The US has come a long way since the days of slavery, and huge steps were made towards granting equal rights on the basis of race in the 1960s. But still it is not enough. Racism is not only a big problem in the US but around the world. I wish other countries could have done what America did toward minority rights. It is always easy to pity a minority, but what if one minority does not want to obey the rules and instead provokes the government to take strong measure against its members? When comparing America to other countries in terms of treatment of minorities, America treats theirs better. When we look at Europe’s treatment of its minorities, China’s treatment of its minorities, Myanmar’s treatment of its minorities, or how the Middle Eastern countries treat their own minorities, we see their lack of progress. Friday evening in Charlottesville, Virginia, a group of white supremacists marched through the University of Virginia campus holding torches, shouting “White lives matter,” and setting the stage for the 2017 United the Right rally, which protested the removal of Confederate monuments and sculptures within the city, and caused white racists from different groups and leaders of all right movements to congregate. Despite President Donald Trump’s condemnation of all forms of racism, still the leftist mainstream media blames Donald Trump for the rise of racism in the USA. Many even claim that Donald Trump won the election because white supremacists voted for him. The same liberal left media blamed President Bush for the rise of terrorism. Yet, we saw what their favorite candidate, President Obama, did for eight years that fermented hate and gave rise to ISIS and other forms of violence.
President Donald did not win the election because of the rise of white supremacists in America; Donald Trump won the election because of the end of traditional politicians around the world. At least the cases from Prime Minister Theresa May of England, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands with his “right kind of populism,” and the Philippines’ President Duterte, to South Korean President Moon and the President of France Macron demonstrate that the general population would rather vote for anyone over a typical politician. People finally understand they are just following blindly the person with the best-developed and most silver-tongued political speech rather than service. Many traditional politicians think they are appealing to the masses with their political rhetoric, but actually they are isolating themselves from the people. So it was time for a new wave of politicians, ones who sound like the people, act like the people, feel like the people, and do something for the people. The rise of racism around the world and in the USA is not because of Donald Trump, but because traditional politicians tried to use political correctness and attacks against their own cultural values, instead of encouraging those who do not want to celebrate their people’s culture and values, thereby marginalizing their own people.
Racism played out in violence is a two-way street. Extremists feed into each other. We cannot legitimize one form of racism without legitimizing all forms of it. Either all racism is bad or all racism is accepted, an unpalatable position that the mainstream media, especially the leftist media, rejects in favor of a biased position on this issue. The same media have a biased position when it comes to the definition of terrorism, human rights, equal rights etc. You cannot have bad terrorism or good terrorism. All form of violence and terrorism and racism should be considered bad, and, therefore, should not be tolerated any place but rather should be condemned. In Dallas, Black Nationalist activists killed five police officers at a Black Lives Matter Anti- Police rally. I did not see President Obama condemning the killer, but instead Former President Barack Obama defended the movement. Now he may tweet about love and tolerance, receiving two million likes, but his presidency generated more racial divide and intolerance for “the other” than Trump every has.
The anti-Trump propaganda and spin do not change the physics of human nature. What happened in Charlottesville is a clear example of biased media when you normalize racism and street violence. Every normalization of extremism equally normalizes the extremism of the opposite side. White racism gave birth to black racism. Extremists want to eliminate the consensus of civil society. They want to destroy the idea that there is a solution other than violence through confrontations that show the helplessness of civil society. All forms of racism are like a set of evil twins and when you unleash one, you unleash the other. Donald Trump nailed the point, “All forms of racism are bad.” He further proclaimed, “Racism is evil,” adding “And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.” I agree with him that all forms are bad. A civil society depends on a consensus. “Racism is bad” is an example of such a consensus. If we normalize white racism, we will have more black nationalism. What happened today is that media and leftist groups normalized leftist street violence against Trump supporters, which in turn exacerbated Trump’s supporters’ street violence against leftists. Extremists want to eliminate the consensus of civil society. They want to destroy the idea that there’s any solution except violence, and they do so through hostilities that show the helplessness of civil society.
Political correctness kills Americans. For example, the American Judeo-Christian heritage is under attack from the US Department of Education that wants to stop children from talking about their God and beliefs on the playground and to ban Christmas and Easter cards, decorations, and art, among other prohibitions. Political correctness uses mob psychology to disparage American forbearers, history, and traditions, Many Americans feel they are under threat from those using political correctness trying to rewrite history and erase the American heritage and values. No one criticized the CNN network’s decisions to fire pro-Donald Trump contributor Jeffrey Lord or the firing of the Google employee for his memo about women and computer programming. No one criticized Madonna for wanting to burn the White House. Political correctness implies authority and connotes approval. Instead of dictating who has the imperative to speak freely, free speech should be equally permitted to avoid hurting only one ilk of Americans. This recent charge of racism is not about making American more tolerate and inclusive; it is about bashing and trashing American history, dividing communities, and dismantling American institutions.
Extremism limits political discourse to only extremists. If Democrats really want to stop the rise of white supremacist violence, they should stop normalizing black nationalism and the Alt-Left. They should make it clear that street violence is unacceptable and that racism is bad no matter who is perpetrating it. But they do not want that; instead, they provoke more people to attack. The Democrat Party has become a leftist party of the ideology of Jeremiah Wright. Former President Obama has listened to him and attended his church for more than fifteen years. Wright argues Blacks should not sing “God bless America,” but instead “God d. . . America.”
Charlottesville is what happens when bias and double standards apply—a failure of democracy. And those liberal elites who set the boundaries of permissive discourse, who control the media, academia, and social norms are responsible for the failure. When the leftist party lost, Hillary was defining all Trump voters as racists and sexists, yet she was not charged with an offense. Democrats with their leftist support have put political correctness above common sense and above American values, legacy, and safety.
So now mainstream media is claiming that protesters are expressing their support for white supremacist ideology, not being afraid to show their faces, or seeming unconcerned about being stigmatized. Yet, Charlottesville, Dallas, and other rally sites are clear examples of what happens when a country normalizes racism and street violence, when a group denigrates American values for the sake of political correctness, and when they do not respect the majority will who voted for Donald Trump. The Democrats who care about America need to understand racism is a two-way street; it is time for them to stop normalizing left-wing extremism.
Dr. Aland Mizell is President of the MCI and a regular contributor to Mindanao Times. You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com
