Dateline: America
Here’s how our country looks from afar
If we talked about what happened in Charlottesville the same way we talk about events in a foreign country, here’s how Western media would cover it:
The international community is yet again alarmed about ethnic violence in the United States under the new regime of President Donald Trump. The latest flash point occurred this past weekend when the former Confederate stronghold of Charlottesville, Va., descended into chaos following rallies of white supremacist groups protesting the removal of statues celebrating leaders of the defeated Confederate states. The chaos turned deadly when Heather Heyer, a member of the white ethnic majority who attended the rally as a counterprotester, was killed when a man with neoNazi sympathies allegedly drove his car into a crowd.
Mr. Trump, a former reality television host, beautypageant organizer and businessman, rose to political prominence by publicly questioning the citizenship of the first black U.S. president, Barack Obama. Since his election, Mr. Trump has targeted Muslims, refugees, Mexicans and the media. He has also advocated for police brutality. These tactics have emboldened white ethno-nationalist groups and domestic terrorist organizations.
After Charlottesville, Mr. Trump has largely refused to unequivocally condemn the actions of the white supremacist groups. In a shocking news conference Tuesday, Mr. Trump doubled down on blaming “both sides” for the weekend’s violence. His remarks garnered praise from a former leader of a white terrorist group known as the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville,”Mr. Duke tweeted.
Mr. Trump’s coddling of white extremists and neoNazis raises questions about the state of U.S. democracy 152 years after the country’s brutal civil war over the rights of the white ethnic majority in its southern region to enslave members of the black ethnic minority. After the Charlottesville turmoil, more protests are expected around the country against the removal of Confederatemonuments.
“Culturally, Americans are a curious lot,” said Andrew Darcy Morthington, a Britain-based commentator who once spent two years on a mission trip to America and therefore qualifies as an expert on U.S. affairs. “Donald Trump’s campaign message was that he would make America great again, and that there would be so much ‘winning.’ If America cares about being great, why has it fought so hard to keep monuments to the Confederatelosers and enslavers?”
“The worst thing Britain ever did was letting go of our colony and thinking Americans were capable of governing themselves without eventually resorting back to tribal politics,” said Martin Rhodes, a shopkeeper in London. “I can’t believe a once-great empire would threaten everything it has built over generations just because a group of people givein to racism and xenoph …” Mr. Rhodes’s voice trailed off as he stared wistfully at a silent Big Ben.
Experts are also linking the weekend violence to the scourge of domestic terrorism carried out by white males, who have conducted almost twice as many mass attacks on American soil thanMuslims have in recent years.
“This is the time for moderates across the white male world to come out and denounce violent racial terrorism, white supremacy and regressive tribal politics,” said James Charlotin, a Canadian national security expert. “Why haven’t they spokenout?”
European leaders have offered to convene the firstever Countering Violent White Male Extremism Summit somewhere in Europe, but critics have pointed out that Europe was the original exporter of many of the same colonial and white supremacist ideologies that have fueled miseryall over the globe.
The Trump regime, which has failed to deliver on much of its legislative promises, is governing a country awash in guns, where the maternal mortality rate, alcoholism and opioid drug use are on the rise.
“This is just a recipe for entrenched disaffection from the state and further isolation and radicalization of American white males,” Mr. Charlotin said.
“The Americans on both sides of the political spectrum like to talk about identity politics, or white identity,” said Mustapha Okango, a Kenyan anthropologist based in Nairobi. “The Americans like to lecture us and other Africans about keeping tribalism out of our politics and putting country ahead of our ethnic groups. America’s institutions are strong. But when I saw the images of those white men in polos carrying Party City tiki torches and weapons, it’s pretty clear American white tribal politics are alive and well, explicitly fueled by President Trump’s regime. White supremacy doesn’t just hurt blacks or other minority groups, it hurts the whole country. Take it from us Kenyans, it’s a dangerous recipe. We had hoped better for America.”