Self Evident Wisdom - Equality For All

My friends and relatives.. I have thought long and hard about whether I should say anything about this recent presidential election.  I have always kept my political views private, but after careful consideration, I have decided this moment in our collective history is too important for me to remain silent, and so I offer my thoughts....

Let me begin by stating that I am a political centrist.  I am not a 'D' or an 'R'.  In fact, I have values and views reflected in both, and have always welcomed healthy political discourse.  So this commentary is not a partisan rant, it is simply one man's conclusion....

Although he privately opposed slavery and was the only prominent founding father to arrange in his will for the freeing of all his slaves following his death, President George Washington remained a slave owner his entire life, having received his first 10 slaves as a gift at age 11.  President Abraham Lincoln was responsible for the largest mass execution in U.S. history (38 Dakota Sioux Indian men were all ordered by Lincoln to be hanged on December 26th, 1862).  Two beloved American Presidents, both stained with the blood of the racial prejudice of their time.  Since the words 'all men are created equal' were penned in 1776, wars have been waged, and thousands have suffered and died as this country inched its way forward in its painful struggle to collectively comprehend what was supposed to be a 'self evident' truth.  There is wisdom in those old handwritten words, wisdom that far exceeded the scope of the era in which they were penned. Wisdom that pointed the way to what was morally, ethically and legally right, despite the mindset of the majority at the time they were written.  And despite the fact that there are still people in America today who have yet to learn that all are created equal, the majority now understand that when it comes to equality, there can be no compromise....

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My friends, if we put our politics aside and are honest with ourselves for a moment, I think we can all agree that some of the words and deeds of Mr. Trump during his campaign were perceived with giddy enthusiasm by some who espouse bigotry, racism and prejudice.  That enthusiasm emboldened these unsavory sorts to come out of the dark recesses of society and publicly align themselves with this candidate.  It gave them a green light to openly attack those they hate, and I have been shocked, hurt and saddened by what I saw, both at campaign events and online.  And now, post election, I hear well meaning folks saying we should all sing 'Kumbaya' and come together in unity.  I hear some people saying we owe Mr. Trump an open mind.  Well, I have to respectfully disagree on both counts.   I want to make this abundantly clear; no one should ever unify, unite or align themselves with bigotry in any form.  Nor do Americans owe Mr. Trump anything.  On the contrary, he owes America an apology for having inflicted damage on the hardly fought progress that has been made to live up to the wisdom in that credo that says all of us are created equal.  As for me, I have friends who are Black, Brown, Mexican, Immigrants, Muslim, LGBTQ, Female, etc..  I love these people.  So I must kindly ask anyone who is a closet bigot or is prejudiced against any of these groups of human beings.. please refrain from sharing/saying/posting things that are obviously bigoted.  I don't want to see or hear it anymore, as I do not share your prejudice nor do we see the world through the same lens.  And if you are one who thinks most Black people are thugs, most Mexicans are crooks and most Muslims are terrorists.. and you cannot or will not refrain from sharing or speaking these kinds of sentiments, I'm afraid our friendship will suffer greatly, as I am one who strongly espouses that credo that ALL are created equal.  The same goes for anyone who hated President Obama because he was Black or because you thought he was a 'secret Muslim'.  So no, I'm sorry, but I will not be singing 'Kumbaya' or agreeing to align myself in any way to the presidency of a man whose path to the White House was made possible in part by the inciting of bigotry, fear and hate, and whose actions since being inaugurated already pose dangerous threats to Mother Earth and Native people.  I will continue to hope and pray, and to contribute my efforts for a better, kinder, more inclusive world as I always have, but I just cannot and will not espouse or get behind most of what this deeply troubled man and his increasingly questionable administration stand for, so don't ask me to.  For again, when it comes down to these words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...", there can be no compromise.  And anyone who compromises on that indisputable wisdom remains in need of a change of heart....

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