Walls turned sideways are bridges

By Laurent Sicard – 1851 Staff

Comrades: genuine fascism is at our doorsteps under the Trump administration. It’s exactly the sort of dictatorship that writers like George Orwell were against. To succeed, this form of socioeconomic control is dependent on the prejudices and indifference of the poor and white middle class. Certainly the wealthy will always favor policies that make them richer, but it’s the white masses underneath them that are deceived by the promise of greatness and security. 

Fascist agendas require a scapegoat. Adolf Hitler had the Jews, Africans, and others; Donald Trump has Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants, and more. When Barack Obama became president, this nation favored color-blind advocacy. Race conversations disrupt the atmosphere of privilege that many blindly enjoy. Rather than feel uncomfortable, many claim they don’t see race, or differences. Indifference to race and religious differences actually perpetuates racism because you aren’t acknowledging an essential part of a person’s humanity. 

In addition to race, this nation is now persecuting those whose religion isn’t the “norm.” Trump and his fascists love that they can stigmatize entire groups of people with rhetoric such as “drug dealers,” “criminals,” “rapists,” “terrorists,” and many other epithets. 

One needs to look no further than the 13th amendment to see how we’ve been misled for fascist interests. Abraham Lincoln is praised for “ending slavery,” but he transformed it: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist…” 

And now, as over two million black males continue to be enslaved for private prisons, as Native Americans fought in North Dakota for their land, as women march, as immigrants are deported, and as tax money goes into a wall that will benefit private corporations, start being more empathetic. We’re being robbed of our constitutional rights; so take action in any way you can. As we move forward, remember the words of Angela Davis: “Walls turned sideways are bridges.”