Where do we go from Here?
Anyone who is up to speed on current events will know that recently Donald Trump called African and Haitian countries "shitholes". These comments made by the President should not be surprising to many because this same individual said that it would be appropriate to grab women by the pussy.
The backlash regarding these comments has not been surprising with most of Trump's closest aides and allies denying he ever made those comments, and the African National Congress calling the remarks "extremely offensive". Understanding this, as Black Americans should we really be surprised by his comments? Mind you, it was only a few months ago when he openly defended the White Supremacist thugs who rioted in Charlottesville by blaming both sides for the violence and calling the terrorists "very fine people". There is a pattern to all behavior and this situation proves no different. This current administration has only exposed what many within the intellectual community have been trying to tell us for years: That racism/White Supremacy is a major issue in the United States and abroad, and will continue to exist if ignored.
Trump's "shithole" remark is only representative of how many White Americans feel about blacks internationally as well as domestically. Since black people have ancestry to Africa, many racist individuals (white and non-white alike) view us as an inconvenience rather than contributing members of society. In fact, all of these racist White Supremacist individuals do not even see Black Americans as human beings, which goes back to slavery if studied thoroughly. If we learned anything from the Obama administration, it is that black people, regardless of the free labor that helped build the United States, are never treated fairly under the rule of law and are seen as "super-predators", which is reference to a comment that Hillary Clinton made about black men in the 1990's.
Is what Trump said ignorant, racist, and unbecoming of the leader of the free world? Of course. Rather than get angry and name call him and the majority of his racist base we, as Black Americans must realize that all the racial hatred towards us is not about what we have done, but about what we have the potential to do. Instead of getting mad we must get even and find ways to empower ourselves intellectually, economically, and spiritually. Lastly, we must align ourselves with like-minded individuals who are committed to ending racial injustice. Playing as a team and forgoing our self-serving agendas will prove beneficial for future generations, and ultimately, will help to exterminate the current diabolical administration occupying the White House.
If your curious about the origins of systematic racial injustice in the United States, and how it disproportionately affects Black Americans, buy Michelle Alexanders' book "The New Jim Crow" here