I recently watched an episode of Finding Your Roots, with guests Nathan Lane and Leslie Odom, Jr. As they often do, the storylines and research encounter twists and turns and dead ends, along with emotional discoveries and a realization that we are all products of generations who have come before, often standing on the shoulders of giants, or something less dramatic than that.
The guests will often try to sum things up at the end, after the big scroll containing the family tree is rolled out and some blanks are filled in, knowledge is gained about relatives these people didn’t know they had—people who came from all over the world, from places and situations both expected and unexpected.
Nathan Lane summed things up by saying something like, “Isn’t this what America is all about? Isn’t this who and what we are—a nation of people who have come from somewhere else dreaming of a better life?”
And I got to thinking about Donald Trump, of all people, and how ugly and unappreciative he is, willingly clueless about America and what America means to the people he so offhandedly declares to be scum and who must be sent back to where they’ve come from.
And, as maddening as it was to be reminded of such a twit, I realized that to vote him into office for another four years would not only add insult to injury, but would also be irresponsibly myopic and even sinful. It would be a vote for ignoring a glaring reality: that America is in no small part what it is because of the very people who Trump so little values. These are people who have traversed oceans and mountains, who have left behind oppression and persecution in hopes of finding some peace, of having a chance to actually live in a place that appreciates them and, if necessary, helps them get on their feet so they can thrive and find their happiness.
These are the people who are motivated to excel and contribute, and who know and love America so much more than the native born, provincial idiots like Trump who choose not to see.
3 Cents' 