Responses to the
Election of Donald Trump
I have been tracking blogs, articles, and Facebook posts that are
in response to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United
States. These come from a variety of
sources, people of different backgrounds.
Some of the ideas in an article may contradict others ideas in other
article that are the same list.
Polarization is happening. How do
we sift through the noise and love our fellow Americans? I hope these articles
bring needed perspective.
From an African
American minister who works for the New Baptist Covenant
From a Caucasian pastor (MDiv, Truett Theological
Seminary)
From a pastor’s wife, an African American woman, an
author, and a blogger.
From a Virginia Caucasian Pastor (Rappahannock
River), Oxford trained theologian, and sailor.
From a Caucasian historian (PhD, Columbia)
From a Mexican, a seminary professor (social
ethics).
From a Caucasian NYC drummer and a Christian. He tours with a pretty popular band.
There is a lot to sift through when it comes to what happened
last night.
For those that don't know the most basic information about me, I
am a white straight male and I am grateful that I was born into a loving
family. In the same way that being homosexual, of another race or born into a
Muslim home isn't a choice, being in my demographic wasn't a choice. I have
felt the weight of my privilege in the past but it took a Trump presidency for
me to be more vocal about these feelings.
I am feeling let down and depressed, but what brings the
greatest wave of sadness is the knowledge that my brothers and sisters who are
part of the LGBT community, my friends and family who are of a different
ethnicity or gender then myself, and those who are part of a religion that
isn't Christianity are living in a country that is now lead by someone who doesn't
see beauty, wisdom and truth in diversity.
We all need to listen more thoroughly and seek out as many
opportunities as possible to put others before ourselves. We need to engage in
love-centered conversations and through these see that we are all truly the
same.
(Co-written) From an African American Doctoral
Candidate/Professor of Homiletics & From a Caucasian Pastor and Board
member (Baptist Joint Committee board of Directors)
From a Caucasian guy with a theological education
(MDiv, Duke Divinity School, and who currently works in IT).
I
have been on a Facebook sabbatical for the last 5 days while going through the
stages of grief. I have never felt as devastated by an election, or as sad for
my country. I honestly believe that during the modern era we have never had
someone so unfit, and with such base character, be the President of this
country (I have read that Ulysses Grant was a falling down drunk every night,
so who knows the depths of previous “unfitness”). I also believe history will undoubtedly
shine a very negative light on Trump’s invigoration of White supremacy hate
groups, which is a legacy he has created and will have to own up in the end,
and for which he needs to be held accountable. There is no place for hate in
the future of our country, and I trust that the rest of the country will keep
us from regressing too much, especially around race and LGBTQ. The immediate
uptick in hate crimes is very disturbing, but hopefully will subside in a
couple months (I dream it would stop right now).
But,
I also know that a majority of Trump supporters are decent human beings,
regular neighbors, relatives, and colleagues (although I may have none at my
nonprofit job in DC), trying to raise their kids to be decent, nonviolent
citizens. They may be blind to their white privilege (some are too poor to get
any financial benefit out of it, although they still get a few social
benefits), but for the most part, they don’t get up in the morning thinking of
ways to persecute others. They just want to have a decent chance at life, and
to not feel like the country has left them behind to live in poverty.
So,
on the positive side, a group of people that have been forgotten by our
country's political class (both Republican and Democrat), are now being heard
more clearly. For too long they have been ignored. Although I fear they will be
greatly disappointed because there are many deeply entrenched factors in global
economies and political systems, and Trump’s administration already seems
incoherent, if Trump and the Republican congress can help re-invigorate the
Rust Belt, Appalachian country, and vast patches of rural USA, it will be a
positive development. But, they won’t do it by becoming isolationists and
protectionists -- just review history. 100% of the time, it leads to
retrogression (e.g., European Dark Ages, Islamic isolationism, Chinese,
Japanese, etc. They all went backwards and woke up to a world that had passed
them by).
But,
any improvement will also require them to look inward at themselves and make some
self-improvements, especially around valuing education, creating stable and
loving families, disavowal of addiction and violence, rejection of xenophobia
and racism, and re-connecting to society at large by abandoning crazy
conspiracies and unhealthy fixation on “Washington elites”. For those
devastated communities, like the worst of our inner cities, they need
self-empowerment, and outside help where necessary, to develop good social
capital that builds decent communities.
Anyway,
enough for now. And anarchists, stop rioting in my home state of Oregon - you
only make things worse - and don’t represent our best values. Rioting will not
solve anything.
Peace everyone.
Peace everyone.
From
a Caucasian Research Assistant at Candler Divinity School
From
an African American female author and Southern Baptist Church member
From
a Caucasian Southern Baptist, the president of the Ethics and Religious
Liberties Commission
From
an African American Woman, Christian, blogger, author (Master of Arts in global
studies)
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