My view on how to handle concerns about increased racism and bigotry in USA under a President Trump administration

Last updated on 20th Nov. 2016

Given below is a slightly edited version of a comment I made elsewhere on Facebook in the context of concerns about increased bigotry and racism in the USA with the election of Mr. Donald Trump as president:

Saw this comment exchange and felt it appropriate to put in my two cents. The announcement of Stephen Bannon as Trump's chief strategist and senior advisor reporting directly to Trump (and not to Trump's announced chief of staff, Reince Preibus), saw a lot of reaction, which would have been noted by some. Here's my Facebook post on current USA Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid's, speech on the Senate floor about Trump's election reactions including his exhortation to Trump to rescind Bannon's (announced) White House senior staff appointment, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1819701838246385. I also included, to provide a balanced view, criticism of Harry Reid's words (of this type).

I am sorry to see the upsurge in racism and bigotry in the USA after Trump's election. I think the way to fight it is to keep criticizing such actions and not allow it to get normalized. Trump was directly questioned by 60 minutes CBS interviewer Lesley Stahl on such matters, and, to his credit, Trump did clearly ask people to 'stop it'. I think this was before the announced appointment of Stephen Bannon as senior White House staff.

But Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has defended Stephen Bannon and said that Bannon should not be viewed as anti-semitic due to articles published by others on Breitbart News, even if Bannon was Breitbart boss then.

Boteach writes to Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League, ADL (which was very critical of Bannon announced appointment to White House staff), "I don’t quite know what the alt-right is. I certainly despise white supremacists and racists. As a Jew they contradict the central teaching of the Bible: that every human being, from Jew to Arab to Christian to Muslim to atheist to LGBT to black and white and everything in between — is created in the image of God, equally and with infinite dignity. We are all brothers, we are all sisters.
To the extent that any person or any publication, contradicts these teachings, it deserves to be condemned by the ADL."

Boteach ends his letter to Mr. Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL as follows: "I thank you for reading this, Jonathan. I know that you and I both agree that we have to unite this great country of ours at home and do our utmost to combat increasing hatred and anti-Semitism around the world."

I am encouraged to see the work of ADL and SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) and some others like Religious Freedom center (Newseum) and Prof. Diana Eck of Harvard's religious pluralism project in highlighting incidents of racism and bigotry (including religious intolerance) in the USA. At the same time, one does have to acknowledge words of people like Rabbi Boteach as well. So, who knows, Trump and his future Presidential administration (including Bannon), may NOT get into actions of racism and bigotry (including religious intolerance). But if they do, then the voices which are critical of those actions, e.g. ADL, must be fully supported to oppose such racism and bigotry.

Just wanted to share my two cents view on it. Thanks.
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Additional comments of mine from the same Facebook conversation mentioned above:

It seems to me to be an extraordinary situation with Republican majority in both House and Senate and a Republican presidency (from Jan 20th 2017). That should put them in a position to push through Republican agenda in areas where there is broad agreement among the Republicans, over the next two years at least.

While Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have promised to fight plans of Republicans that hurt the American working classes and the poor, I wonder how effective such resistance can be.

Trump has made extraordinary campaign promises about becoming a great job creating president, which would benefit American workers. I think he said he would be the champion of the working class! Rebuilding of American infrastructure is a key campaign promise of his. I think Democrats including Harry Reid in his senate speech, have promised support for any big-ticket (like one trillion dollars) investment in rebuilding American infrastructure. I am keen to see what a Trump administration will do in this regard.

If Trump can deliver well paid jobs to the American working classes, he would be helping a lot of Americans, I think. But, as his campaign promises did not seem to have much details on how he would achieve those promises, it remains to be seen whether he can deliver, at least in some part, on his key campaign promises like creating lots of well paid jobs.

Halting or sharply reducing the outsourcing of American jobs and closure of American factories is another major campaign promise. I think it will be good if Trump can provide good incentives for American factories and jobs to stay put in America, and disincentives for American factories and jobs leaving America, which succeed in its objectives to some significant extent. But it remains to be seen whether he can deliver on that promise as international trade seems to be very complex. A tariff war erupting between USA and some of its trading partners may not be a good outcome for all countries involved.

However, the BIG FEAR is that Trump does not have the experience at managing top manufacturing and service industry corporations, and so may not really know much about top level economy stuff. I mean, if Trump had been CEO of General Electric or General Motors or Microsoft, it would have been different. Only time will tell how Trump will fare on the vital USA economy and manufacturing & services jobs front.
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In response to a comment that was skeptical, "Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. No savvy person believes what politicians say in any country. They tell people what they want to hear to get what they want. Cynical? You betcha!", I (Ravi) wrote:

I agree that what you say is a big fear and big concern. I mean, did Trump just promise the moon and somehow manage to impress upon his supporters that he can deliver? And in reality, will Trump be able to deliver? That is a big fear and concern among many, I agree.
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But I did get the impression that the Trump supporters, especially in the Rust Belt states, who seemed to be mainly from the white working classes, tended to believe that Trump would be able to do something significant to improve their job prospects/jobs and lives. I don't think they were cynical.
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The crowd at one of his last meetings in Michigan (Grand Rapids, I think) was huge and so charged up. It did not seem like a political event but more like a movement - like it was in Bernie Sanders' meetings in the Democratic primaries.
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In response to a comment, "The great Mose Allison "I don't worry about a thing cause i know nothings gonna be alright." https://youtu.be/HJJAd5wDpDY", I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited):

I would like to be a little more optimistic. Lets hope something good in terms of jobs in the USA, comes out of the turmoil of this election.
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Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in these elections.