Part of the problem is our ignorance. Almost everything Americans know about the Nazis is based on events in 1945, not 1933. We don’t understand where Hitler, the Nazis, and their concentration camps come from, so we can’t see parallels playing out right before our eyes.
Everything you need to know about our present political crisis is in that paragraph.
Trading their hoods for bright red hats, Trump voters are fighting to bring racism back into the daylight. They don’t realize how much power they have already lost, or the scale of the backlash they have triggered.
The Civil War isn’t over, and the good guys haven’t won yet.
Many of the unlikeliest foot soldiers against women’s rights are conservative women bitterly oppressed by this system. Most will happily battle their sisters to gain the tiniest additional scraps rather than join with them to overturn the table and benefit everyone.
We can retreat from the demands of this age, hiding beyond excuses about civility or institutions, or we can engage aggressively and build a new order.
In the defining conflict of our time, pluralism will win, or America will lose.
Tell the truth as a white person among white people, and American racism loses a little more of its sanctuary, its shelter, its food. Truth is power.
When exploring evangelicals’ support for Donald Trump, your “broad brush” matters a lot less than the colors you paint.
You will know a tree by its fruit.
