How can I help myself from chiming in on the President Donald Trump harangue? I can’t.
Some of you remember years ago the traveling American who wore Hawaiian shirts, a camera hanging from his neck and a very loud voice. He was symbolic of an American who did not have any interest in the culture he inhabited, the language of the country he visited or the sensitivities of the people he met. He was brash, complaining, comparing and offensive. He made many Americans embarrassed. My friends, when traveling, tried to speak some of the language of the country they visited, respond to the mores of the culture and spread good will wherever they went.
These same friends are marching for women, peacefully making a statement of what must be maintained in the America we love and going berserk about the “ugly American” who is our president. I am out of step with my wonderful, passionate-about-our-country, ethical friends. I say, yes, he is uncouth, insulting, impulsive, self-serving, elitist. Then I go on to relate that he is the epitome of the “ugly American” of our youth. We didn’t want to be seen in the same room as that uncultured American anymore than we want to be Donald Trump’s friend.
To me he embodies the presenting behavior of all too many American males who prefer bravado and chest puffing out to humbleness. Who like to tell you how successful they are and how much money they have. When we think of the Trump brand, we think of a certain type of American male: the macho kind who treads on other people’s sensitivities without knowing they are out of line.
So we have a mega-rich, spoiled brat, unreflective, limited man who only knows how to get what he wants in this world through bullying, power tactics and pouting and throwing lots of money at it (whatever he wants.) And he is successful, a winner at whatever he undertakes.
I am among those, not in step with my friends, who is optimistic. No, he is not like me, or my friends, but maybe he can get the job done. Maybe he can make America a standalone, powerful country that gets past fear of poverty, terrorism and dangerous cities.
I am an optimist and, therefore, hopeful. I like the Kushners, Jared and Ivanka. They are the millennials, and they want a strong America in which to raise their children. Jared is an Orthodox Jew which precludes that he practices ethical and moral values. He lives by them. He has President Trump’s ear.
I am on President Trump’s side. I want to make him successful. I hope he keeps our valued gains as in Medicare, Medicaid, Roe v. Wade, Social Security. I will make my voice heard on these issues.
I am upset at CNN and Anderson Cooper about releasing suppositions about Trump’s ties with Russia, and his carnal relationship with Russian women. There are mistakes on both sides.
The good news is that we will be watching as the next four years unfold. It saddens me that some of my friends will leave the United (not so much) States of America (the country of my birth) because of our “Ugly American.” He is an American dedicated to making America great again. I personally would love to see an America that climbs out of fear of our fellow man and finds our way back to our common humanity. Who knows, maybe Donald Trump will succeed, inadvertently. Because it is so onerous to present ourselves in our Hawaiian shirts, camera around our neck, loudly shouting orders in a country we visit that we need to march if only to show the world that we are not all like that stereotype of the Ugly American, that we are many who live by a higher ethos, that we will honor all people and we will have a voice.
Ellen Blaufarb is a marriage family therapist.
Sharing is caring!
I had to reread your letter, just to make sure it is real.
I live in a community where I rarely, if ever, come across something like this.
Dear Ms. Blaufarb,
Not very long ago, our grade team was preparing a lesson about Martin Luther King, One of the teachers in our group didn’t know a thing about what happened in Selma, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement.
When I mentioned the hoses used by law enforcement to violently pummel the protesters,
she asked, “What hoses?”
This was a woman in her forties who was expected to teach her students about Martin Luther King. But her own education had conveniently omitted the atrocities committed by white law enforcement on people of color, from the time they arrived in this country to Selma and beyond.
I get shivers of fear when I read a letter like this, as I imagine would many people who are not white or Christian.
I am afraid your optimism blinds you to reality.
When you live in a provential town that values appearances and blind optimism over almost all else, your empathy for victims of this presidency is nonexistent.
I worked long enough in your bubble to learn its citizenry does not like to look at the unpleasant truths.
Communities like yours threaten the safety of people with whom you will never have meaningful contact.
Besides that, the town’s bubble seems to breed innocence.
An example here is your comment about Jared Kushner being an Orthodox Jew, which “precludes that he practices ethical and moral values.”
What?
Jared Kushner learned corrupt business practices at his father’s side. There are corrupt Jews just as their are corrupt Christians.
I write this to you because it’s crystal clear what SCROTUS (so called ruler of the United States) is attempting to do, and it scares me.
Those who continue to wear rose-colored glasses during these times are complicit in hurting the oppressed people of our country.
Ellen,
Thank you for your piece today. It represent an honest assessment of your feelings on the subject of the Trump presidency. Ours is a strong nation of many peoples, of many faiths and colors. Our nation survived the past eight years, and we will grow in the coming eight years. What troubles me is the vehemence we see from the ‘open minded’ left against Trump. I have not, since the 60’s, a comparative rise in anger, hate and violence, as I have seen since Jan. 20th.
