When will this end?

By Dr. E. Faye Williams
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

The Black community is not going unscathed by Donald Trump’s concentrating on dehumanizing our Hispanic brothers and sisters. We care deeply about the people harmed in that horrific crime we have just witnessed in El Paso. Because our ancestors have gone through being uprooted from Africa, through the brutality of slavery, the harshness of Jim Crow, the inhumanity of lynching, and because the impact of these horrific white supremacy hate crimes are still with us, we’re going through our own pain and the pain our Hispanic brothers and sisters are facing.

Almost every politician who made a statement about El Paso said what politicians too often say, “Our prayers are with the people of El Paso” and almost as a second thought, they add Dayton. How little these politicians care when they end their comments with prayer. Prayer is fine, but Fannie Lou Hamer said, “You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try to do something, God is not going to put it in your lap.” When the people of Ohio showed up at Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s meeting shouting, “Do something,” I knew they understood what Fannie Lou said.

What’s going on is about racial hate and the worship of guns. Haters’ insecurities, along with the constant urging through his racist rhetoric, Trump has shown us he’s the “Leader in Chief” of ignorance, hate, racism and meanness. On his unwelcomed trip to El Paso, he couldn’t rise to being a consoler. Instead he chose to exploit racial tension.

Last week he was spewing his evil thoughts about Rep. Elijah Cummings for doing his job as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee. This week he’s spewing hateful words about people who’re already suffering from recent tragedies and stealing parents from their children. His lack of caring wouldn’t allow people to grieve in peace.

What are we going to do with this mad man? Sixteen more months of this evil behavior coming out of the White House is intolerable. Everyday that he remains living free on our taxpayer dollars, he slices more decency from our nation. People outside our borders must think all Americans have gone mad to tolerate such madness from one man who is obviously shredding all the goodwill President Barack Obama built with people around the world.

To quote James Baldwin in “Fire Next Time,” he said, “Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority – but to their inhumanity.”

Our hearts bleed for our Hispanic brothers and sisters. While our hearts bleed, we aren’t out of the woods either, and it’s time for us to join hands to lead the change we need. Let’s not accept the demonization of each other by anybody. Trump has no intention of bringing us together. That falls on us. 2020 may seem like a long way off, but it’s our hope that more of us will see that all of us owe it to our ancestors to work and vote against evil.

Nothing should stand in the way of unity exercised for the causes we share. Beto O’Rourke has been a real champion on making us understand the beauty of the people of El Paso. He left the presidential campaign to go home and speak with and on behalf of the people of El Paso. Trump’s visit to El Paso was not welcomed. Rep. Veronica Escobar made that clear. We applaud her for her leadership. We, in the Black community, have suffered under racism for a very long time, and we, too, wonder when racism will end. Together, we can make the time shorter.

This article originally published in the August 19, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.