By Susane Asher (with kind permission)
Something happened in the US on Wednesday that was so disturbing that I can’t stay silent about it.
While I know that upsetting news has now become the daily norm in this country, what took place here
on July 17 made that new normal look benign.
With other news that distresses me, there are those who might say
that I only find it upsetting because of the values I hold, my political views, and my own hopes for America...
in other words, that it’s relative whether those headlines are upsetting or not.
What happened two days ago goes beyond that.
I wrote the majority of this within minutes after watching on Thursday morning the footage of Donald Trump’s campaign rally in North Carolina - the haunting chant of “Send her back” and the president’s lead-up to that chant.
Of course, many, many people are talking about this now...
as I deeply believe they should be. So my words are just a few among the many.
But what I saw happen at that rally is something that must not be ignored or passed over.
Whatever your political views, the significance of that chant - and everything
leading up to it and coming today from the president following it - goes beyond political affiliation or even racism (although I have definite thoughts about whether what I observed was racist or not). And as such, what happened on July 17 should, in my opinion, be frightening to anyone.
America was founded on the right to dissent and the right to protest non-violently, under protection of the law...
without threat of repercussion. Those rights are written into our constitution,
they are the very first amendment enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
American citizens who protest or dissent against a sitting government do not hate America.
They are living up to some of its highest ideals - independent thinking, political engagement
and the duty to dissent when one feels (yes, according to one’s own views) that the country can do better.
In fact, one might argue that by making the effort to speak out,
and taking the risks involved, they love our country the most deeply. They care.
Whether you agree with their viewpoints or not, what they are doing by protesting is deeply American to its very core.
Americans on both sides of the aisle have that right - and that duty - to protest when they see things
that they consider to be harmful to America or that mar what they believe America stands for, both at home and in the world.
The act itself of making that protest is something that transcends political affiliation.
The right to protest, non-violently and safely, is a good common to all U.S. citizens - one that makes “both sides of the aisle” a moot point.
“Love it or leave it” is one of the most frightening mantras that I have ever heard coming from a president’s mouth...
and “send her back” being chanted at one of his rallies is a chilling sign of how what it means to truly be American - that which sets us apart, and elevates us, from so many countries living under authoritarian rule, where people can only aspire to have that fundamental American right to dissent under protection of the law - is now on a slippery slope.
American citizens of any color skin, and of any political affiliation, who protest and dissent when they feel that is right and important for the good of the country have every right to live and flourish here.
They are truly American. A collective chant of “Send her back” about a Muslim congresswoman who has expressed her opposition views non-violently signals at best the desire for a political cleansing,
and at worst for an ethnic cleansing - yes, an ethnic cleansing - that is truly terrifying.
And which I never thought I would see led by a President of the United States and mainstreamed in this country -
a land built on diversity and which has been a beacon for people fleeing from that kind of authoritarianism since its inception.
Love for America does not mean blind allegiance to whomever sits in power, no matter what they might do.
A call for that is not democracy, it’s fascism.
Thank you for reading,
Susane