.
Dear Ms. Blaufarb and DDL,
This reader’s online comment came my way today, and I think it’s important to consider when making meaning of the tone of strong feelings in our thread of words:
“Here’s the problem with the idea that oppressed groups can “alienate allies” by not being nice enough:
You shouldn’t be an ally because oppressed groups are nice to you. You should be an ally because you believe they deserve basic human rights. Hearing “I hate men” shouldn’t make men stop being feminist. Hearing “f..k white people” shouldn’t make white people stop opposing racism.
Your opposition to oppression should be moral, and immovable.
Your belief that all humans should be treated with equal respect shouldn’t be conditional
based on whether or not individual people are nice to you.”
To all Trump supporters,
“This is where I stand. To me, FB is a useful vehicle for my passion and activism. Our 45th President, his power-hungry cronies taking positions of authority in his Cabinet and administration, and the majority of Republicans in Congress are a real and active threat to me, my way of life, and all the people I love. Some people are saying that we should give Trump a chance, that we should “work together” with him because he won the election and he is “everyone’s president.” This is my response:
•I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years…
•I will not “work together” to privatize Medicare, cut Social Security and Medicaid.
•I will not “work together” to build a wall.
•I will not “work together” to persecute Muslims.
•I will not “work together” to shut out refugees from other countries.
•I will not “work together” to lower taxes on the 1% and increase taxes on the middle class and poor.
•I will not “work together” to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his family and cronies.
•I will not “work together” to weaken and demolish environmental protection.
•I will not “work together” to sell American lands, especially National Parks, to companies which then despoil those lands.
•I will not “work together” to enable the killing of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.
•I will not “work together” to remove civil rights from anyone.
•I will not “work together” to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.
•I will not “work together” to slash funding for education.
•I will not “work together” to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
•I will not “work together” to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.
•I will not “work together” to eliminate the minimum wage.
•I will not “work together” to support so-called “Right To Work” laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.
•I will not “work together” to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.
•I will not “work together” to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.
•I will not “work together” to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.
•I will not “work together” to put even more “big money” into politics.
•I will not “work together” to violate the Geneva Convention.
•I will not “work together” to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.
•I will not “work together” to deny health care to people who need it.
•I will not “work together” to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of a “pre-existing condition.”
•I will not “work together” to increase voter suppression.
•I will not “work together” to normalize tyranny.
I will not “work together” to eliminate or reduce ethical oversite at any level of government.
•I will not “work together” with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.
•I will not support anyone that thinks its OK to put a pipeline to transport oil on Sacred Ground for Native Americans. And, it would run under the Missouri River, which provides drinking water for millions of people. An accident waiting to happen.
This is my line, and I am drawing it.
•I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.
•I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN:
That “winning”, “being great again”, “rich” or even “beautiful” is nothing… When others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.
If you agree feel free to copy and re-post (this results in larger numbers of people seeing a post), and if you want, sign your name below ours. Also, if we have left anything out, feel free to add it to this list.”
Signed:
Linda Burke
Patricia Rollins Trosclair
Andrea Dora Zysk
George Georgakis
John Christopher
John Bowles
Patrick St.Louis
Carla Patrick
Darnell Bender
Vickie Davis
JMichael Carter
Janice Frazier-Scott
Rev. ELaura James Reid
Jeanette Bouknight
Rev. Dollie Howell Pankey
Gerald Butler
Carolyn McDougle
Vaughn Chatman
Adrienne Brown
Gary Trousdale
Steven E Gordon
Isis Nocturne
Debi Murray
Maureen O. Betita
Mona Enderli
Fernie James Tamblin
Myrna Dodgion
Alan Locklear
Tom Wilmore
Jackie Evans
Donna Endres
Lora Fountain
Roberta Gregory
Heather A Mayhew
Stevo Wehr
Nathan Stivers
Jen RaLee
Joan Holden
Leigh Lutz
Deborah Kirkpatrick
Linda Levy
Tom Rue
Nancy Hoffmann-Allison
Beejay McCabe
Michael James Myers
Edward T. Spire
Rupert Chapman
Dawn R. Dunbar
Robin Wilson
Monique Boutot
Laura Brown 💪🏼
Susan Aptaker
Steve Katz
Bonnie Wolk
Risa Guttman-Kornwitz
Angela Gora
Butch Norman
Sharon Tolman
Sue Zislis
Maurice Hirsch
Satch Dobrey
Jim Krapf
Don Starwalt
Deb Johansen
Daniel Anderson
Diane Kenney
Rebecca Koop
Nancy Shuert
Bill Pryor
Patrick Lamb
Bob Travaglione
Margaret Ragan
Martha Peters
Steve Wilson
Lauren Sullivan
Scott Bevan
Gina Babbitt
Jodi Gibson
Leslie Gamache
Jennifer Killin
Brooke Squires
Laurie Langley
Claudette Konola
Karen Dike
Becky English
Donna Buell
Aaron Mair
Susan Corbett
Michael Wells
Mark Gorbulew
Cherisse Gardner
Tracy Nery Kunzler
Bett Cornetta
Karen Price
Janice Orie
Geoffrey Henton
Tracy Turner
Shaka Berry
Jane Hara
“to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his family and cronies”
— Interesting to note Barack Obama and Michelle just inked a 60 Million dollar book deal. They will donate some of the money to charity: The Barack Obama Foundation
Hypocrites and Trump haters
That’s your only objection?
