America is not the only nation poisoned by racial bigotry; the sad fact is, we are not even the worst.
Violent clashes between castes claims the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of Indians every year.
Gypsies are harassed throughout eastern Europe, usually with the connivance of the government.
The Chinese routinely kill, jail and torture Tibetans and Uighur Moslems, and so on and so on.
But this doesn’t excuse the recent events in Charlottesville. America is not some Third World country mired in superstition, or a genocidal dictatorship.
We are a democracy, with an educated, literate population, And the most prosperous country on Earth to boot.
We pride ourselves on how enlightened and morally superior we are, and how the rest of humanity looks to us for inspiration: “a bright shining city on a hill,” in the words of Ronald Reagan.
Now Charlottesville and the president’s response to the events there have poisoned that vision; in the eyes of the rest of the world we are morphing into something between a hypocritical Evil Empire and a gigantic mosh pit.
Several Western European nations post warnings to their U.S.-bound citizens, telling them to watch out for violence, hostility and anti-foreigner prejudice.
Our republic, whose most precious symbol is the Statue of Liberty, looks uglier and uglier with every hateful word and deed coming from the Trump White House, and the domestic terrorism Trumpism breeds – the attacks on mosques and synagogues, and the hatred toward blacks, Hispanics and other minority ethnic groups.
It’s all so ridiculous. The only really “white people” I’ve ever seen were circus clowns in grease paint, but if there is such a chimerical thing as a “white race,” I guess I’m part of it.
As an American “pale male,” I’m part of the most privileged, well-to-do clique on Earth. Who is threatening and oppressing me? Who is menacing and attacking those racist marchers in Charlottesville? Jews? African-Americans? Immigrants? Who is “you” as in the chant, “You will not replace us?”
The answer is easy. No one. It would be downright hilarious if it weren’t so incredibly awful.
Rob Schultheis has covered Afghanistan and the Middle East for Time, CBS, NPR and The New York Times. He also writes about climbing, the arts and environment from his home in Telluride. Reach him at robschultheis1@gmail.com.
