Yesterday, in a post about Nick Hanauer, I insisted that no group should be stereotyped–including people who are obscenely rich. Broad-brush negative characterizations–stereotypes– are increasingly being applied to constituencies seen as “Other”–usually, folks with different skin colors or religions but also financial categories.
I don’t waste a lot of sympathy on billionaires, who can certainly take care of themselves. I do harbor deep concerns over the increasingly public and unrestrained bigotries based on race and ethnicity, where the stereotyping of whole populations is both morally dangerous and factually inaccurate.
Take the administration’s effort to paint Somalis with a broad brush. It isn’t just Trump’s wildly unfair accusations about the Somalis in Minneapolis; it was preceded by the ludicrous racist charges (amplified by J.D. Vance) that Somalis in Ohio were eating their neighbors’ dogs and cats.
A recent op-ed by a group of academics–co-authors of a book titled “Somalis in Maine: Crossing Cultural Currents.”–addressed these attacks on Somali immigrants. (Link unavailable). As they wrote,
The hostile political climate targeting Somali Americans has escalated beyond racist rhetoric into unprecedented federal crackdowns that have now spread to Maine.
As members of the Somali Narrative Project, we spent a decade in Somali communities, gathering stories for our book, “Somalis in Maine.” We met people whose lives revealed the depth, complexity and everyday courage that characterize Somali communities across the United States.
The Trump administration’s depiction of Somalis as “garbage,” coupled with an aggressive and violent crackdown on Somalis and the withdrawal of legal protections is not only deeply offensive, it is a deliberate distortion designed to inflame fear and justify racist exclusion.
The essay described the administration’s aggressive militarization and violent arrests, and “the detention of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike.”
Even as activists call for the federal presence to end, the Trump administration moved to revoke temporary protected status for more than 2,000 Somali migrants, deepening fear and uncertainty for families and communities.
While their scholarship began in Maine, the authors point out that Somali communities are similar across regional differences; they are families that “rebuild their lives with fierce determination.” Their young people (many of whom have been born in the United States) “study hard, attend college and start careers and families; communities contribute economically, culturally and civically to the places they call home.”
They also become citizens. In Maine, nearly 65% of Somalis were citizens by 2021.
One pernicious tactic used by this administration is the deliberate magnification of isolated criminal cases — such as the small group of individuals charged with fraud in Minnesota —into sweeping indictments of an entire population. In reality, the number of people charged represents only a tiny fraction of Minnesota’s Somali community — well under 1% .
As the essay notes, blaming an entire ethnic group for the actions of a small number is not analysis; it is bigotry. “When white Americans commit fraud, we call it fraud. When Somali Americans commit fraud, certain politicians call it culture.”
Somali immigrants came to this country to seek a better life, which until recently is what America offered to immigrants. As our book emphasizes, Somalis brought linguistic skills, Islamic traditions of scholarship and faith, oral poetry, extended kin networks and cultural resilience. These strengths helped families survive war and displacement, and then to build new lives in the United States, carving pathways into many professions, including meatpacking, entrepreneurship and academia.
The truth about Somali Americans stands in stark contrast with the Trump administration’s rhetoric — and the broader anti-immigrant platform advanced by Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller — that targets brown and Black people while welcoming white South Africans as refugees…
When the president of the United States labels a community “garbage,” and his vice president pounds the table in approval, they are announcing that they believe human beings are disposable. They are sending a clear signal that a population can be thrown away, diminished or eradicated without moral consequence.
Dehumanizing language cultivates the conditions under which human rights can be dismissed, families can be separated, people can be detained and be deported to countries where they have no ties and are vulnerable to violence. The state thus justifies actions that would once have been unthinkable and makes life perilous for everyone.
But the Somali Americans across New England, the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere are living evidence of a different truth. They are parents working multiple jobs to give their children access to opportunity. They are college students majoring in political science, engineering and nursing. They are small-business owners revitalizing commercial corridors. They are imams working for peace, interpreters expanding access to health care and civic leaders advocating for neighborhoods too often overlooked by policymakers.
These stories are not peripheral to American life. They are American life.
Amen.
The “right” still argues that the democrats remain the party of the KKK. Never mind the evidence which they ignore. The son-of-a-klansman in the Oval Office ( and his racist.xenophobic henchmen & women,) are trying to return us to the days of the Confederacy in more ways than just the subjugation of black people
Trump’s boots on the ground are being met by feet on the street. The midterms are 9 months away. Let’s keep this baby growing.
No one can do everything but every one can do something. Do one thing today to support the resistance.
