The Dark Side

 THE DARK SIDE

We see it now; we see it again.  It has arisen from the depths as it always does and will do - - the dark side of America.  It has always been here, sometimes apparent, sometimes not.  It was submerged for many years, but always waiting and pondering the time it was to rise again.  The reaction to George Floyd, the new demonstrations, the anger of the black public once again rose from dormancy and told white America it was not finished, there is more to do.

And once again white America reacted:  it took a while but it slowly gathered momentum - - the attack on what is now called DEI - - diversity, equity, inclusion.  We no longer call it racism; but it is racism at its finest and most inclusive.  One simply can't hide the obvious.  Diversity, equity, and inclusion are, or at least have been, words of importance, words denoting common values and goals.  Not now.

We now have the vocabulary to stigmatize anyone who is not white or properly white-like and with that stigmatization gather again the forces of repression and exclusion.  They have always been with us; sometimes muted and sometimes not.  Now they have again risen to dominate the landscape.  Trump is not the source of this; he is the result and rides its momentum.

This too will fade, but not before it does damage to all of us.  It is the acceptance of brutality towards thousands if not millions.  It is the effort to destroy our educational institutions which produce those who question.  It is a quest of power unprecedented in American history.  It is the empowerment of those who most vehemently want a white society with what they believe is the power to obtain it.

What makes the movement more dangerous than it would be otherwise is the realization that it is not to be.  The battle for whiteness will not achieve its goal.  We, the United States, have become what it was always envisioned by some to be:  a haven for those who need a haven, a new beginning, an escape from an intolerable life.  And most of these new people are not white and many are not Christian both of which are anathema to what is suppose to be here - - whites and Christians.  Our Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, quoting a bible verse as the culmination of the passage of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" encapsulates perfectly the prevailing attitude.

The United States does not have enough births to replace its population.   Japan and China with their aging populations have the same issue and may soon have a crisis of aging.  How do they support all their old people and have enough workers for their factories and farms?  We, here in the United States, don't have this problem - yet.  We have immigrants who do the work and their children will be Americans just like us; a fact that is intolerable to many.  If nothing else we are talking simple economics.

We live in a capitalist world; a capitalist world depends on an expanding population with increasing wealth - - what is produced has to be consumed.  Consumption is the necessary element in a modern economy.  Without consumption there will be no production; without production there will be no jobs; without jobs there will be no Social Security for those who require it.  Immigration fuels our economy and supports our aged.  Those who support this new racism in the name of DEI have no understanding of the consequences if their wishes were to be realized when thousands if not  millions of  people here in the United States are picked up and forcibly deported to places unknown to them.  Treating people poorly not only reflects on us as a people but affects us in many ways obviously hidden to many.   

There are more reasons not to be a racist than to be one but to understand this would take some reflection and maybe some kindness. As I began, the dark side of America has arisen again.  It does so periodically but regularly.

I wish it were not so.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo