Racism Is a Choice

(Reminder: You can't be for Trump but against his racism.)

This line from the awesome Dave Pell hit me like a ton of bricks today. Not that I've ever been for Trump, but I genuinely like some people who are. 

And yet. 

Racism is a choice. It's a choice that Trump continually makes. And by supporting him, these people I like are making that choice too. 

This is not like accepting your cousin's love of country music, or a friend's weird taste in shoes. This is accepting that the purported leader of the free world doesn't think brown people are real Americans. This is accepting that his extensive history of racism is ok. 

This is changing the definition of racist to mean that hiring someone of color for the occasional job absolves of you of all racism. (Just a little FYI, it does not. Check the Jim Crow era South for more info.) 

There is no Trump without the (old-fashioned definition of) racism. There is no fired up base without blaming people for applying for asylum (which is totally legal, by the way) for all the problems in our country. 

"Love the sinner, hate the sin!" is a common refrain I hear from some Trump supporters. (More FYI, they do not say this about Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez or any other sinners they disagree with.) 

First of all, loving the sinner doesn't meant excusing or denying everything s/he does. Second of all, which sin do you hate? Is the sin you're referring to the womanizing? Or the tax cheating? Or the cheating on the wives? Or the lying? Or the praising dictators who had American citizens killed? 

Because I don't hear these Trump supporters hating the racism like Lindsey Graham once did. Maybe they're not the ones excusing putting children of color in cages because their families sought asylum. Maybe they're not the ones complaining about a black Ariel and talking about how embarrassed they were by a black president. 

Maybe they're just the ones who aren't saying anything. 

1. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. (Desmond Tutu)
2. Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor (Ginette Sagan)