A Letter to My White Friends

There are so many voices, so many writers and activists with better ways to articulate and more relevant life experience to speak of the racial divide we can no longer turn a blind eye to in our country. There is so much I have yet to learn. This fact has kept me feeling that I should stay quiet. Yet it is my Black friends and the Black voices that I listen to that have encouraged me to use my voice and speak to my white friends. 

Much of what I have to say is in response to what I have heard from white friends, all of them loving and well-meaning people, but some words and sentiments have reverberated a dissonance in me so deep and troubling that I know it is time for me to use my voice, humble though it may be.

I am a privileged white woman. It is not a privilege that I have earned or fostered, but it is one that I have benefited from all of my life. 

I am a white woman. My whiteness is not a choice that I made, it is simply the skin color that my female soul was poured into.

I am just one white woman, humbled and disgusted by the advantages my whiteness have afforded me at the expense of Black, Indigenous, and people of color. It no longer matters to me that I unwittingly participated in these advantages. What matters to me is that in doing so, I have been part of the problem. 

 I am simply and will always be one white woman trying to find the ways that I can grow and change and be an ally for racial justice. Like many of you I am grieving for the Black community, believing that the system of privilege that I have silently enjoyed has caused their suffering.

I can no longer in good conscience, tell myelf that I am an exception because I am nice, or good, or because I don’t see color, or because I love Black people. Maintaining the idea that I am above being a participant in white supremacy is a way that I can avoid the discomfort of much-needed inner work. 

While I am so far from having the answers to the prevalent issues of racism and police brutality in my country, I am working to find my voice because I believe that remaining silent is how I remain complicit in systems of oppression. 

For these reasons, I humbly offer the following:

1. About My Black Lives Matter T-Shirt

By now, I imagine that most white people have heard it said… and yet a defensive response to the words “Black Lives Matter” continues. The term “All Lives Matter” or any deflection away from the pain of black people is incredibly offensive for good reason. The fact that all lives matter is an obvious point. Every human being with their soul still intact would say the same. The problem is that to many people, black lives do not matter. This is why we are seeing something as disgusting as the “George Floyd Challenge” on social media where people pose with their knee on another person’s neck. Blatant racism is alive and well in our day and time in history and must no longer be ignored or relegated in our minds to a remote and unreachable few. We must be sensitive enough to echo “Black Lives Matter” and not try to co-opt the conversation for other purposes or issues, no matter how worthy we believe other issues to be.

Just as Jesus spoke of the good shepherd who left the 99 to care for one sheep who was in need, we must give our energy where it is most needed. This beloved and ancient story of goodness does not say that in choosing to rescue one sheep, the shepherd does not care about the other 99. Instead, by caring for the one sheep who is lost, the shepherd demonstrates his love for all of the sheep because none of the sheep are truly safe and free and loved if one is in danger.

Our words matter a great deal. Aligning ourselves with a politically nuanced narrative that has hurt those who are openly grieving is a sin we must no longer commit if our nation is to ever begin to heal from the offenses it has brought.

2. Sign Me Up for the Protest 

I believe that the natural result of a corrupt government is chaos. Full stop. 

The fact that protests have become so violent in recent weeks is directly linked to the violence and injustice perpetrated over and over again by those who are sworn to protect us. To quote Dr. King: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” We have seen… and specifically, Black people have seen… that we cannot trust our justice system to hold racist police officers accountable for their actions. In the case of Ahmaud Arbery’s death, we have learned that his murderers were being protected by government officials. If we could trust the systems that we are expected to respect and the laws that we are required to adhere to, protests like we are seeing today would be unnecessary. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c)

My father was a police officer, retiring after thirty-two years of honorable service with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. I have always been and continue to be deeply proud of him and all he accomplished as a peace officer and investigator. I grew up believing that police are safe and trustworthy, and just like my dad, that they are there to protect us. Sadly, this is far too often not the case, especially in the black community. I am as tired of hearing that ‘most police officers are good’ as I am of hearing that ‘all lives matter’. Of course the majority of those who would risk their lives for public safety are good. Those good police officers are as grieved as my father is when they watch the videos of brutality we have all seen and they are sickened because they also know that there are so many more. As Will Smith so aptly put it: “Racism isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed.” The police force is not a work force where it is okay to have a ‘few bad apples’. We are witnessing the collapse of our collective trust in the justice system due to the behavior of too many who should never have been armed or allowed to wear a badge. 

