“Make America Great Again.” Please explain your meaning of “again.” I, specifically, would like to know if there’s a time period that you have in mind.
Is it when wealthy, white, European immigrants came and raped Native Americans and their land?
Is it when wealthy, white, European immigrants brought over indentured servants to do the hard labor with promises of freedom and prosperity that most would never see?
Is it when wealthy, white, European immigrants realized indentured servants were too expensive and risky to keep, yet shipping Africans to the US and having them do all the hard labor proved more economical? Slaves catapulted America’s wealth, so is it their blood, sweat, and tears the “again” you’re referring to?
Or is it when wealthy, white immigrants used children and women to work in factories with no regulation during the Industrial Revolution the “again” you’re referring to?
Maybe you’re talking about when wealthy, white Americans ostracized the Chinese ignoring the fact that we have a transcontinental railroad because of them, or once ostracizing the Italians, or the Irish, or the Jewish immigrants despite their contributions to every aspect of society from constructing buildings in NY to food to music to art, etc. And now society wishes to ostracize Latinos forgetting that any food one has in his or her fridge or any food that one orders at a restaurant was brought about, most likely, because of a migrant, South American worker. Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta mean nothing to you, obviously.
Does your “again” refer to the time when wealthy, white Americans segregated towns and cities, sending money to white schools and very little to no money for books and materials to black schools but then ridiculed an entire race for being “dumb?”
Or is the “again” about the time when white Americans lynched blacks and other minorities, some even hog-tied and dragged behind pick-up trucks? Are you like a KKK member who’s so rebellious you’d refuse to wear your hood? Is a KKK America the “again” you’re referring to?
See, Mr. Trump, America is only as good as its leaders and citizens. Our history has a lot of pain and hatred. It’s astonishing that you are proud to be a face to that, and that you’re proud to encourage the continuation of that pain and hatred. Maybe you do feel that bringing back the laws that allowed for so much hatred, racism, and murder of specific groups is what would make America great “again,” but I would hope to think, no, I want to believe that there are more of us Americans who want to honor our differences rather than chastise and divide. America is a country filled with people who aren’t afraid of hard work, who aren’t afraid to try new ground, and who aren’t afraid to work together regardless of religion, background, sexual orientation, or race. Perhaps you’re hard-pressed to believe this, but America is not a reality show.
I was once a school teacher, and once gave a test to my students that most failed. I took a step back and realized that their inability to pass the test wasn’t a reflection on whether or not they studied, but a reflection on my inability to have correctly taught the lesson. So, I had to go back and figure out another way to reteach the lesson because it was important to me for them to understand it more than it was to keep my students down. Your strategy is to keep most Americans down, and when you have a country filled with people who are kept down, it is a reflection of the leader, not the individuals. A leader’s role is to think about what’s best for everyone, not just for the few. You may think you’re a leader because your bank account has more zeroes than I could ever fathom, but you mistake money for intelligence and your supporters mistake celebrity for intelligence.
You’ve run quite a circus and made a mockery of our democratic process, but I have faith that, at some point, the lights will turn dark on your circus and you will find yourself back in the board room trying to figure out another way to be a headline. Perhaps the headline will be something like, “Donald Trump Reinvents Himself Again,” because, after all, the chance to become someone in the US, even over and over, is what makes America great all the time.
Sincerely,
Vejune J. Baltrusaitis
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