An Open Letter to “White America” Regarding Who You Freely Choose to Be
Yesterday a white friend & I were discussing the possible consequences of a Trump win. My father was white and my mother Hispanic, and I’ve been a Muslim convert for 25+ years now, so I’m familiar with many sides of our American story. My younger brother “passes.” I do not, so the world has seen & treated us differently, given us different experiences & outlooks. Anyway, what follows is a slightly expanded version of what the discussion with my friend boiled down to—at least in my mind. Even though the writing is 100% mine, I’m going to put the part about choices in blockquotes to differentiate it.
Let’s be honest, there’s no “white genocide” happening—that’s patently absurd. Western civilization isn’t on the brink of collapse due to being overrun with dangerous immigrants intent on taking over, there is no “War on Christmas,” nor are American Christians being persecuted or denied religious freedom simply because they’re being told the must follow non-discrimination laws—the same ones Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists and everyone else must follow, regardless how how they personally feel about people’s choices. I could go on and on about the numerous other absurdities, but I won’t.
The truth is that despite having a two-term black president, and despite minorities having steadily gained economic & political clout, white people are still the majority in the U.S. and control most of the levers of power. This means the upcoming election is largely going to be a decision by white Americans about who they want to be going forward, what face they want to show the rest of the world:
One face says “we’re superior,”1 so screw you if you think we’re going to share—we’d rather burn it all down. We’ve got ours and the rest of you miserable losers should stop your whining and accept your lower status as natural for your race, religion, gender, sexual preference, etc. And you—all you billions of other brown and black and yellow people on the planet—if you screw with us we’ll come over there, stomp on you, and take whatever we want from you. Got it?
Or…
The other face says “we realize this isn’t a zero sum game,” that white men & women couldn’t have built this country and made it successful without the assistance (voluntary or otherwise) of people of other races, creeds, etc. We think everyone should participate and get his/her slice of the pie because that’s what America is all about and there’s more than enough to go around.
Those of us who are strong and financially secure will give a helping hand (not a kick in the face) to those who are less fortunate, and we will protect the weaker among us from the predators who would harm them. We’ll work hard and treat everyone with fairness and dignity, expecting no more or less than the same in return. We will do this because being noble, kind and just is the right thing to do, the best way to show strength & earn respect. We will do this because we love America and Americans—all of them—and we want the next chapter we write in this story of our republic to truly represent the UNITED States of America. We want to be an inspiration to others.
E plurbis unum.
The latter is who I was brought up to believe the collective “we” are, as Americans—or at least who we should strive to be, regardless of our differences.
It’s really that simple, IMO.
Think of this world as modeled at your whim,
Perfectly trimmed for you from east to west;
Yet know yourself a snowdrift in the sand
Heaped for two days or three, then thawed and gone.
—Omar Khayyam