But then Glaude resoundingly proclaimed, "This is us! And if we're gonna get past this we can't blame it on [Trump]. He's a manifestation of the ugliness that's in us. Glaude hit the nail on the head."
Mirchell Plitnick continues in his essay:
"No one should minimize the horror of the Trump presidency. We should not belittle the fact that with his every word and action, Trump is trying to create a nation where white makes right, where the poor increase in number and are increasingly unable to survive. He is trying to create a country that hates itself, directing that hate at the other, while he and his cronies laugh all the way to the bank.
"Glaude is correct to point out that Trump is not inventing this, he is unleashing it, harvesting hate that has festered for decades, suppressed -- but not defeated -- by liberal ideals.
"But as Americans so often do, we think of the Trump presidency in terms of ourselves, of what happens within our borders. For many of us, that doesn't even extend to a place like Puerto Rico, which Trump was able to smugly neglect in a way he never would have dared to do to a mainland U.S. city. But what of our foreign policy under Trump and for years before him?
"Progressive Americans are asking themselves every day how we can tolerate the separation of families at our borders, the incitement to violence from the White House, the undermining of democracy by the Republican party, who either block legislation en masse or go meekly along with whatever the president and Senate majority leader say. How do we continue to tolerate police shootings of unarmed black men? How do we tolerate an enormous tax cut for the rich while the same people are trying to find ways to kick millions off of health insurance that they can already barely afford?
"The list goes on and on. But we do far less introspection when it comes to foreign policy. Events in Gaza, Iran, the United Kingdom, Congo, Kashmir, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and other places do not exist in isolation from the United States. Sometimes by action, sometimes by inaction, the U.S. affects events all over the world. That's hardly news. Most Americans know it. But too few of us take it seriously enough to let it influence our votes or political activity."
Mitchell Plitnick is a political analyst and writer. His previous positions include vice president at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, director of the US Office of B'Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and co-director of Jewish Voice for Peace. His blog may be found here.
How may we best take seriously these words of urgency from Mitchell Plitnick and Eddie Glaude?
Start by studying and sharing Mitchell Plitnick's essay and Eddie Glaude's MSNBC speech. Then find the role you may play in helping others and yourself, grasp the reality that revenge, and hate must give way to love.
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