I Denounce White Supremacy
By: Walter Rhein
Tags: Election 2020, Trump, Activism, Black Lives Mater, Race

I Denounce White Supremacy

How hard is that to say?

Image by Walter Rhein

An analysis of the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump revealed that the one accusation Trump didn’t deny was being called a racist. Chris Wallace gave Trump every opportunity to denounce white supremacy. He pushed the question several times, repeating it with greater urgency.

Trump’s response, “Stand back and stand by.”

This is a president who refuses to publicly denounce a philosophy of fundamental evil. He dances and dodges around the issue like a cockroach. From Trump’s horrific tweet of a man screaming “white power” to this disgrace of a debate, it has become irrefutable that Trump has absolutely no inclination to bring peace, unity, or lawfulness to this country.

It’s up to us

With every new transgression of our criminal president, more of the fundamental illness of our country is revealed. Trump has highlighted every shortcoming of our society that we have allowed to go unchecked for far too long.

It’s been said the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Most of us, out of decorum or a contorted sense of courtesy, try to absorb certain affronts to our own personal morality for the sake of maintaining a kind of uneasy civic peace. We’re fearful that greater damage might be done by calling out transgressions of a particular category.

For example, at the family Thanksgiving dinner when our elderly grandparents make unfortunate statements that are representative of the flaws of their era, we are generally inclined not to berate them. We let them make their dumb comments, try to forget, and move on as quickly as possible.

But as well-meaning as this inclination might be, the time for that kind of reaction has passed. We have to speak out against white supremacy in all its forms. We can’t allow ignorant people to indulge in their actions of tacit enabling. When people refuse to denounce white supremacy, they must be dealt with appropriately.

White supremacy is a cancer

The fundamental evil of white supremacists cannot be overstated. They are criminals, they are rapists, and none of them are good people. Inherent to their philosophy is to look upon a person different than themselves and conclude they are observing something sub-human.

This belief allows them to engage in horrific crimes and transgressions that no decent person could even contemplate.

The most revealing thing about white supremacists is that deep down they know they should be shameful of their actions. They talk to each other in code, flashing hand signals, obscure phrases and winks. They are so detached from human interaction that they can’t even engage in clear communication. They’re so desperate to be a part of a community that they create fantasies that random strangers agree with their evil and repugnant way of thinking.

Trump wants violence at the polls

During the debate, Trump urged his supporters to go out and watch polls and look for illegal activity. This is deplorable, and it’s criminally irresponsible. When you incite white supremacists to your side, and you encourage them to interfere with the peaceful process of an election, it is likely to lead to death and violence.

Trump is interfering with our election in plain sight. This should be another impeachable offense. He’s being reckless, he’s spreading lies and propaganda about non-existent fraud, and he’s doing so because he knows he’s losing and he doesn’t want the votes to be counted.

We’ve been far too tolerant

The United States is a country of good people that have been slumbering too long. Malicious entities always do whatever they can to leverage an inclination to decency to their advantage. They see kindness as vulnerability and they’re content to launch unprovoked attacks secure in a misconception that they will never suffer any retribution.

But the fundamental failing of individuals who adopt a philosophy of evil is that they are incapable of considering the long term consequences of their behavior. They try to defeat their opponent with an ambush, and fail to understand that for the second battle the injured party will be ready for them.

We will endure

Evil collapses under its own weight. The element of surprise and the lack of any effort to build or create gives them a short term advantage. In the long term, they disappear and are blown away like ash.

The instinctive, conditioned social behavior of the citizens of our nation contains too much laxity for abhorrent philosophies like white supremacy. It’s installed under a delusion of decorum because everybody knows that the white supremacists will throw a temper tantrum when pushed. So, like with all bullies, the rest of us are forced to make unfair accommodations for their repugnant, entitled behavior.

No more

Every day of Trump’s presidency has brought another revelation of the unfair extremes decent people are forced to adopt in order to maintain an uneasy peace with fundamentally unreasonable people. What has become abundantly clear is that their side makes no effort to meet in the middle for the sake of mutual good.

We are restricting ourselves based on the delusion of a false premise. This is a non-functional strategy that must be abandoned.

There are certain transgressions that, no matter how minimal, cannot be tolerated to pass unchecked. During the debate, Trump made multiple appeals to his deranged followers, both subtle and overt, which carry the potential due to the scope of his platform to become magnified to tragic consequence.

I denounce white supremacy

I denounce this philosophy like I denounce any other evil. White supremacy has no redeeming value. At its core, it is a foul and debilitating cancer. When it festers, it has the potential to cripple every aspect of our community and permanently disable the strength and solvency of our nation.

Our citizens need to denounce white supremacy. All of them, united. Our preachers need to denounce it in every sermon, our teachers and parents need to denounce it so that it cannot take root during vulnerable infancy, our politicians need to denounce it so that white supremacists are controlled and permanently cowed.

Above all, our president must denounce white supremacy. Failure to do so is a fundamental abdication, not only of the obligations and responsibilities of the office, but of the basic qualities that must be present at the core of any decent and honorable human being.