Children’s literature has a parable for our times in The
Emperor’s New Clothes, by Hans Christian Andersen. It goes like this: the
emperor engages two clever but lazy weavers for a new suit of clothes. The
weavers promise His Majesty a suit that will be invisible to anyone who is
stupid, incompetent, or unfit for his position. They make sure that word gets
out about it. When at last the emperor parades his new suit before his
subjects, not one of them dares to admit that he or she sees no suit. Who wants
to be called stupid? In the end, it is a child who cries out, “But he isn’t
wearing anything at all!”
I remember as a child thinking how implausible this was. How
does anyone deny what she sees with her own eyes?
Well, children’s stories are meant to be fantastic, so no
harm done. But later in my childhood I began to hear stories from World War II.
Something called a “holocaust,” involving another “emperor,” who decided to
murder millions of his own people. He began by belittling those people. Calling
them names. Accusing them of hating their country, of being selfish, of doing
harm. He loved to regale the public with rhetoric invoking hyper-patriotism and
hatred against minorities, especially Jews. Then when he felt he had sweeping
acceptance, he began his murderous campaign, and the people looked the other
way.
As a young person I was incredulous! How could the German
people have allowed Adolph Hitler to murder millions of people in their name?
It just wasn’t feasible. “Never again,” exclaimed survivors and horrified
bystanders the world over. But for some, that sentiment morphed into something
more comfortable: “It can’t happen here.” I believed it myself. The holocaust
was so horrific, the German people so … what’s the word … gullible? Anyway, it
obviously, certainly, unquestionably CAN’T HAPPEN HERE.
Except now, I think
it can happen here. Over the weekend of July 13-14, we all suffered a tweet
storm in which the president attacked four freshman congresswomen of color with
the perennial racist trope “go back where you came from.” (All four are
American citizens, three of them born here.)
A few days later we watched coverage of the president
stirring up a crowd in Greenville, NC. He woefully misrepresented the speeches,
the policies, and the motivations of all four of the women, singling out
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for the worst of it. The crowd loved it. They ended up
chanting, “Send her back!”
This president is deliberately tearing at the fabric of our
nearly-all-immigrant nation. In an article entitled, “Trump Goes All In On
Racism” (July 15, 2019), Atlantic writer David Graham decries Trump’s
“…willingness and eagerness to place racism at the center of his political
platform in a run for reelection to the presidency.” The article led with this:
“The president’s tweets are an invitation to a racial conflict that pits
citizen against citizen, under the calculation that racism itself is a winning
political strategy.”
Congress voted to censure the president for his racist
remarks, but our local representative, Tom Reed, voted against the resolution.
"Having developed a relationship with the president,” he said,
“interacting with him firsthand, I am confident in telling you that I do not
believe he is a racist." (Buffalo Evening News, 7/16/19)
So I have a question for Congressperson Reed. What is a
racist? Not, apparently, someone who tells people of color, “Go back where you
came from.”
Mr. Reed, tell us then. What is a racist? And once you get
that formula worked out, I’d like to see you tell it to the experts, in person.
Tell it to an audience of African Americans, Native Americans, Latino
Americans. Go down to the “camps” at our southern border and explain to the
refugees sleeping on concrete floors that our president is not a racist. Say it
in the mirror, if you can keep a straight face. And, while you’re at it,
explain it to your God.
Lee Marcus is a playwright and author of “Hearts
Afire: The Story of Moonwhistle School.” She lives in Arkport.