When hearing criticism of policing, I would ask my white friends to assume the speaker knows that good cops are not the problem. What we are calling out is the system of policing that allows bad cops to continue in their destructive behavior. It is clear to me that violence against and recent killings of police officers are directly linked to the fact that the public is seeing no accountability for the police brutality that we have all watched on video. Cops who abuse their power put all of us at risk, including their fellow police officers. (To read about the role of police unions in protecting abusive cops: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/how-police-unions-keep-abusive-cops-on-the-street/383258/).

The murders of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd were committed during a global pandemic when the poor and marginalized among us are already pushed to their breaking point. This pandemic has been hard for everyone, it is true. But some have not been able to put food on tables, some have had their health care stripped away when jobs were lost and family members were sick, some have pre-existing conditions due to a lack of sufficient health care that make them more susceptible to a deadly virus. Covid-19 is killing Black people at twice the rate of white people. (https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-06-05/coronavirus-kills-black-people-at-twice-the-rate-as-white-people-heres-what-we-can-do-about-it) These inequities are the backdrop for the boiling over of tensions at protests. 

It is terrible that businesses have been looted during protests, by opportunists from both sides of the race and political divide. We will likely never know which side to blame for each of these acts of lawlessness.(https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/06/02/riots-white-supremacy-and-accelerationism/) Still, I would ask my white friends to consider framing their concerns as such: “It is terrible that businesses have been looted, but police brutality against Black people must stop,” rather than flipping these two concerns. Let us agree in our shared humanity that our hearts must break more over the loss of lives than the loss of property.

Clearly, protests that have not been peaceful have added fuel to the inferno. Many have called them “counter-productive”… but what do we expect when people remain unheard for so long? While violence in any form is terrible, I would ask us all to consider the pain borne repeatedly by the black community over mass incarceration and police brutality and every form of injustice for centuries rather than chastising them for how they respond to that pain. As a privileged white woman, I feel that I have no right to tell a grieving people how to grieve, or to tell an angry people how to be angry. 

Many have quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., in these last weeks. His words ring as true today as they did fifty years ago. However, some choose to emphasize his teachings of nonviolence, believing that his nonviolent voice changed the world. Have we forgotten that after Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated the country erupted into violent protests? It was those protests that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1968. (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/martin-luther-king-jrs-assassination-sparked-uprisings-cities-across-america-180968665/)

I cannot help but wonder if Dr. King would agree that he ‘changed the world’ if he were alive and could see the evidence of egregious racial injustice we are witnessing today. Dr. King’s dream is so far from being realized. America is not the land of the free for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Instead, I believe he might repeat these words: “We know through painful experiences that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

In the last two weeks of protests, the demands of the oppressed are finally being heard. Some of this is because white voices are joining with Black voices around the world saying that enough is enough. It is time to stand with the oppressed and demand an end to the acceptance of police brutality as a necessary evil in society. 

3. My Voice and My Vote

Lastly, I would ask my pro-life voting friends to question how the lives of the unborn could possibly weigh more heavily than the lives of our Black brothers and sisters in determining which box you will tick in the upcoming election. I have heard it said that abortion is the issue on which God will judge us. Does the God that you worship really value the lives of the unborn over those of the living and oppressed? How is it possible that this can be considered a “pro-life” ethic? Who decided that the issue of abortion is closer to God’s heart than the systemic and ongoing issue of racism? I am no theologian, but a God who would hold me accountable for the lives of the unborn and require me to stand by and watch the lives of black Americans snuffed out without accountability and recourse is not a God that I could ever serve. A vote for more of the same in November, a vote that keeps the current administration in office for the sake of protecting the lives of the unborn, is a vote that requires turning a blind eye to the corruption and moral depravity in the highest offices of our land that has led to the utter demise we are watching in our streets today.

There was a time when my religion gave me answers for all of the disparity and calamity I saw in the world. There was a reason that told me wars were necessary and good, that people who were different from me needed to quietly stay in their stations in life, that famine and natural disasters and HIV were the results of sin, that God was judging us because we were not holding to the social codes of an ancient culture as recorded in an ancient and sacred text. Living in a paradigm where there was an answer for everything brought a blind comfort to me, as long as I looked the other way and ignored the cognitive dissonance inside of me. I was taught that my vote to maintain what was believed to be the biblical standards of family values was paramount, because the ways of God, of religion, of holiness, were slipping away out of our hands, like sand through a sieve and we must hold on. I hear the echo of these very tenets when Christians say we must bring America back to its original ideals, that we must ignore every abhorrent word that comes out of the mouth of our president because he has given us supreme court justices that could someday overturn Roe V. Wade. 

