You know what I hate? People thinking I’m a certain way just because I’m black. My existence defies a zillion stereotypes out there that people have of black people. I have to fight against the stereotypes people want to believe about me, all the time.
Maybe you get that, too. Like, for example, I have a roommate who grew up on a farm and works for an oil company now. His family his full of Republicans, and he makes a six-figure salary. He rides horses, hardly ever uses his car, and is saving up to buy a farm. You’d think he’d be a practical country person who may not know a lot about history and the world, maybe, looking at that resume, but in reality he’s a lot more well-read than I am. If you’re used to stereotypes, you may not see that.
I’ve heard from white males, who are getting attacked almost constantly by us left-wingers, that they are not the monsters people often make them out to be. And although I’m black and often get labelled a social justice warrior, I know some awesome white males, and I cringe sometimes at the ways they are portrayed. They’re not bad people just because they are white men. We need to get rid of that black-white thinking and see them as actual people, not types. Not bigoted, racist monsters with horns, but real people with real experiences.
I think a lot of people see themselves being portrayed by social justice warriors these days in ways that they clearly don’t see themselves as being. They see Donald Trump as the Savior who will finally force people to see the beautiful people they are.
That’s not what’s happening, though. When Trump brings up stereotypes, he firms up stereotypes assigned to both liberals AND conservatives.
He traps me in stereotypes of blackness, he traps white males in the stereotypes of white masculinity, he traps hispanics into the stereotypes assigned to hispanics….he makes us all types. He steals away our individuality so that we can’t see each other. And when that happens, we become monsters to each other. Maybe we’d be nicer to each other if we actually saw each other for who we are — just people. But Trump hides that under a stereotype so no one can see me or you. We’re just types, and that makes us monsters.
That’s why there’s violence at his rallies. It’s not just conservatives, and it’s not just liberals. There was no violence at the rallies of the other 15 or so Republican candidates. No fists at Sanders or Clinton rallies, either. Why?
Because they weren’t trapping people in stereotypes that made people monsters to each other. I disagree with several of them, and I’m sure you do, too. But they were better than Trump at seeing that you and I are better than we may, at first, appear to be.
When Trump says, “Make America Great Again!” what he’s saying, to you, is that he’ll make you great again. He’ll restore to you the respect and dignity the left has tried to take from you.
But that’s not what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen is that he’ll keep talking in stereotypes. He’ll prompt people to see you as a stereotype. And you will be more hated, and you’ll hate us more.
It’s happening right now, and it will get worse.
Now, let’s talk about Hillary Clinton.
I don’t like Clinton all that much. I think she’s too centrist. I prefer Sanders, which is why I’ve participated in his campaign several times and praisehim almost every chance I get.
But I have to say this about Clinton: She sees people as individuals. It’s not simple black-and-white with her. If you talk to Trump, you might feel like you fit into a stereotype of a larger group of angry people. But if you talk to Clinton — hate her all you like, but I get the sense that she would see beyond the surface of you and recognize you as an individual. She’ll see YOU — not just whether you’re white or black or a man or a woman. She’ll see who you actually are.
Yeah, I know she’s a Democrat, and I can understand how that might make conservatives uncomfortable. But she’ll listen to me and you as individuals, not to our stereotypes. And that will make us all better. It will help all of us be seen instead of encasing us in the battle helmets Trump is forcing us to hide behind.
There’s a bit more freedom in that, and I think, personally, that America is best when it promotes freedom.
The freedom to be seen as who you are, instead of as a type. To be seen by the other side as a person and not a monster.
It’s how we can make you, and I, and every individual in this country, great — perhaps for the first time.