If I was white and feeling as I do, I could easily see the attraction to Donald Trump. He isn’t civil, but he speaks to my resentments. Today, progress powered by civility is sputtering if not impotent. It certainly hasn’t eased my daily anxiety. My state representatives in Washington fight for the rights of immigrants while I feel unheard and am in despair. It’s like the rug has been pulled from beneath my feet. Suddenly my community is overwhelmed by foreigners that have no allegiance to long standing community norms. Basics like cleanliness, not playing music outdoors so loud that it permeates through the walls of neighbors’ homes, poor home and landscape maintenance, and not parking on lawns have gone out the window. It is self-centered behavior that disregards or is oblivious to others. Why must I endure this?
I’m not white and want to move. I need to be able to afford, at the least, a million dollar home to settle somewhere that is far removed from what I now suffer. That place is likely to be an established white community. Just because I am Black I am very likely to be perceived as a threat to that community’s way of living and my anxiety will change form, but persist. [https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/when-new-yorkers-lived-knee-deep-in-trash/] With effective acculturation happening within my community, I could remain happily in place.
As a nation of newcomers and natives, we must be plain about what our neighborly values are and insist upon their observance. Is there anyone listening?
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