I no longer believe that there was a pristine time in our history when “liberty and justice for all” was a lived reality rather than words repeated as we pledge our flag. We have yet to see a time when freedom was a right that belonged to all people in America, or when peace for the oppressed was won without a fight. We need only to ask our Black brothers and sisters to know this is true.  I do not believe that there is a time we must get back to, because the arc of justice is moving us forward through history, and that arc is the evidence of a God-consciousness in all of us that cares for humanity.

Please remember that for much of human history, the Bible was used to defend the evils of slavery, yet most of us now see slavery as deplorable and opposed to the ways of a loving God. Progress is uncomfortable for those of us who have benefited from white supremacy. It is difficult to face the ways that we have been complicit in perpetuating injustice but it is holy work and it is work that we must do. 

Black people will never be able to dismantle white supremacy. It is the inherent task of those of us whose privilege sustains it. Four hundred years of racism and oppression have proven that in denying the humanity of others, white people have been willing to lose our very soul. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/25/why-now-is-moment-atone-years-racism/) 

I am just one privileged white woman… and as I open my eyes and humble myself enough to learn and grow and change, I will become increasingly uncomfortable. I will speak out. I will march and chant. I will stumble and make mistakes. I may lose some facebook friends or be met with anger and awkwardness because I am choosing to use my humble voice in a confident way. No matter what comes from stepping up and speaking the truth, I believe that my discomfort is a small price to pay.  

______________

There are hundreds of worthwhile resources on the internet to educate privileged white people like me. Here are a few of the resources that I have found helpful:

13^th - excellent documentary about the impact of the 13^th Amendment by Ava DuVernay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8

^{Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad, a 28-day challenge}

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=me+and+white+supremacy+book&crid=95UBFP8O6YK4&sprefix=me%2Caps%2C239&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_2

^{Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson} 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=just+mercy+bryan+stevenson&crid=3331X0TQPGGB1&sprefix=just+mercy%2Caps%2C231&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_10

^{I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown}

http://austinchanning.com/the-book

     How To Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi

https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Antiracist-Ibram-Kendi/dp/0525509283/ref=sr_1_2?crid=32U3ZFM75XADC&dchild=1&keywords=how+to+bean+antiracist+by+ibram+x.+kendi&qid=1591768356&sprefix=how+to+be+an+%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-2

What it means when you hear people say “Defund the Police”: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/07/defund-police-heres-what-that-really-means/

     The inherent dangers of militarizing the police:

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/115/37/9181.full.pdf 

Podcast episodes and videos:

https://www.facebook.com/jenhatmaker/videos/917605212052111/

https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-austin-channing-brown-on-im-still-here-black-dignity-in-a-world-made-for-whiteness/

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGViaWJsZWZvcm5vcm1hbHBlb3BsZS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS9mZWVkLnhtbA/episode/dGhlYmlibGVmb3Jub3JtYWxwZW9wbGUucG9kYmVhbi5jb20vNDQ5MzQ1OTUtM2YxNC01OGYwLWIyNTktY2UyNjIzNmIyNjVl?hl=en&ep=6

Why I am Voting for Hillary Clinton and I am Not Even Remotely Conflicted About It

Coming Out of My Political Closet

After months of deliberation, I have decided to do something I have never done before.  One of the wonderful aspects of getting older is the realization that life is short and some issues are too important for me to stand by and keep my mouth shut for the sake of peace.  For me, this election is that important and the kind of peace I am after comes from honesty and a love for my friends, even those who will not agree with my opinion.

If you know me well, you know that I am no political pundit.  I have shied away from political conversations for most of my life out of sheer discomfort with the tension they create.  My desire to speak up now is due to the fact that so many that I love and call my friends are struggling in this unnerving election to ‘vote their conscience’.

Whether my reasons for voting for Hillary would persuade anyone or not, I hope to bridge the widening gap at least within my little circle of friends, to humbly give a perspective that they might not otherwise hear.  Like many of you, I have a history in the Evangelical Christian church. I am someone who loves Jesus, and yet my conscience will not allow me to vote for the candidate that Evangelical Christian political leaders have endorsed.  My faith has completely informed the box I will tick in this election, and I would like to explain why.

