Home Is Where the Hatred and Guns Are
By Rev. Quardricos Bernard Driskell, Columnist
The world is made up of many different people. America encompasses diverse people. Our families are made of different people. The notion that we can somehow stay either in a bubble or a homogeneous context and not engage people who are and have deep disagreements with what we fundamentally believe is simply a form of escapism and prejudicial. We have to be more in contact with each other. Moreover, some people—especially some white people—seem hell-bent on seeing America as a homogeneous country.
How does one characterize this moment in American democracy? What words do we have to truly describe this Chronos moment?
I recall, in 2008, when Senator John McCain (R-AZ)defended then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), his rival for the presidency, in the face of constituents spouting racist conspiracies about the then-senator from Illinois. “I can’t trust Obama. I have read about him, and he’s not, um, he’s an Arab,” a woman said to McCain at a town hall meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota, in October of that year. McCain grabbed the microphone from her, cutting her off. “No, ma’am,” he said. “He’s a decent family man [and] a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab].” We need more examples and acts of courage and civility from politicians and others that Senator McCain displayed during that town hall. However, I also note the mendaciousness, as if there is something wrong with having a president of the United States of Arab descent.Ethical communication is a courageous conversation that starts with civility and honesty.
However, I am fatigued by the news cycle of it all:gun violence, tweets, raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and racist comments and attacks on sitting members of Congress who are mostly people of color; and with all of this, I try not to give life or voice to Trump. However, we have endured nearly four years of him feeling validated in all the craziness he has done and said. Can we take an additionalfour years of Trump so that he might amplify his racism; make his beloved daughter, Ivanka, secretary of state; appoint even more “bootleg” people to his cabinet; and likely get to name two extremist, right-wing, and unqualified Supreme Court justices under the age of 40?
At the same time, I do not want to fetishize Trump. He is an expression of American culture. The reality is that all of us are responsible, especially white Americans who silently sit by and do not say or do anything when acts of terror happen in the national ether or local communities.
Additionally, why does it seem that the Republican Party has become a systematic enabler of terrorism? Is the G.O.P. now a party of white nationalists? Will the Democratic Party allow moderate voices at the congressional level? Unfortunately, the long-term view of our politics and the unicorn of President Obama has induced too many into not caring.
It is a question of moral and ethical values and virtues. What does it mean to care and have a deep concern for the vulnerable and exhibit moral probity?
Children, the most vulnerable of our society, are under attack. Our democracy is under attack. The press is under attack. Racial minorities are under attack. Minority faith traditions such as Judaism and Islam are under attack. Morals and ethics, and in some ways Christianity, are under attack by the hypocrisy of some white evangelicals who place their narrow ideology and politics before and above their faith.
How does this quest in present American life take us outside of ourselves and force us to examine the country, traditions, communities, and ourselves in new and sometimes painful ways?Will we continue to turn our faces away and fail to see the evil in our midst? Will we continue to embrace a culture of guns and hate? Sadly, I believe it will get worse before it gets better. Is this the fall of the United States?Does presidential hopeful Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) have a point that racism is a national security issue? Are we just waiting on 2020?
The Rev. Quardricos Bernard Driskell is a federal lobbyist, an adjunct professor of religion and politics at The George Washington Graduate School of Political Management, and the pastor of the historic Beulah Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Follow him on Twitter @q_driskell4.
