DIVERSIFICATION HAS COME TO OUR COUNTRY DESPITE RACISM

by Jim Barton

 

My Republican friends in Brownsville will not agree with me, but Trumpism is/was the last gasp in keeping America White and keeping America under White control. (Please notice I capitalize White just as I capitalize Black and Hispanic.)

Now, many Blacks and Hispanics are true Trumpers, but they were never part of the plan, just, as Dylan said years ago, they were merely "pawns in the game."

Trump himself has made that plain at campaign rallies when he's said unashamedly:  "Where's my Black?  Where's my Mexican?" as if talking about an appliance or a piece of furniture.

When Trump walked down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for President, he told you exactly who he was in race-baiting terms:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said, as he claimed the country was dispatching immigrants to the US. 

“They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us [sic]. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” 

Trump Signing the Infamous Muslim Ban

Yes, the MAGA base was stirred into action by racism and fear, that fear being that Mexicans, Asians, Muslims, Blacks and others were not only coming after your jobs, White America, but turning your culture upside down and filling your streets with crime.

William F. Buckley, Jr. and James Baldwin debate "Race in America" in 1965 at Cambridge Union

America was rapidly diversifying and Trump tapped into those fears, not as a "stable genius," but in the longstanding tradition of George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Orville Faubus, David Duke, and, yes, William F. Buckley, Jr., all racists, but some more silver-tongued than others.  

Actually, growing up in a 99% White environment SE of Seattle, it's the diversification of America that's always intrigued me, capturered my interest.

That's what fascinated me about Brownsville when I first came here in 1966; a unique, different culture, language, cuisine, customs and yes, a different physical appearance of its citizens.

It made me yearn to travel to other places, not just into the interior of Mexico and across Canada, but hopefully, at least Cuba and possibly Asia.

One day, finding myself a widow with a small amount of money, I invested that money into my travel dream and went to Asia, specifically the Philippines.

One shelf in my pantry

I've chronicled that explosion of experiences on this blog and, of course, how that trip changed my life, allowed for some reinvention and renewal. 

Most of that reinvention is personified in Ana, the exhilarating person I met in the Philippines and married in the United States. (We're now approaching our 4th wedding anniversary.)

I've followed Ana to now her fourth travel nurse contract, this time in Oskaloosa, Iowa, an overwhelmingly White town, populated by people with farming backgrounds and obviously work ethics to the max.

The farms surrounding each of the small Iowa towns we've traveled to are immaculate, not just the perfectly even rows of corn and other crops, but the barns, storage silos, sheds are well arranged, nothing out of place.

How often I've seen the old farmer, after a day in the field, riding a lawn mower at dusk to perfectly maintain the acre or two of lush lawn that surrounds the farm house!

Sprinkle in the Amish people Ana and I have encountered and you get the picture.

Yet, diversification has certainly come to Iowa, this rural farm state, described by Wikipedia as 90% White.

The parking lot of our hotel is filled with 4-door heavy duty pickups. 

Each morning dozens of workmen speaking Spanish jump into those vehicles to go the construction sites in our area.  As I've stated before, this country's buildings, roads and infrastructure are being built and rebuilt by Mexican Nationals.

Diversification is also obvious in the medical field.

At every medical facility or hospital Ana has worked at, she's encountered nurses and doctors from the Philippines, many from her own province, Bukidnon.

More so than ever before, the United States has become a melting pot.