Let’s make America great again!

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

I often state that I’m a self-proclaimed semanticist! I love the study of the origins and meaning of words. I love to see how words impact the behavior of individuals and groups. I love to assess how frequently the same or similar words can be used to elicit differences in understanding, in responses and outcomes. More than anything else, I find fascination in the study of oral communication and how event changing propaganda is developed — that is, how the spoken word informs, exchanges ideas, or is used to deliberately spread rumors that are designed to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution or political state.

I’m not alone in my appreciation of how words can be turned to influence outcomes and people. The realization of personal gain from propaganda has been understood for generations. As early as 1622, Pope Gregory XV established the College of Propaganda. It was created to foster the spread and acceptance of Catholicism in non-Catholic countries and taught emissaries of the Catholic faith the most efficient and effective arguments in converting their non-Catholic targets.

There’s been no shortage of examples of the effective use of propaganda in the historical record. The 20th century is held by some as a period of the most effective and persuasive propaganda ever used. They cite the use of arguments that effectively caused nations to turn a “blind-eye” to the execution of six million souls or the internment of over 127,000 citizens of a certain ancestry. Truly, there’s power in the effective use of words and their effect can be devastatingly negative.

My most recent “non-empirical study” of word usage involves “Let’s Make America Great Again,” the phrase currently made popular by Donald Trump. Rather than regurgitate scholarly assessments of that seemingly benign phrase, I prefer to speak to the impacts I have observed or of which I have been told.

I think the most common mistake in human communication is the belief that a verbal expression will create an exact understanding or response in every human being. That may be true in the most simple exchanges like “run,” “jump” or “sit,” but as expressions lengthen so does the likelihood of misinterpretation or selective interpretation. At its foundation, Trump’s message provides great opportunity for promotion of the most repugnant social behavior imaginable.

I believe that he’s stimulating a resurgence of overt racism that, mostly, has been held in check by a fragile level of tolerance forged during the Civil Rights Era. We see evidence that reaction to Trump’s message is manifesting itself in individual attempts to recreate an era of white dominance and social control. So, what have I seen or been told that gives me cause for concern about The Donald’s signature phrase?

Because of my position in the community, I am witness to or am told about, both, positive and negative encounters in the community. Increasingly, I have seen encounters where white people demonstrate, in a verbally aggressive manner, their “rage” toward African Americans and others of color. The impression that I’m given is of an attempt to recreate the “good old days” when Black people were told to jump and only asked, “How high, Massa?” There are increasing complaints of one-finger salutes and other symbolic gestures that represent unsolicited hatred and disdain.

I have come to expect these and similar acts in the “Sanctuaries of Hate” that have become Trump rallies, but I shudder to think of a time when Trump might become President and our nation runs the risk of becoming the embodiment of the hatred he spews. Too many lessons of history show that it’s relatively simply to MIS-lead and that the weak of mind will follow. I pray that we are better than that.

This article originally published in the May 9, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.