Gas-lighting responses are ignored here.
Only objection ? Not hardly, but it was low hanging fruit in a target rich environment.
Here are two we should look at in context of each other:
“I will not “work together” to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women” and “I will stand for … the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.”
Unless that beating heart is the heart of a 28 week old fetus, in which case we can suction out it’s brains if the mother decides on an abortion.
Your list of “I will not …” Would be laughable if it weren’t so inaccurate.
The Trump Haters are losing their collective minds. Most of your listed items are complete fabrications.
But it is funny to watch hysteria play out.
When I see and experience these events in my own life and the life of my family and friends, and then you tell me it is inaccurate, none of it is real, all of this is laughable and only hysteria playing out among dirty liberals (or whatever you call the opposition to Trump), it confirms there truly are two different realities in this country.
Your town is a microcosm of what Americans experience when segregated from people of color and victims of racism. It’s only logical you’d gleefully claim there is nothing there.
Your condescending tone comes from ignorance about what we are experiencing outside of your bubble. In no way can you tell us this isn’t happening to us!
I now realize my education about religious racists and haughty Christians happened in your town. That experience taught me all I need to know about the effect of the Trump presidency.
I was trying to be nice. But this is ridiculous. Your comments are an absurd fantasy that exists in your mind. This is probably the fourth or fifth time I have seen you blather on about what a racist horrible town lily white Benicia is.
What utter crap.
Benicia is Berkeley North, It is a town that is 60 % Hillary fans and 10% Sanders.
You make Benicia sound like there is a KKK Klaven (sp?) that meets at the Marina Green each Friday. I lived here 22 years and have yet to see a KKK or White Supremacist group marching in the Fourth of July parade.
The Trumpsters remain silent as they do not want their support to be known to the lunatics that scratch cars, steal signs and other actions.
I suggest you get in touch with reality.
Call it what you will:)
This was my experience working for your school district for 24 years.
Sorry, honey, it was very real.
P.S. Usually racism is not overt.
Your hysteria about the nonexistent KKK and white supremacists is ridiculous.
Just the racial statistics of your town prove my point.
Dear People,
When I taught third grade in your town, we read mythology written for our grade level.
“The Trojan Horse” was an allegory that spoke to my experience as a whistleblower working at their school. Cassandra was Troy’s own whistleblower, and she was my hero.
Cassandra, who foresaw the destruction of Troy by the Greeks when the Trojans found the big wooden horse outside, tried to warn the Trojans. But her curse was that most people found her personality to be very unstable and she was considered crazy.
Today I find myself relating to her again when responses to my comments here inform me that I am delusional: “Your comments are an absurd fantasy that exists [sic] in your mind…I suggest you get in touch with reality.”
A lot of times, most times, and maybe all of the times that people accuse me of being argumentative or divisive, they’re really saying, “How dare you not agree with me?”
Because half of my family was murdered in the Holocaust, I was raised to speak out when I saw injustice, and there was plenty of that in the way teachers are treated in your school district.
If you asked your teachers whether they’d prefer a substantial raise or a lovely “Appreciation Buffett” in their honor, what do you think their answer would be? But teachers have to be sheep and keep smiling because their livelihood would be at stake if they revealed all the inequities and the whole truth.
In this thread of comments, I shared that I experienced and witnessed racism in your school district. The response was that I was hallucinating.
There are layers of reasons for responses like this, but I will say things go on that the school district keeps quiet. Not reporting troubling incidences to the police is one, because that would mean this information would make the news, and that would be problematic.
This is why I considered it a victory when a teacher of color at the high school independently called for an assembly of black students and the story made the evening news. (In her wisdom, she knew the administration wouldn’t allow it, and she knew it was very necessary.) The district had to scramble to deny there was a problem with racism; the superintendent’s spin about the incident was pathetic. This was a missed opportunity to open a conversation about a very real problem. Instead, as is the administration’s habit, the truth shouldn’t get out because it would reflect badly on the school district and appearances.
