Joel Mathis
Says if mogul keeps promises, America is about to get a lot rougher for many of its citizens, especially those of color.
What was striking to me on Tuesday night — as the truth emerged that Donald Trump would be our next president — was the pain and terror and sheer fear expressed by so many people of color. Conservatives get angry when they’re told Trump ran a racist campaign, but the palpable, undeniable truth is that it sure felt racist to people whose communities have historically been victims of discrimination.
This isn’t because Trump voters are bad people. It’s because people of color have paid close attention to Trump and his rhetoric. For them, the future is quite scary.
If you’re Latino, you’re now being thrust into a country where the color of your skin or your Spanish surname invites suspicion that you’re not really a citizen of the country. If you’re a young person who came as a child to America with undocumented parents and grew up here — functionally, if not legally, an American — you face a greater likelihood of being forced to return to a “home” country where you have few connections to the people and the culture.
If you’re Arab, you’ve probably already spent the last two decades under discomfiting scrutiny from the government and your neighbors. It’s only going to get worse. And your family members fleeing violence in Syria? There’s a greatly reduced chance they’ll be able to join you in America. The Trump administration will, if it keeps his promises, turn those refugees away at the border.
If you’re African-American, you probably already know what it’s like to be stopped for driving while black — pulled over by police for no apparent reason. President Trump won’t have direct oversight of the nation’s police forces, but the Department of Justice is about to get far less interested in civil rights violations by police. With a reduced threat of accountability by the feds, the problems that animate the Black Lives Matter movement are probably going to get worse before they get better.
This is what we voted for. If Trump keeps his promises, America is about to feel a lot meaner to many of its citizens.