JD Vance wrote a book about the Ohio region, so he has to spin it about his poor white people who dislike any brown people, especially successful ones. That really disturbs them. Same for Trump. However, the true white supremacist is Stephen Miller. He will lay down his life for the cause. He’s a true believer. His goal is to “Make America White Again.” Period.
Have any of these “leaders” or the “media” talked about the fact that the US has occupied Somalia and bombed their country for 30+ years! If Americans don’t want Somalians in this country, they might want to demand that the US Department of War get out of their country. 😉
It’s also typical of Republican “whataboutisms”. Their passion for investigating everybody but themselves shows that they will find the smallest transgression to pull out the broad brush on individuals as well as groups they don’t like. I see it as their typical tactic when they are not able to actually do government work … you know, like passing legislation.
Nope. Not Republicans. They and their broad brush continue to find ways to stay in power. MAGA is the perfect example. And yes, Marjorie, it is/was/will be nothing but a lie. It’s what Republicans do.
The root of almost all racial animus is the belief that if someone is doing better, it’s taking something away from me. This is tied to the mistaken belief that a boatload of immigrants (or any other group) is like a shipment of goods. They will flood the market taking away jobs (and depressing wages). They will take up housing inflating housing costs etc… This is tied to basic economic theory that people are like a load of bananas and the price will collapse and it will cost money to store them. Well in the short term, some of this is true, but studies of the cuban “invasion” of Miami shows the effect disappeared quickly, in less than a year, because people are not like bananas. They quickly become productive and move out of the lowest paying jobs. They buy goods and services and the people that were complaining now benefit from the extra business. They start their own businesses buying goods and services from the community. They often take substandard housing that was only marginally rentable. Once they have a foothold, they are more willing to purchase substandard properties and fix them up bringing them back into the market. In short they grow the local economy and everyone benefits. So if a person’s education in economics is limited to that simple supply and demand model, I can see why they can be manipulated into bigoted thinking.
I will say the converse really is true. If you do manage to marginalize a group, they really do suck on the economy and you ARE worse off because of these “others”. Jim Crow south proved this with nearly a century of bad policy putting most southern states far behind economically.
influencers who make money spreading hate..name the names. make it easy for the working class to digest it. were to confident that we get the message. one line sometimes spills the whole works. greatfuk i come here to get a coherent view,s. any side here is right. but the ease to absorbe the question.
get a between the lines view. I read about few subjects,but read alot about them. reading a newspaper probably taught me more. thanks all, everyday is a new WTF, and were just above it.. help someone understand more deeply about what it is in your view. I believe the views here say it all. we are not divided.we may only have one more vote..
Othering is what the old GOP did, but more quietly; it is what demigods do, but loudly.
It is what the Tulsa massacre did, for fear of “Uppity” black people who were doing too well. Does Miller hate himself so much that he has to strike out at everyone else? It’s how Reagan rode to success with his stupid, but effective, “Welfare Queen” BS.
Pol Pot decided that those “other” Cambodians were useless, or worse. And on and on.
BIGOTRY????? Apparently, reportedly, Trump posted an especially rancid item about the Obamas, picturing them as apes! I hope that is not real! Who are the bastards that aid him in his idiocy???????????
How sick!!!! these are the sorts of people Trump encourages:
“The video also bears a watermark suggesting it was created by X user “Xerias,” a pro-Trump account with more than 45,000 followers who on X early Friday claimed credit for having made the video last October.”
CORRECTION: The Ohio community slandered by JD Vance et al were Haitians, not Somalis. Mea culpa!
I was surprised to see that Fox broadcast the prayer breakfast live. If, indeed, that is true and they did not cut away, how can any viewer not have doubts about his cognitive decline?
Apparently, the plan to usurp the midterm elections is fully underway as dump has called state election officials to D.C. on Fed 25 to discuss the midterm elections. Will it be another demonstration like Hegseth’s to the top military? Or will it be filled with veiled threats of withholding funds, primary challenges, ruined reputations, you know, the usual mob boss tactics? There will be election officials like Indiana SecSt Morales who has probably already booked his flight. He has done his best to mess things up with the latest debacle in candidate registration. People in his office that he appointed to certify candidates may not have met the legal requirements necessary to perform that function. It would allow GOP candidates to challenge eligibility of Dems before the election but after the filing deadline. Incompetence is one thing, but this smacks of intent.
Defying the Constitutional duties and responsibilities for states to run elections will be just another step to authoritarian rule as the loss of our right to have a say in how we are governed.
In the meantime, the Epstein files continue to have ripple effects everywhere but in the WH.
RESIST.
Now that the Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status has been extended very publicly, I see that Orange Jesus (OJ) has refrained from sending in his boys. If Ohio weren’t pretty red, or if those Haitians had moved to Cleveland, it might be a different story.
It