Omission of the uncomfortable truth is the school district’s fake news.
While teaching in your town, the sad thing for me was that I loved most of my students and many, many of their parents. But those in power made sure I was demonized and ostracized.
For someone with a thin skin, I believe I overcame more than I thought possible, and I am proud of that.
I shared this before, and I will share it again.
Today it is more important than ever:
“…mental illness” never created any idea, motivation or belief system. “Mental illness” refers to the way our minds can distort the ideas we get from the world, but the ideas come from somewhere.”…”The reason a certain kind of person loves talking about “mental illness” is to draw attention to the big bold scary exceptional crimes and treat them as exceptions. It’s to distract from the fact that the worst crimes in history were committed by people just doing their jobs–cops enforcing the law, soldiers following orders, bureaucrats signing paperwork. That if we define “sanity” as going along to get along with what’s “normal” in the society around you, then for most of history the sane thing has been to aid and abet monstrous evil.”
We love to talk about individuals’ mental illness so we can avoid talking about the biggest, scariest problem of all–societal illness. That the danger isn’t any one person’s madness, but that the world we live in is mad.”
-Arthur Chu
Journalist
Thank you for not censoring,
Jane Sheftel Hara
“Just the racial statistics of your town prove my point” —
No it doesn’t.
That is part of your delusion. Does racism exist, of course. Did you have some bad experiences? Probably.
The issue I have with your going on and on and on about it is this: You blame the town: Benicia is 85-90% white so therefor it is by fact racist. BS on that.
Do bad things happen to good people yes. But most people can come to grips with it, put it behind them and move on with their lives. You cannot do that. Instead you come here every few weeks and prattle on about being a victim.
Get over it.
Seek counseling and save the readers from being your continued sounding board.
Years of counseling needed after I retired taught me a lot about people like you who snap, “Get over it!”
I don’t expect to change YOUR mind.
Denial accomplishes nothing; it just prolongs the problem.
My suggestion to you: Next time you see my name here, don’t read my comment…It’s that simple!
Ask yourself this: What are you trying to accomplish by going over this same issue time and time again on this website?
You do not live here any longer, you have not taught here for some time. So what is the point?
Dear People,
When I taught third grade in your town, we read mythology written for our grade level.
“The Trojan Horse” was an allegory that spoke to my experience as a whistleblower working at their school. Cassandra was Troy’s own whistleblower, and she was my hero.
Cassandra, who foresaw the destruction of Troy by the Greeks when the Trojans found the big wooden horse outside, tried to warn the Trojans. But her curse was that most people found her personality to be very unstable and she was considered crazy.
Today I find myself relating to her again when responses to my comments here inform me that I am delusional: “Your comments are an absurd fantasy that exists [sic] in your mind…I suggest you get in touch with reality.”
A lot of times, most times, and maybe all of the times that people accuse me of being argumentative or divisive, they’re really saying, “How dare you not agree with me?”
Because half of my family was murdered in the Holocaust, I was raised to speak out when I saw injustice, and there was plenty of that in the way teachers are treated in your school district. If you asked your teachers if they’d prefer a substantial raise or a lovely “Appreciation Buffett” in their honor, what do you think their answer would be? But teachers have to be sheep and keep smiling because their livelihood would be at stake if they revealed all the inequities and the whole truth.
In this thread of comments, I shared that I experienced and witnessed racism in your school district. The response was that I was hallucinating.
There are layers of reasons for responses like this, but I will say things go on that the school district keeps quiet. Not reporting troubling incidences to the police is one, because that would mean this information would make the news, and that would be problematic.
This is why I considered it a victory when a teacher of color at the high school independently called for an assembly of black students and the story made the evening news. (In her wisdom, she knew the administration wouldn’t allow it, and she knew it was very necessary.) The district had to scramble to deny there was a problem with racism; the superintendent’s spin about the incident was pathetic. This was a missed opportunity to open a conversation about a very real problem. Instead, as is the administration’s habit, the truth shouldn’t get out because it would reflect badly on the school district and appearances.
Omission of the uncomfortable truth is the school district’s fake news.
While teaching in your town, the sad thing for me was that I loved most of my students and many, many of their parents. But those in power made sure I was demonized and ostracized.
For someone with a thin skin, I believe I overcame more than I thought possible, and I am proud of that.
I shared this before, and I will share it again.
Today it is more important than ever.
