Tonight is the first Republican Presidential debate. While I will not be tuning in, I find two of the personalities debating to be very interesting. (1) The first candidate is Donald Trump. Trump has been gaining a great deal of attention because he has been leading in the polls. Let's be honest, The Donald would be getting attention no matter what. If you saw a guy with that hair in the grocery store it would get your attention, as would anyone who yells most everything he says and spouts off racist and objectionable phrases. Trump just gets attention, sort of like a screaming toddler at the mall or a car on fire next to the highway.
However, Trump has been getting a bunch of attention not just for his unique look or his paint stripper like personality, but because of what he has been saying. While announcing his candidacy he stated, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." (2) The Donald lost some business from that statement, notably Univision and NBC's contract to air the Miss USA pageant. (3) Trump hasn't just been out spoken about Hispanics, but also has stated that John McCain was not a war hero (4). There has been plenty of other criticism of Trump, but I'd like to contrast him with another candidate on the stage tonight, Jeb Bush, on the issue of Hispanics and race in America.
Jeb Bush (Jebcito as he's known) is fluent in Spanish. NPR notes that he, "grew up in Midland, Texas, he summered in Maine and went to prep school in Andover, Mass. And it was in high school that his path home really began. He met his wife, Columba, on a high school exchange trip to Mexico. In college, he majored in Latin American Studies. He converted to Catholicism, and he worked briefly in Venezuala. But the place he chose to put down roots was Miami." (5) By the mid-1980's Bush was viewed as "one of the most prominent members of the Hispanic community." (5) If Trump is firing his verbal weapons at Hispanics, Bush, by contrast has moved into the neighborhood drawing fire.
While Jeb Bush's appropriation of Hispanic culture raises eyebrows a bit in the wake of Rachel Dolezal (see my post on her here), he does offer a stark contrast to Trump. With the racial unrest America has been experiencing in the recent weeks, months, years, and decades, (or past 200+ years for that matter), do we really need a casino building blow-hard campaigning on racist ideals, or someone who can learn a culture and learn from those different than themselves? I am aware that at least one Christian magazine has promoted Trump as God's trumpet to the American people (6), but it is Jeb Bush that gives us a look into how one might live in a world with multiple cultures, and because of that, could offer a glimpse into what a plan forward might look like in a multi-cultural America.
There are signs all around us highlighting our inability to get along across racial lines - Charleston, Baltimore, Ferguson, etc. Those images are in contrast to the Bible which shows us a vision of Heaven where every tribe and every nation is gathered around the throne of God. I'm pretty sure that we don't get to that reality by scapegoating anyone. I am sure that the diversity God seeks doesn't happen through shouting that those people over there - those people different than me - are rdrug-dealing, criminals and rapists (7). What I do know is that if we want to make progress toward that heavenly vision, we better learn how to learn from those around us...no matter how different we think they are.
(1) I am in no way endorsing any candidate or political party. Period.
(2) http://www.npr.org/2015/06/29/418641198/nbc-dumps-donald-trump-over-comments-on-mexican-immigrants
(3) http://www.npr.org/2015/06/25/417516490/univision-cancels-miss-usa-over-donald-trumps-mexico-comments
(4) http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/19/424382469/trump-doubles-down-on-mccain-criticism-refusing-to-apologize
(5) http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/15/413927208/he-was-born-republican-royalty-but-jebcito-is-from-miami
(6) http://www.charismamag.com/blogs/prophetic-insight/23916-prophecy-donald-trump-shall-become-the-trumpet#comment-2163756669
(7) The historical precedent for this type of scapegoating shows that it doesn't end well by-the-way. Hitler anyone?
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