every man (and woman) was born free and equal, and that each enjoyed the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”, in practice the Constitutional guarantee was made applicable only to those of European descent. Slavery was commonplace in the south of the United States, with slaves being treated not as human beings deserving respect and equal treatment, but as chattel to do with whatever the slave owner wished. Shiploads of slaves were brought ashore from Africa, many of whom perished during the journey itself. The others were auctioned, the young and able commanding a higher price. Parents were separated from each other and from their children, who were taken elsewhere to work as child labour. Even the Emancipation Proclamation piloted by Abraham Lincoln did not stop the mistreatment by those of European descent on those of African descent. The reason is that Lincoln was shot in the head and died while watching a play with his wife in a theatre. His successor was his Vice-President, who was a closet white supremacist. Under him, in effect slavery continued, albeit in an attenuated form. Until the 1960s which saw the antidiscrimination activism of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his successor Lyndon Baines Johnson, African Americans were subjected to perils that “white” citizens were not. In states such as Tennessee and Alabama, lynching of African Americans was commonplace. Usually this was because of false allegations that they had raped white women or even in some cases just “looked at them lasciviously”.
It was only a hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law that African Americans were given the vote. Even during Lincoln’s time, during the Civil War between Union and Confederate states, black soldiers were given half the salary of whites. President Lincoln was careful not to move too fast in ensuring equality of treatment, lest it create a backlash in a populace still not used to considering black citizens as equal. His successor abandoned all pretence of being a de-segregationist, and permitted separation of the races to be stealthily brought back into common usage in former Confederate states. Blacks had to sit in the back of a bus until Rosa Parks sat in a front row and was asked to move. She refused, and President Kennedy mobilised the National Guard to protect her from angry whites intent on harming her for the effrontery of sitting in the front row of a bus. President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act, just as he did Medicare, and history will judge him as a transformational President where US society was concerned. He realised that the Democrats had “lost the South for a generation”, and so it happened. However, Johnson ensured that the equality of treatment of citizens enshrined in the US Constitution was enforced by the law. Racists such as Governor George Wallace of Alabama fought to keep segregation on the basis of colour going, but finally had to yield when Federal forces challenged his all-white state troopers. The reality is that whites as a whole are not, and were not, inherently racist. Indeed, even a century ago, marriages between whites and nonwhites were taking place. Indian Americans had an easier ride than Black citizens, and several married outside their communities, with children who were biracial but adapted perfectly to the whole of US society. Indeed, the children were often outshining their parents in their attainments
Given the history of racism in the US, a history that even Donald Trump could not erase from the textbooks and museums thanks to an active Supreme Court, it comes as a surprise that several of the initiatives taken by President Trump have more than a tinge of racism in them. An example is the grant of asylum, which has overwhelmingly been given to white South Africans resettling in the US rather than to others of a different ethnicity. Even in the 1980s, there were flashes of racist behaviour, as for example a white man edging a nonwhite in an airline queue and moving to his position in the line. However, these were stray events, not supported by any US President in the 20th century. However, under the second term of President Trump, incidents of racist behaviour have become bolder and more numerous. Behind such a reversal is the fear of Trump that whites will in the foreseeable future become a minority in the US. However, the cause of this is falling birthrates among white US citizens compared to much higher rates for Latino Americans and African Americans. Why this should alarm Trump is difficult to understand. Several Black and Latino Americans are making an increasing number of contributions in a variety of fields. Intermarriage between them and white US citizens is becoming commonplace, and statistically, such marriages are at least as stable as marriages between whites. Children in schools and students in universities interact freely with friends of other ethnicities. Whether it be in the fields of tech, education, healthcare or the media, all ethnicities are represented, and all are doing their jobs in like manner, many superbly.
Taking on DC Prosecutor Pirro for correctly releasing from all charges an innocent man, who is moreover a veteran, marks an effort by Trump to overturn the laws of the US. Prosecutor Pirro acted correctly, and if dismissed, that would result in another indictment against him that the Democrats are preparing should they gain control of the US Congress in the coming polls. President Trump needs to act as a 21st century leader and not as a leader of the 19th or early 20th century. For his own sake, he needs to avoid giving way to racist impulses. All men are brothers, wrote Albert Schweitzer, who worked in the Lepers Colony in Africa for decades. All men are brothers and all women are sisters to each other, given that each is a child of the Almighty, who makes no distinction between ethnicities. President Trump, do not seek to drag the US back to the period of slavery and segregation. That ought not to be the Trump legacy but a US that is prosperous and united, and treats other democracies with the respect they deserve. Each of us has good and bad impulses. Each of us needs to roll back the bad and use the good. President Trump, that applies to you as well, as the holder of the most powerful position in the world.