“…mental illness” never created any idea, motivation or belief system. “Mental illness” refers to the way our minds can distort the ideas we get from the world, but the ideas come from somewhere.”…”The reason a certain kind of person loves talking about “mental illness” is to draw attention to the big bold scary exceptional crimes and treat them as exceptions. It’s to distract from the fact that the worst crimes in history were committed by people just doing their jobs–cops enforcing the law, soldiers following orders, bureaucrats signing paperwork. That if we define “sanity” as going along to get along with what’s “normal” in the society around you, then for most of history the sane thing has been to aid and abet monstrous evil.”
We love to talk about individuals’ mental illness so we can avoid talking about the biggest, scariest problem of all–societal illness. That the danger isn’t any one person’s madness, but that the world we live in is mad.”
-Arthur Chu
Journalist
Thank you for not censoring,
Jane Sheftel Hara
Dear DDL,
That’s an excellent question to which I’ve known the answer for as long as I can remember.
And I know there are countless other non-white and non/Christian people around the planet who know the answer to your question. The irony to me is that you have asked for the answer and not bothered to ask yourself why you think I’m still speaking out.
I’m pretty sure I understand why.
But, please let me explain a few things before I let you know what that is.
Growing up in Southern California during the 1950’s and 1960’s, there were families on our street who would not allow their kids to play with us because we were Jews.
Over the years I learned that life was much simpler for me when I pretended to be Italian.
So I lived in the closet. When I told that story to a friend, who grew up in Kentucky, she had an astonishing reply. She had never known a Jewish person, but said her best friend back then had hidden her “Jewishness” from her because her father had instructed her to never tell. It was only recently on Facebook that she informed my friend she was Jewish!
For countless years I hid the Jewish part of myself while teaching in your town. More often than not there wasn’t one Jewish person in my class. But one year a girl in my class told me she was celebrating Hanukkah with her family. She was the only one.
I remembered what that felt like at such a young age. It was at that moment I decided to help this little girl feel proud of herself by sharing her culture with her classmates. I read “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins”, taught them how to play the Dreidel game and showed them how we light the Menorah. I sang a song in Hebrew and lit the candles.
After that, slowly but surely, I felt I was being treated differently. I was like an oddity (“Oh, I have a Jewish friend!”). Something was said to me that is not fit to print here. Anyway, I was treated differently by several on the staff.
As the years passed, new teachers who came aboard adopted this “understanding” because that was part of the culture there.
By marriages in my family, we are pretty international:
Japanese, Muslim, Dominican, Haitian and Korean.
I’ve spent my adult life learning about everyone’s experiences of racism in this country.
And I realized that I identified with all they taught me about being disrespected because of their race or religion. The only difference between us is that I can hide who I am, but they cannot.
Remember the little girl who was alone in celebrating Hanukkah and my heart went out to her?
I still have those kind of feelings for kids.
And when I know something unjust is going on, a lot of those kids are like my family members who need to be heard and respected.
It doesn’t matter where they live.
I write this in support of them.
“What are you trying to accomplish by going over this same issue time and time again on this website? You do not live here any longer, you have not taught here for some time. So what is the point?”
I choose this website because I know uncomfortable truths about your town’s school district that affect disenfranchised students who don’t feel connected to the school. I still feel love for, and a connection to, students I had. They are still there.
I learned that sometimes the same issue has to be brought up time and time again when there is nobody else there to speak out for you. I learned this from my experiences and those of my family members. The defense of teachers’ worth is in my blood. My mom was a teacher for decades.
Finally, I think I know why you ask, “So what is the point?”
Experiences of discrimination in our lives made us automatically want to show our support for anyone who feels targeted and disrespected. You cannot know how a lifetime of disrespect affects you because you are white. It’s just not in your realm of experience.
If you read this far, thank you.
Dear People,
When I taught third grade in your town, we read mythology written for our grade level.
“The Trojan Horse” was an allegory that spoke to my experience as a whistleblower working at their school. Cassandra was Troy’s own whistleblower, and she was my hero.
Cassandra, who foresaw the destruction of Troy by the Greeks when the Trojans found the big wooden horse outside, tried to warn the Trojans. But her curse was that most people found her personality to be very unstable and she was considered crazy.
Today I find myself relating to her again when responses to my comments here inform me that I am delusional: “Your comments are an absurd fantasy that exists [sic] in your mind…I suggest you get in touch with reality.”
A lot of times, most times, and maybe all of the times that people accuse me of being argumentative or divisive, they’re really saying, “How dare you not agree with me?”
Because half of my family was murdered in the Holocaust, I was raised to speak out when I saw injustice, and there was plenty of that in the way teachers are treated in your school district. If you asked your teachers if they’d prefer a substantial raise or a lovely “Appreciation Buffett” in their honor, what do you think their answer would be? But teachers have to be sheep and keep smiling because their livelihood would be at stake if they revealed all the inequities and the whole truth.
