Race, religion boiling over
It is not just about the eight minutes and 46 seconds during which a white police officer pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck. It is about the 400 years that preceded it, as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey put it. Racism has been called America’s original sin, both the foundational event and initial corruption from which other corruption follows. More recently, presidential hopeful Joe Biden has refined the thought to say slavery is the original sin that still stains his country.
Either way, the idea shows how closely religion and politics remain connected in the United States, in ways hard for voters in New Zealand to grasp. Leaders of our mainstream parties wouldn’t talk about concepts like original sin. Nor would they stage the highly provocative photo opportunities we saw in Washington DC this week.
President Donald Trump followed a speech in the White House Rose Garden, in which he described nationwide protests after Floyd’s death as ‘‘domestic terror’’ and invoked the Insurrection Act to use military force, with a walk to nearby St John’s Episcopal Church. Police cleared a crowd of peaceful protesters so Trump could pose with a Bible, not his own, in front of the historic church, briefly set on fire the day before. Covering his bases, Trump and first lady Melania Trump also visited a Catholic shrine to Pope John Paul II.
Both acts were condemned. Washington’s Catholic archbishop said it was ‘‘reprehensible’’ that a Catholic facility could be so ‘‘egregiously misused and manipulated’’. The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop said Trump used a church building and a Bible for ‘‘partisan political purposes’’.
Even the country’s evangelical community, which one might assume was the real audience for
Trump’s clumsy religious posturing, is divided. Influential evangelical leader Pat Robertson condemned Trump’s escalation. Rather than bridging the gaps, Robertson said, he has insisted on being ‘‘the president of law and order’’.
What we are seeing is the crass and violent exploitation of racial and social divisions for shortterm political ends. No-one should be remotely surprised. The past 400 years led to this, but so did the past four. The horrific scenes over repeated nights in the US are the inevitable end point of Trump’s pledge to ‘‘build a wall’’, his Muslim ban, his mockery of ‘‘s...hole countries’’, his targeting of journalists as enemies of the people, and his claim that there were very fine people on both sides when white supremacists marched through Charlottesville and murdered a protester.
History will judge those who said nothing, or too little. Former defence secretary James Mattis and former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mike Mullen have joined those who condemn Trump and what Mullen called a ‘‘disdain for the rights of peaceful protest’’. Current Defence Secretary Mark Esper has bravely opposed Trump’s militarisation. Make no mistake; these are significant critics.
North of the border, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a full 21 seconds to compose an eloquent answer that mostly addressed racism in his own country. But despite the outpouring of support for the Black Lives Matter movement in New Zealand on Monday, our own leaders have been less articulate.
Asked if Trump is racist, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it is not her job to make conclusions about other people’s character. National leader Todd Muller suggested we ask Trump himself if he is racist. Neither answer is strong enough in such unprecedented times.
No-one should be remotely surprised. The past 400 years led to this, but so did the past four.