[Disclaimer to those who are not aware, I am making an extra effort at civility. It is my purpose to tackle difficult topics, not attack people. It's easy to fall to that. Most everyone in these discussions (if we're all being being complete honest) has definitely done that and I am no different. Hence, this disclaimer. My best friends in the world are actually not people who think like me. On the contrary, we have lively debates, but the love remains. That's how we all get better and that never stops being a necessity.]
Jon Stewart recently summed up America's race issue best. Are there racists? Sure! Lots. But not every race issue is racism. Our primal nature is rooted in tribalism. Growing up as an adopted kid, I never understood tribalism. It seemed so bizarre and arbitrary. I gravitated toward intelligent and caring people who shared a common interest, something amazing that was foreign to me or somebody with a need that I could help. I was a Texan, so skin color, religion, orientation were all definitely issues around me. They just never were important to me. However, I understand a degree of tribalism among races and like-minded people.
We all grow up in out own, unique, particular environment and that can easily become a bubble. I was born with the longing to search outside of that and did. The things I said to my parents as precocious child often left them red faced and awkward. How does a parent explain the lack of diversity in every aspect of their children's life to them? There's no simple answer. In fact, people should fear anyone with easy answers - particularly politicians who use cheap and easy slogans.
America is special in that we have the most diverse population in the world and we actually handle it a lot better than most other countries. There's a lot of prejudice in Britain, Italy and France. It's just not discussed because, well, people more often maintain a sense of tribalism elsewhere. That's not so easy in a melting pot.
This in no way lets people off the hook. But it does explain some things. I have a friend who likes to people watch and make up creative stories about them. It's a fun exercise, but at some point, in order to become a better person, we've all got to approach a person, politely introduce ourselves and ask about them instead assuming things. That's how we connect. It takes some bravery and humility. At times that's easy for me, other times it can be tough, but it's almost always worth while.
That being said, I believe Trump used the old playbook of divide and conquer. Progressives have always had a tough time because the cause it to be so much to so many people. The GOP is much simpler, but excludes a lot of people by its very nature. This not a debatable point. It only takes an internet click to read their platform, particularly about the LGBT, to understand that. It's not that they simply disagree. They'd still like to marginalize gay people in many aspects of life. This is one of many examples.
There's power in numbers, and progressives have them, but it's so easy to exploit petty differences to turn people against each other in order to yank the rug out from under them. Trump's team wasn't subtle about this. They did it masterfully. No modern successful candidate has been so beloved and adored by neo-Nazi's and white supremacists as Donald J. Trump. That is no accident! But racism is not the Trump administration's ultimate goal. It's a tool. While we're all rightfully worried about social politics, he's sold our nation to the very people he warned his followers that Hillary Clinton would - Billionaire Goldman Sachs executives. This has such far reaching implications. The only way to get a the hardworking men and women to vote against their interest is to give them a scapegoat to hate. This year, the GOP provided immigrants, LGBT people, Muslims Blacks and Hispanics. That's a cornucopia of options for hate. But hey, it's human nature.
Donald Trump has pretty much sucked at everything he's tried except for three areas: stamping his name on things that he didn't really make or build, bilking money out of people and showmanship. Bill Clinton was the showman, and aside from actually being capable at his job, demonstrated some of the same bad behavior as Trump. Hillary, on the other hand, has almost zero charisma. That's just a fact. That, the three-decades-attack on her character and her inability to answer a direct question are the reasons she lost to Trump. Well, that and it still seems that men can get away with almost anything while women can get away with nothing.
So, yeah. There's much racism, anger and bigotry that's driving people, but that's the distraction. It's not the endgame. This country is going to have to learn from this hard mistake. Sometimes things have to get better before they get worse. I remember with G.W.Bush made marriage equality into the boogieman for his successful 2004 campaign. Approximately a decade later, most thinking people don't really care. I hope we have to wisdom to hurry up before things get too bad. I also hope both parties put someone better on their tickets next time out. We deserve the best. We rarely get it in our candidates.
And that's my soapbox for the day. It actually comes from a person who's voted in two presidential elections for republicans in the past. One I regret. One I do not. I just call stuff like I see it and I have a lot of different voices with a lot of different backgrounds from me that factor into my beliefs. That even sometimes happens here. /peace
--EDIT- The racist argument about black-on-black crime should also be called out for what it is. The truth is most violence and crime is also tribal. White-on-white crime is about as prevalent as black-on-black crime. Speaking about one, while omitting the other, is racist. That's no point anyone here was making. I've just heard it a lot in recent months.