Blame it On the Media

The truth is that we live in an age when our news comes to us from the familiar sources that we have identified with in the past.  We have ‘liked’ this or that on Facebook and we therefore continue to read more and more of the same.  We choose to watch Fox News and Drudge Report, or the New York Times and Huffington Post and so we really only hear the news from the vantage point of those news services.  I believe that this election has been greatly affected by the pervasive nature of social media in our culture.  I also believe that only by listening to people that think differently from us will we ever be able to move past the fear that unfortunately permeates the political atmosphere in our country.

I am certainly not alone in noticing that the verbiage used in this election has been extremely divisive and polarizing.  I suppose that in some ways this is not so different from past presidential elections but somehow… it is different.  We have been told to hate, told to fear, told to mistrust not only the Democratic candidate but those that would vote for her.  The position of the Republican nominee is one that divides into us versus them. It gives us a sense of fear and hatred of those who are different from us, even if they live next door and pay their taxes and love their children just like we do... in the very best way that they can.  

Sadly, I wonder how long it will take our country to recover from this ugly divisiveness.  The effects of what our children have overheard from the news and their frightened parents are seen in our schools and neighborhoods in heart-breaking ways.  Truly, this must be the very opposite of what Christ called us to:  loving our neighbor as ourselves (Mk. 12:31), and welcoming strangers (Mt. 25:35).

Things that never would have been said in past elections are overlooked and seen as the new normal.  Months back I told Greg, “I blame reality TV.”  He laughed, and I agree that it sounds absurd, but there does seem to have been a dumbing down of our collective conscience because those earning their living in the television industry are acutely aware that programming that is crass and bombastic and insulting gets the most viewers.  As a result, my humble observation is that Donald Trump garnered an unbalanced amount of media attention previous to his nomination and the American people gobbled it up like popcorn and an episode of the Kardashians.  This attention, whether deserved or not, has won the Republican party a presidential nominee that lifelong and respected Republicans could never have imagined or align themselves with.  The list of Republicans opposing Trump is so long and impressive that it has earned an equally long and impressive Wikipedia page.

Wearing the T-Shirt

I understand that there are many who would never consider voting for Hillary Clinton due to a clash of values and ideals that are non-negotiable for them.  In all honesty there are issues in which I also disagree with Secretary Clinton’s stance.  However, in light of the choice that we have been given in Donald Trump, I proudly wear my “Love Trumps Hate” t-shirt.  

Voting for a third party candidate is an option that many will choose, and I completely agree that this election clearly demonstrates that our two party system is a broken and disappointing one.  However, voting third party on November 8th will not protect us from the dangerous future that would be ours with a Trump presidency.

While I cannot pretend that I could respond to all of the accusations and mistrust surrounding Secretary Clinton over this election year, I would like to address some of the reasons that all of it pales in comparison to the idea of Donald Trump as POTUS for me.

The “Supremes”

Yes, I understand that the next president will likely have the opportunity to appoint new Supreme Court justices.  It seems that this is the place where most conservative voters get stuck even if they can barely stomach listening to a Trump speech or reading his vitriolic wee-hour tweets.  I realize that abortion is the issue that Christian voters have the strongest convictions about; the hill that we must be willing to die on, if you will.  

However, I would first question whether it is reasonable to believe that Mr. Trump would actually appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court as he has changed his mind on the issue so many times.  It seems clear to me that Donald’s convictions on this issue do not run nearly as deeply as Christian voters would like to believe.  Instead, it would require a substantial leap of faith for me to believe that a man who mocks people with disabilities, who insults those he considers ugly or weak or expendable, would ever hold to a pro-life ethic.

Rather than being a defender of the ‘voiceless’, Donald Trump has proven over and over again to exploit those under his power.  Time and again he has used people for his advantage, and I believe he is attempting to use pro-life Christian voters to win the presidency.  I ask you, my dear friends, to take a hard look at this.

Secondly, if this is the issue that compels you to vote for Donald Trump in spite of all the disconcerting aspects of his character, I would invite you to read this excellent article by Rachel Held Evans.   I hope that it will give you a fuller perspective of why someone who considers themselves pro-life would choose the democratic candidate in this election.   Rachel’s article does a good job of articulating some reasons that have compelled me over the years to move away from seeing abortion as the one and only issue that must always decide my vote.

