By Ruth A. Sheets
One positive thing that might come from the current Musk/Trump insanity is that we may force ourselves as a nation to take a serious look at the thing that can’t be mentioned.
Many Americans voted for Trump and his crazies because of their embedded racism and misogyny, wrapped in sayings like "the price of eggs." Maybe if we can be honest about that, people can see that voting for someone just because he is white, male, belligerent, and has a big mouth over a woman of color who unlike Trump, is actually more than competent will never save their lives, fortunes, or sacred honor.
I get it that by tradition, white and white wannabees , and many men are scared of anyone who is not them and will lash out at those folks who are more competent and skilled than any white male folks they know, but we don’t have to go along with it. We the People keep pretending that racism and misogyny are things of the past, and they are, but they are also things of the present and future if we do nothing to call them out wherever we see them and bring it to the attention of the racists and misogynists who are using issues like the economy to cover their hatreds and bad behavior.
Trump, Musk, and nearly every person nominated and approved of for high positions in our government, male and female are both racist and misogynist, yet our Senate Republicans and a few Democrats voted for them anyway. A host of Republican representatives at all levels in our nation are racists and/or misogynists (usually both), but keep being elected because their opponents are not "supposed" to mention that, and it might not matter anyway since their constituents often share their racism and misogyny. Those representatives though, are permitted to call THEIR opponents all kinds of racist and misogynistic names not only with impunity, but gaining them higher approval points.
President Biden declared the ERA the 28th Amendment of our Constitution, which it should have been declared by Trump 5 years ago when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify, but I have not yet heard that the archivist was forced to actually see that it is printed in all copies of the Constitution, as she should have done since all of the requirements were met as described in our Constitution. And, yes, women can be as misogynistic as men, often to please the men in their lives.
Where is the racism? It is nearly everywhere if one takes a moment to notice. The Washington, DC government as ordered a street mural for “Black Lives Matter” removed at significant cost because Trump threatened to cut their funding if they don’t, a minor but powerful instance. The plans for cutting programs that serve disadvantaged communities as well as DEI are a much larger example. In neither case has Congress stood up to stop the actions.
So, it is time we as a people fully acknowledge our complicity with the racism and misogyny rampant in our nation. It does have economic costs since most of the billionaire class are white and male, just as one would expect and they intend to stay on top no matter what they have to do to maintain their position and wealth. It really is up to all of us who recognize racism and misogyny when we see it to take a stand.
- We must demand better candidates and of a greater variety.
- We need audits of our elections to see that people’s actual votes are being cast and tallied accurately.
- - We need advertising that shows what racism and misogyny are and how they can be identified and challenged.
- - We need more movies and TV programming to deal with racism and misogyny head-on, emphasizing the cruelty and evil nature of both as well as positive examples of communities where the people are effectively dealing with both.
- - We need quality journalism at all levels from local to international, telling the truth regularly, about the impacts of racism and misogyny.
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