Villens United by Chris Haskell

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Those of us who still read the newspaper were treated to a glimpse of a possible future this past weekend. The Boston Globe ran a mock front page of what our headlines would look like a year from now under a Trump Presidency. Mock articles spoke of a stock market crash, trade war, soldiers refusing to kill terrorist’s families, and of course, mass deportations.

The genius behind the headlines came when Globe staff writers decided to hold Trump to his campaign promises and wrote prophetic accounts of how the country would be affected if any of those policies were carried out. While The Globe successfully shined a light on the many nonsensical policies of Trump himself, it also subtlety exposed the pure ignorance of many of his supporters and the unjust hate many share towards “illegal immigrants.”

The Boston Globe took a stab at envisioning a future with Trump leading the nation – and some felt that the portrayal was terribly accurate.

Wherever you stand on Donald Trump, it is undeniable that his offensive words and policies have had a racially polarizing effect on our country. Trump’s main campaign promise and focus of building a “Great Wall” to keep out Mexican immigrants has itself been the main catalyst of much recent heated racial tensions. Simply put, a vote for Trump is a vote for the border wall.

Despite Trump’s plans for the wall being fundamentally flawed from finance to construction, labor costs, maintenance, etc. (fact – research it); his supporters seem to think it’s the most important issue in our current presidential election. It’s this fervor for a border wall that has led Trump supporters to overlook their candidate’s childish behavior, lack of qualifications, countless lies, and the fact that Trump himself employs many, many illegal immigrants. If he were to deport them, his own finances would take a hit. FACT.

By voting Trump, many are condoning the behavior of a man who has made disgusting comments about/towards women, is currently being sued for fraud, and turned a presidential debate into a penis measuring contest. It’s quite alarming to think that anyone is misguided enough to choose him to lead our nation.

With each passing day Trump and his supporters manage to expose more of the ugly underbelly of racism within White America. I recently came across a post on social media where an older white man was feeling “frustrated” because he walked into the Chelsea Market Basket and apparently heard one too many Spanish speaking people for his liking. This may have been why he decided to post “Did I just cross the (expletive) border?”

Yes, I too found the humor in the fact that he was uncomfortable with the number of Hispanics in a supermarket in Chelsea. Of course, I called him out for making such an ignorant and blatantly racist statement, but many of his buddies (also old and white) felt the need to defend his statement and insult me for being “sheltered” and “too PC.” This became a hot topic of conversation over the week between myself and many of my Hispanic friends. Needless to say, they were personally offended by the man’s comments and all agreed that his comments were clearly both ignorant and racist.

So what gives White Americans the right to decide and defend what is and is not racist towards other cultures? When often asked, many Trump supporters claim one of his most attractive qualities is that “he tells it like it is.” (No. He doesn’t. Not my opinion. Fact.) Trump has influenced many of his supporters to speak their minds as well, no matter how ignorant and hateful. This “telling it like it is” includes labeling Mexicans as criminals, drug dealers, and rapists; despite the actual percentage of Mexican immigrants committing these crimes being extremely low and Americans committing the same crimes are a much higher percentage.

In my lifetime I have worked alongside and gotten to know many Mexican and Central/South American immigrants. I can honestly tell you that how they are painted by Trump and his supporters couldn’t be further from the truth. Mexican immigrants in particular come here to escape the constant threat of cartel violence and for opportunities for their families and children. Like the Irish, Italians, and others before them, they come to America in search of freedom and a better quality of life; and like the Irish and the Italians some Mexican immigrants do bring crime, but a very small fraction of them do so.

Now, I myself have written in my column that I believe news media outlets should be unbiased when covering politics, but Donald Trump has gone beyond politics and currently embodies a major problem in our country. The fact that so many refuse to consider the many negative truths about the man, his campaign, and his policies and still follow blindly shows a serious disregard for factual information and pure common sense.

The democratic election process that our government is based upon has been turned into a mockery of itself. Corrupt politicians trying to rig elections and voters who can’t be bothered to properly research the issues have turned our presidential election into a trendy popularity contest where apparently there seems to be no such thing as bad publicity.

If you’re a Trump supporter you may be offended by what you have read here or in The Boston Globe. But if Trump supporters feel that they can “tell it like it is” and say any ignorant thing that pops into their head, then why should I apologize for presenting them with an intelligent argument chock full of those facts they keep hearing so much about? I’m sure if many of them were able to spend a week living with a Mexican immigrant family you would think differently about them and their place in this country. Then maybe you won’t be so upset that they are taking great American jobs such as picking strawberries under a hot sun for $4/hr. or washing dishes at your local restaurant?

Later ‘Villens. Stay classy … and PC. Hope I gave some of you some food for thought. Like Jesus said … “Love thy neighbor”….