Connections: From the Shtetl to Trump and Intentional Divisiveness
Last Sunday's NY Times Travel
section featured a story about the writer's journey to eastern Europe to visit
the shtetl of her forbears. The article inspired to me to click on an embedded
website that contained records of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. As I already knew, the name "London" was not an Ellis Island anglicization, and I punched it in. There were hundreds of "Londons" listed as "murdered" in the camps, a majority of whom came from the general area of Poland/Russia where my grandparents lived. A chilling reminder of how lucky I am they came here when they did.
Is that a contributing reason
for my emotional patriotism? Maybe. Perhaps
my military service adds passion to my convictions, though I was never in
combat. But the fact is, I actually get a bit teary when I hear God Bless America, and am offended when
I go ballgames and see men fail to take off their hats during the National Anthem.
So, when Colin Kaepernick
first took a knee during the playing of The
Star Spangled Banner, I was troubled.
I am wholly sympathetic to the plight of people of color who bear the brunt
of racism in this country, but I wished Kaepernick would have found another way
to voice his disapproval. The National Anthem and the US flag are important
emotional symbols to me and I did not want have to deal with a personal
conflict between my strong views about racial equality and freedom of speech on
the one hand, and my sentimental attachment to national symbols that are
personally important icons. The conflict for me is not new: I was vigorously opposed to the Vietnam war and participated in anti-war rallies, but was upset when activists chose to express their anti-war
views by burning the flag.
I am not surprised that a
fair number of normally anti-Trump progressives, some outspoken, some not, are
troubled by current developments.
Bottom line, flag waving is
powerful stuff. I suggest Mr. Trump is underestimated by his critics. His attack on those who kneel at NFL games is neither buffoonery nor the
product of a disordered mind. Further, it is naive to believe his statements are simply a serving of raw meat to his base. Trump's divisive statements are a mean-spirited, calculated, and, I fear, effective political appeal to many outside the group that constitutes his core supporters.
-->