In this thread of comments, I shared that I experienced and witnessed racism in your school district. The response was that I was hallucinating.
There are layers of reasons for responses like this, but I will say things go on that the school district keeps quiet. Not reporting troubling incidences to the police is one, because that would mean this information would make the news, and that would be problematic.
This is why I considered it a victory when a teacher of color at the high school independently called for an assembly of black students and the story made the evening news. (In her wisdom, she knew the administration wouldn’t allow it, and she knew it was very necessary.) The district had to scramble to deny there was a problem with racism; the superintendent’s spin about the incident was pathetic. This was a missed opportunity to open a conversation about a very real problem. Instead, as is the administration’s habit, the truth shouldn’t get out because it would reflect badly on the school district and appearances.
Omission of the uncomfortable truth is the school district’s fake news.
While teaching in your town, the sad thing for me was that I loved most of my students and many, many of their parents. But those in power made sure I was demonized and ostracized.
For someone with a thin skin, I believe I overcame more than I thought possible, and I am proud of that.
I shared this before, and I will share it again.
Today it is more important than ever.
“…mental illness” never created any idea, motivation or belief system. “Mental illness” refers to the way our minds can distort the ideas we get from the world, but the ideas come from somewhere.”…”The reason a certain kind of person loves talking about “mental illness” is to draw attention to the big bold scary exceptional crimes and treat them as exceptions. It’s to distract from the fact that the worst crimes in history were committed by people just doing their jobs–cops enforcing the law, soldiers following orders, bureaucrats signing paperwork. That if we define “sanity” as going along to get along with what’s “normal” in the society around you, then for most of history the sane thing has been to aid and abet monstrous evil.”
We love to talk about individuals’ mental illness so we can avoid talking about the biggest, scariest problem of all–societal illness. That the danger isn’t any one person’s madness, but that the world we live in is mad.”
-Arthur Chu
Journalist
Thank you for not censoring,
Jane Sheftel Hara
Dear DDL,
That’s an excellent question to which I’ve known the answer for as long as I can remember.
And I know there are countless other non-white and non/Christian people around the planet who know the answer to your question. The irony to me is that you have asked for the answer and not bothered to ask yourself why you think I’m still speaking out.
I’m pretty sure I understand why though.
But, please let me explain a few things before I let you know what that is.
Growing up in Southern California during the 1950’s and 1960’s, there were families on our street who would not allow their kids to play with us because we were Jews.
Over the years I learned that life was much simpler for me when I pretended to be Italian.
So I lived in the closet.
Recently, when I told that story to a friend, who grew up in Kentucky, she had an astonishing reply. She had never known a Jewish person, but said her best friend back then had hidden her own “Jewishness” from her because her father had instructed her to never tell. It was only recently on Facebook that she informed my friend she was Jewish!
For countless years I hid the Jewish part of myself while teaching in your town. More often than not there wasn’t one Jewish person in my class. But one year a girl in my class told me she was celebrating Hanukkah with her family. She was the only one.
I remembered what that felt like at such a young age. It was at that moment I decided to help this little girl feel proud of herself by sharing her culture with her classmates. I read “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins”, taught them how to play the Dreidel game and showed them how we light the Menorah. I sang a song in Hebrew and lit the candles.
After that, slowly but surely, I felt I was being treated differently. I was like an oddity (“Oh, I have a Jewish friend!”). Something was said to me that is not fit to print here. Anyway, I was treated differently by several on the staff.
As the years passed, new teachers who came aboard adopted this “understanding” because that was part of the culture there.
By marriages in my family, we are pretty international:
Japanese, Muslim, Dominican, Haitian and Korean.
I’ve spent my adult life learning about everyone’s experiences of racism in this country.
And I realized that I identified with all they taught me about being disrespected because of their race or religion. The only difference between us is that I can hide who I am, but they cannot.
Remember the little girl who was alone in celebrating Hanukkah and my heart went out to her?
I still have those kind of feelings for kids.
And when I know something unjust is going on, a lot of those kids are like my family members and grandchildren who need to be heard and respected.
It doesn’t matter where they live.
I write this in support of them.
“What are you trying to accomplish by going over this same issue time and time again on this website? You do not live here any longer, you have not taught here for some time. So what is the point?”
I choose this website because I know uncomfortable truths about your town’s school district that affect disenfranchised students who don’t feel connected to the school. I still feel love for, and a connection to, students I had. They are still there.
I learned that sometimes the same issue has to be brought up time and time again when there is nobody else there to speak out for you. I learned this from my experiences and those of my family members. The defense of teachers’ worth is in my blood. My mom was a teacher for decades.
Finally, I think I know why you ask, “So what is the point?”
Experiences of discrimination in our lives made us automatically want to show our support for anyone who feels targeted and disrespected as we are.
