Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
US has chosen hope, not hate... Boris, take note
IN the end the voters kicked him in the area he likes to grab.
In t h e end , Donald Tr ump’s c o l l e ction of racists, oddballs and diehards closed one of the worst chapters in US electoral history in the car park of a garden centre beside a sex shop.
T h e c o u n t r y ’s top writers could not have scripted a more appropriate climax.
In the end, America chose hope, not hate. Boris Johnson, take note.
Van Jones, the political correspondent for US TV network CNN, spoke for millions around the world with his tears at the end of four years during which bigots, racists and xenophobes – in and outside politics – were given free rein to punch down.
His on-air emotion went viral on social media and no wonder: “It’s easier to be a dad this morning,” he said. “It’s easier to tell your kids, ‘Character matters, being a good person matters’.
“It’s easier for a whole lot of people. If you’re Muslim in this country, you don’t have to worry that the President doesn’t want you here.
“I can’t breathe. That was not just George Floyd. There were a lot of people who felt as though th ey couldn’t breathe.
“You go into the store and people who’d previously been afraid to show their racism have been getting nastier and nastier to you and you’re worried about your kids.
“Your sister, can she just go and get back into her car without ut somebody saying something to her? ? You spend so much of your life energy nergy just trying to hold it together. r.
“So this is a big deal. For us just to be able to get some peace e and have a chance for a reset. et. I just want my sons to look ok at this. It’s easier to do this is the cheap way and get t away with this, but it t comes back around.”
Again, Boris Johnson, take note. We are finally in an era where hate has a shelf life. America didn’t just want to get back to normal. It wanted d to do better.
Jones’ words have a particular significance in the UK where for too long Johnson has whipped up the naked racism that has made life intolerable for black and Asian people. Johnson’s refusal to apologise for saying Muslim women wearing burkas “look like letter boxes” and “bank robbers” has made life intolerable for that group of people.
The Windrush scandal made life intolerable for black people. Not only is this current Government ignorant – sorry, dismissive – about racism, they orchestrate it. So good luck sidling up to Joe Biden, the man backed by Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, the first black Asian American w oman to be elected Vice President of the US. Good luck to Johnson as he tries to elbow his way past France’s President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel with all that (and more) on his CV.
Good luck hoping Biden will forget that raci st re remark suggesting Obama O bama rem removed a bust of Winston Churchill Chu from the Oval Office during duri his Presidency because of his “part-kenyan” heritage.
Am America finally has an ant antidote to the pain it ha has suffered over the pa past four years. Trump’s hate came b back to haunt him as m more US citizens exercised their ballot box power than ever before. The UK, cr ying o out for similar he healing, could yet pro provide a similar day of recko reckoning for Johnson.
With his tears Van Jones spoke for millions around world