By Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq.
SOUTH FLORIDA – America, what did you expect when you voted for Donald J Trump? What about Trump’s past and or his presidential campaign made you think that in a moment like Charlottesville he would step up to leadership?
What about his narcissistic behavior that compels him to be the center of the universe made you think that Charlottesville would get the disdain that it deserved?
What did you expect when Trump campaigned about “taking this country back” and “making America great again”?
This is a hard time in America, it is hard because so many of us who are living in this country have never seen the face of evil parading with complete disregard for any sense of decency or morality.
Jamaicans and Caribbean people have been migrating to “foreign” for decades – members of my family came to New York from Jamaica and landed at Ellis Island in the 1920s. However, the majority of us came to America in the late 1970s onwards. When we arrived, black and progressive white Americans had already fought for civil rights that we enjoyed without paying the price. They were beaten upon, lynched, had fire hoses turned upon them and had dogs let loose to attack. We came without the vestiges of Jim Crow and Segregation and enjoyed the benefits of the struggle.
Well, it’s our time now in 2017 to fight an evil that has found its voice once again and a sympathizer in the White House.
This past weekend, Neo Nazi’s; Klu Klux Klansmen and White Supremacists marched in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia chanting racial slurs against blacks, Jews, LGBTQ and immigrants. Although I am a student and teacher of US History and political science, the march on Friday night was a chilling reminder of America’s past that has been revived with the election of Donald J. Trump. It was also chilling because it was an experience that I studied and taught, not one that I had lived.
Unfortunately, Trump chose at a moment in history when he could have legitimized his position, to side with hate. Some of the people who voted for Trump somehow had the misguided belief that once he was elected, he would somehow morph into this great leader.
The truth of the matter is what many of us knew all along, that Trump is incapable of leadership. It would take a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist to diagnose his many maladies, but sufficient to say he has demonstrated that he is the leader of his supporters and not the leader of the entire country.
During his campaign and since his election, he has found it difficult to embrace the ideals of the founding of America. By no means is this a perfect country, like all others and all of us, it is a work in progress. For Trump in his diatribe on Tuesday to make the comparison between Robert E. Lee and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, shows either his absolute ignorance of American history or his total disregard for it as he lies to make a point.
His lack of total impartiality as leader of America by lumping the Neo Nazis and KKK with the progressive people who came to say not in my America, speaks volumes.
Make no mistake, the Trump administration has and is trying to “take America back” as the White Supremacists wish – recall his announcement that he would run for president and his anti-Mexican rant. He and his administration are fighting against affirmative action in higher education, racial and social justice, voting rights, and legal immigration.
My question is – where is the United States Congress? I don’t care if you are on vacation – this is a turning point in this country and history is watching. This is not about a statue, this is about standing up for equality under the law.
To my Caribbean-American immigrants living in this country, it is time to join with our Latino brothers and sisters, our Jewish brothers and sisters, our black American brothers and sisters and our white brothers and sisters to fight hate and bigotry.
This is our country too and we are part and parcel of the fabric of America – don’t wait until they march by the thousands down University or Kendal Drive before you get involved. When the KKK chants, “You will not replace us”, they mean me and you.
Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practices immigration law in the United States; and Family, Criminal & International Law in Florida. She is a Mediator, Arbitrator and Special Magistrate in Broward County, Florida; and a weekly columnist with the Jamaica Gleaner. [email protected]