You cannot know how a lifetime of disrespect affects you because you are white. It’s just not in your realm of experience.
If you read this far, thank you.
The endless stream of the same post was a technical error…mine! I apologize.
https://qz.com/823420/john-oliver-school-segregation-is-rampant-even-in-the-school-districts-of-liberal-us-cities-like-new-york/
“The hard truth is,” says John Oliver, “you don’t have to be intentionally racist to do things that have racist effects.”
Trump s the complete 180 of Obama.
Obama was personally popular but his policies were not. He was hip, presidential, and very cool. He is a great husband and father. Americans liked him, personally. But his policies … From Obamacare, to the Iran deal, to his hyper regulatory control of the economy … Not popular.
Trump is personally caustic. He is an egomaniac and a narcissist. He is crude and a braggart. Not presidential. All in all, not very like able. But his policies … Lower taxes, economic growth through deregulation, protecting the borders, a strong military, and use of American leadership on the international stage …. All popular.
Trump haters all refer to his personal failings and crudeness. Trump supporters normally dismiss his personal failures and support his policies.
I personally think Trump is boorish, unlike able, and will likely embarras the country on the world stage. But I support his economic policies, his desire to protect the country, and his willingness to strengthen our military. I do not see Trump as a racist (controlling our borders is not racist, it is common sense), nor a mysogynist (is he really any worse than Bill Clinton?), and he is not a hateful person. He is prone to stupid outbursts and someone should delete his Twitter account. And he definitely needs someone in the Oval Office who will tell him to shut up and act presidential. He does not need anymore yes men.
I gave Obama a chance when elected, and I will give Trump the same latitude. His policies may work, and I am likely to be embarrassed by him the next four years. What a ride!
““If we are to keep the rule of law, it must not be a partisan question; it must not be the concern simply of lawyers. We must all defend it, passionately and whole-heartedly,” they wrote. “Without the rule of law, we may have a “so-called” president who in fact has become a tyrant. Fundamentally, this moment is not about Trump. It is about all of us.”
-Deans of Harvard and Yale Law Schools
Absolutely! Rule of law is primary.
That is one of the reasons I did not like the recent ruling from the 9th Appellate Court regrading the immigration order. The president has clear Constitutional standing and the court intervened in presidential powers.
Sorry sir, clearly you don’t understand what the rule of law means. Do you understand what checks and balances are in this country? We are lucky to live here!
Before we accuse good people of not having a clear understanding of Civics we should have a clear understanding what has occurred regarding the ruling by a panel of three judges on the Ninth Circuit. I believe a misunderstanding in regards to that decision exists here.
Specifically: The EO issued by Trump stated the laws granting him the authority to act as he did.
If the system of checks and balances is to work as designed, it is incumbent on the Court to cite which law was violated or to declare the law cited to be at odds with the Constitution. The Ninth Circuit panel did neither.
Why not?
They were not asked to do so.
The issue at hand was not a violation of the law, nor the constitutionality of the law, but the remedy of action to be taken until such time that the EO (and the law) were to be judged by the Court.
The Court upheld the delay in implementation because the three judges believed the EO would be overturned on its lack of merit or foundation.
Let’s also recall that the Ninth is overturned by SCOTUS in 4 out of five cases. That means they are correct in only 1 out of five times. Hardly a passing grade.
So those who are celebrating the decision by the panel are doing so without realizing that no decision on the actual merits of the order was made.
Matter is 100% correct that the law does give the President the authority to act as he did.
Sorry ma’am. You need to read the Constitution. You cannot create your position out of thin air. The president has the power to issue the EO based on existing law. The court can rule on a presidential action in terms of Constitutional standing of the order. It did not do so and it made no argument based on legal reference. Your check and balance concerns should be directed at the court. Who can check or balance a court that acts outside of its Constitutional powers? Where is the check on limitless power?
There is no denying the law gives the president authority to act as he did.
But, the three-judge panel believed there was a good possibility that the state of Washington would succeed on the merits. Just because the president issues an executive order, should we blindly accept that it’s constitutional? I don’t think so.
Who has the limitless power in your statement, the president? That’s what checks and balances are. There is really no argument here.
“Just because the president issues an executive order, should we blindly accept that it’s constitutional? ” — That sure seemed to be what was done while Obama was President. But suddenly the rules have changed.
If someone had challenged the constitutionality of Obama’s Executive Orders, the courts would have responded the same way.
Actually 13 times the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against positions taken by the Obama administration, including one case that was termed an “unconstitutional power grab”.
Remember, Obama was a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School…Your guess: Who is more likely to issue an Executive Order that is unconstitutional, Donald Trump or Barack Obama?
