As many of us have seen on the news, a series of racist events have occurred with references to Donald Trump since he was elected president. Trump has no shame or problem owning up to his racist remarks, and he truly does believe that his hate is okay to spread around our extremely diverse country. Although the U.S. does and will always have a messy past and present of racism and discrimination to many races, after the election, there have been a number of incidents regarding Trump’s comments and opinions. The day after the election, students were filmed holding Trump sign and screaming “white power” in the halls of their high school. Since this action, students have stayed home from this school because they are frightened by what might be said about their race. Schools are supposed to be a place where students can feel they are in a safe environment, and can express every aspect of themselves, including their race and culture. But in this situation and many other schools, students feel ashamed of their race which is something they cannot help or change. At another school, extremely racist graffiti was found in the boys’ bathroom on the day after the election with phrases regarding Trump. “Whites only”, “Trump Train”, and “white America” were only some of the biased words found in the bathroom. Students have said that they are terrified in their own school because of the comments and threats made meant to put them down because they are not white.
Trump has also been involved with lawsuits in the past because of discrimination against blacks and Puerto Ricans when in the real estate business. He hiked up the prices to almost twice the amount that he would give to a white person, when a black or Puerto Rican family was interested in buying one of the apartments. By doing this and bragging about it on live television, Trump is setting the example that discrimination is a positive aspect of life. Many middle school and high school students have watched small clips of Trump being racist and humiliate certain races by doing impressions and getting the white majority to laugh. When they see this behavior being displayed by an adult and see other adults laugh at it, the students think that their families and schools will be okay with them supporting and creating this unacceptable behavior.
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Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think a popular theory is that racism has been more acceptable since Donald Trump was elected?
- What are some changes that need to be made with Donald Trump’s attitude when talking on live T.V.?
- Do you think there is a way that the impact of Donald Trump’s decisions can stop affecting the opinions of the U.S. youth?
Trump obviously has very little to no filter on his biases towards pretty much anyone that isn't white. Because of this, whenever he decides to make a racist comment on television or on social media, he furthers the idea that racism is normal. I personally see this all the time on social media in videos of white people yelling terrible and harsh things at people of color usually ending their statement with "this is Trump's America." Trump needs to take in consideration that when he became president, it was not just for his white supporters, however the entire country. Whenever he makes a comment like this he puts more people in the US in danger of facing harsh racism. He needs to think more about the effects of what he says before he speaks out on live television. Until he does this, people in this country will be more likely to and continue to view racism as a normality.
ReplyDeleteHi Maya! I’m doing my comment on your post because I strongly agree with the points you have made. It's been very clear that throughout Donald Trump's journey to becoming our President he's made plentiful racist remarks. It deeply scares me that our leader, commander-in-chief, is acting this way and making it very public to our youth. Trump’s most infamous assertions about religion, race, and identity were all made public! Public! These are only a few incidents where he's offended another individuals: A judge was unable of doing his job because of his ethnicity, that Muslims are a danger to America, that many Mexican immigrants are rapists and “bad people,” and finally “the blacks” (a phrasing that interpreters say serves to identify African-Americans as “other”). These messages, nevertheless, were not moderate, mellow or concealed by the media for the protection of young ears in the same exact way his so-called “locker room talk” about women had been. Kids watch the news and are aware of what's going on in the world. We can't keep our children from hearing the media and being aware of these comments. There’s little we can do if the president doesn't keep his act the way a president should. The title given to the president is the person who has the highest political position in a country. Is Donald Trump right for that? As a young adult myself I find that utterly disrespectful and outrageous. How can a president elect, or as we have to call now president, be so disrespectful and profane. These kinds of actions lead to kids absorbing these views, repeating them, and integrating them into the set of perspectives that combine to make up how they see themselves and others. According to a recent survey of teachers’ perceptions of their students, are using them as fodder for bullying. Others are scared and anxious because they fear about their children's future and what's to come of it. Nobody, not even those who study the advancement of racial attitudes in children, or the impact of racial trauma can say what the long-term effects of this huge dose of high profile antagonism will have on the youth. Maureen Costello, the director of Teaching Tolerance, said about high school sporting events where chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump” and “Build a wall” were used against especially Latino terms. I don't believe this has ever happened in the world before. Nowhere in history has a U.S. president brought back racism and discrimination to the 21st century. I don’t think there is any way we could make a change to this because if our president himself doesn't see the destruction this issue has on young children then he should he be serving our country?
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