Op/Ed: Denounce Trump’s words

When Donald Trump tells four U.S. congresswomen of color to “go back to where they came from,” it feels personal. It was the same thing I heard as a 10-year old facing  a schoolyard bully after my parents moved to this country to escape political instability, violence and economic insecurity. As adults, it is the duty of every one of us to stand up, speak out and demand our president treat everyone with respect.

While some may say President Trump is simply stating the obvious, “Hey, if you don’t like America, you can leave,” to many others, “go back to the crime-infested countries you came from” is a clear appeal to deep-seated racist and xenophobic sentiments within American society. This phrase was hurled at one time to all of us with foreign ancestry: Irish, Italian, Jews, Catholics, Germans and Swedes to name a few.

Thus far, Trump has not offered any form of apology. Instead he has doubled down. In a speech Wednesday night, he attacked U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim representative from Minnesota, for her  “vicious anti-Semitic screeds.”

Rep. Omar’s “all about the Benjamins, baby” tweet earlier this year hit a similar nerve with many. For her supporters, she was only highlighting “the problematic role of lobbyists (in this case The American-Israel Political Affairs Committee) in politics.” But others were upset because her words alluded to the centuries-old stereotype that Jewish moneymen secretly control governments from behind the scenes. Unlike President Trump, she apologized “unequivocally," for playing into "the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes."

Trump’s ‘go home’ position viewed in conjunction with his threatened immigration raids, his personal attacks on immigrants, women, people of color, those with physical and mental disabilities, the LGBT community, the homeless and other vulnerable groups reveal him for what he truly is, a president who governs by stoking fears that divide us.

I do not need polls to know that most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, do not believe it's okay to attack people for these reasons. This is way beyond civil discourse. To be uttered by our president, the leader of this nation of immigrants, is simply un-American and unacceptable.

It is time for all our elected representatives — from the county courthouse to Harrisburg to Washington and especially those who have been conspicuously silent — to denounce President Trump for his words.

Anton Andrew
Anton Andrew is an attorney and former
Democratic Party candidate for state
representative. He lives in Kennett Township.

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