It was the University of Chicago, not Harvard and he was a Senior Lecturer not a Professor. Some would say that was a distinction without a difference,, those people would not be Professors.
“Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School’s Senior Lecturers have high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.”
“Furthermore, Obama was not merely an “instructor” as Phil Singer stated. As a “senior lecturer,” Obama was in good company: The six other faculty members with the title include the associate dean of the law school and Judge Richard Posner, who is widely considered to be one of the nation’s top legal theorists.”
-Joe Miller
Update March 28: As originally written this item stated flatly that the law school “confirms that Obama was a professor.” We have rewritten the item in parts to more accurately reflect the nuance in the law school’s news release.
Sources
Farrington, Brendan. “Obama: Bush Not Respecting Constitution.” The San Francisco Chronicle, 30 March 2007. 27 March 2008.
Sent from my iPhone
(FactCheck.org)
You are correct.
Obama attended Harvard but did not teach there.
“Actually 13 times the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against positions taken by the Obama administration, including one case that was termed an “unconstitutional power grab”.
There you have it.
It seems you disproved your own statement that the rules were changed for Obama.
I never said the “rules were changed for Obama”. I was referring to the general public accepting unconstitutional actions by Obama and remaining silent. Trump, acts in a fully Constitutional manner and the political left screams bloody murder and wants him impeached because they do not like the action that was taken
It seems we see the world through a very different lens.
Further discussion is no longer an option.
Policy is pleasant and all, as it always is with politics, but hardly ever does it pan out the way the people hope. As it stands, there still is not a well explained plan to “build the wall” that won’t rest on taxpayer shoulders. Security is under heavy question due to a lack of transparency in conversations with Russia. The travel ban is an absolute mess, but because it’s “racist”, but because it’s a sloppy order that includes those already with Visa, which is an unnecessary overstep of the executive branch. I don’t dislike Trump because I think he’s a racist, Nazi, or evil. I just think he’s unqualified and incompetent.
President Trump is doing a good job. The country is divided and he is handling that issue very well. We must remember he has many supporters in this country. Maybe not in Benicia, Solano County or California. But I do believe he is well admired in many states. He did win the election and the majority of states. Not ,the North East but they do not run this country nor does Bernie or Warren.; He is doing a very good job.
Would you care to give any policy examples of stellar work on his part? Being liked isn’t a workplace merit.
If you watched his News Conference today you would not even ask that question. No matter what I say or any President Trump backers says you will not be happy. You are just part of the losing group that is having a very bad time at present.; It is going to get worse for you Left L:eaning Socialist Progressives. You lost get over it.
Who said that I voted for Clinton, or am at all politically Left?
Doi not have to.
Hm, okay. It’s dissapointing to see the Republican party filled with RINOs such as yourself, but identity politics is the hot new thing right now, so I guess it makes sense.
Neal Gorsuch. alone makes four years of Trump worth it
Any particular reason why? I asked for specific things Trump has done. “Making up for” implies you do not support the president.
BB – You misphrased what I said. Specifically, my comment was “Makes four years of Trump worth it”. In this past election a major issue to me was who is going to appoint the next SCOTUS Justice. I did not want that to be Hillary. Obama made two appointments, one was weak (Kagan) the other was unqualified (Sotomayor). Gorsuch is an excellent appointment, time will tell if he becomes an excellent Justice.
I like his economic policy of lowering corporate tax rates to spur economic growth, his deregulation agenda and targeting Dodd-Frank for restructure. I like that he ended Catch and Release. I do support proper border controls. I like that he is using the office as a Bully Pulpit and shaming corporate leaders to keep jobs in the USA. I like his action on attempting properly vet, and hold immigration until vetting is sound, for the 7 Middle East countries. I like his pick for the Supreme Court.
All in four weeks in office ….
I understand. If you believe he is incompetent, that’s an opinion and fair. I disagree, at this point. It’s been four weeks. I will hold judgement for a while.
The Russia situation, I am not worried about what was discussed as that would be classified. I am more worried about leaks. They are obviously from disgruntled bureaucrats that are trying to harm the administration. This is not patriotic.
The pause in immigration … The right move but implemented poorly. Both State and Homeland Security have stated that immigrants from the involved countries cannot be vetted properly. But what a mess upon implementation!
I am willing to wait and see with Trump, as I did with Obama.
Did you also feel that the Wikileaks documents concerning Clinton and the DNC were also unpatriotic? Personally, I feel both were fair ground, journalists and whistle-blowers are important in a democratic republic.
I think the Wikileaks documents were actually exposed documents that were subpoenaed but hidden by the Clinton campaign. It doesn’t make the actions right, but they weren’t classified materials.
The recent Trump leaks were purely classified. I think there is a difference.
President Trump is doing a very good job.