More Than One Issue

The Washington Post posed this question in June, “...Which is a worse sin, abortion or racism?”  While the article merely touches on the complicated nuances of what people of faith are being forced to wrestle with in this election, the suggestion is well-taken.  Maybe it is time for conservative Christian voters to unhitch their wagons from a one-issue-decides stance.

I doubt that it is even necessary to refer to the racist, hate-filled comments that Donald Trump has made over the years, and even brashly while vying for the position of ‘the leader of the free world’.  You have heard them before and quoting him only makes me angry.  But if the issue of racism has been crowded out of the spectrum of this decision for you, I would ask you to consider that the views of such a man in the most powerful public office in our nation would have a far-reaching and disastrous negative impact.  

We are, after all, a nation of immigrants.  I was raised to believe that America is a melting pot where everyone is assured the same rights and can live together as one nation.  Yet evidence of systemic racism is rampant and disturbing and constant in our daily news.  Solving these issues is an imperative that we must face in ourselves and our communities; the cost of life has been far too great.  The complexities of this issue are far beyond my ability to address.  However, it is crystal clear to me that the last thing we should do in response to such terrible racial discord is to elect a man who is endorsed by white supremacists and well-known throughout his history for bigotry.

I also doubt that I need to discuss the obvious tension that conservatives must feel about religious leaders like Jerry Falwell, Jr. declaring support for a man who openly objectifies and insults women, taking a photo opportunity with Trump right next to the proudly framed Playboy cover for which Donald posed in 1990.  Well-respected theologian Wayne Grudem even goes so far as to say that all Christians have a moral obligation to vote for Trump.  The most recent leaked ‘hot mic’ conversation reveals more of the same mind-numbing language of demeaning women.  It is not even slightly shocking anymore.  Still, in response to the offensive nature of this recording Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said, “My personal support for Donald Trump has never been based on shared values.”  I cannot help but wonder what that support is based on then, and how Mr. Perkins slept the night after reaffirming his support of a blatantly unapologetic misogynist, who boasts of sexual assault.  

Excusing this as the way that men talk, pointing to it having been recorded over 10 years ago, and accusing those who would hold him accountable for his words as “casting the first stone”, is to miss the point that this man is running for president.  He wants to lead us.  He wants to lead our children.

With all due respect, I would humbly suggest that it is time for the religious right to retire completely its self-proclaimed role as a voting block.  Has anything at all positive been gained by turning people from followers of Jesus into a united front of conservative voters?  In my years since leaving the Republican party it has become painfully clear that the world is watching and what they see certainly does not allow them to know Christians “by their love”.

It seems to me that if Jesus demonstrated any social political agenda at all, it was the care of the powerless among us, the inclusion of the disenfranchised whether they be minorities, ‘sinners’, or women.  If there was anyone that Christ openly criticized it was the hypocritical self-righteous religious leaders of the day.

National In-security

While Donald Trump has capitalized on our fear of terrorism in his campaign, I believe that we would have much more reason to fear if he were to become our Commander in Chief.  I find it difficult to understand how a man who quotes Mussolini, praises Saddam Hussein, and buddies up to Putin could make it this far in an American presidential election.  Do we really believe that we are impervious to the dangerous effects of authoritarianism?

Perhaps one of the most compelling pieces to read is the letter signed by fifty of the nation’s most senior Republican national security officials warning that Mr. Trump “lacks the character, values and experience” to be president, “would put at risk our country’s national security”, and “would be the most reckless president in American history.”

Isn’t it more than a little concerning when Putin praises Trump, calling him a “bright” person?  When asked what Mr. Trump thought of the large number of Russian journalists murdered during Putin’s presidency, he answered, “He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader, you know unlike what we have in this country.”  Shouldn’t this scare us?

Being that Donald Trump has been light on giving details when discussing foreign policy outside of adjectives like “tremendous” and “disaster”, it is difficult to comment on actual policies.  My objections have to do with the lack of character necessary to be our Commander in Chief.  I cannot help but quote Hillary in saying, “A man that you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”

In contrast, when democratic leaders were challenged by Carly Fiorina to name Hillary Clinton’s greatest accomplishment, the answers made it clear that it was hard to narrow it down and many were related to her expertise in the area of foreign policy.

While you may not agree with all of her policies, I believe that her character and experience as a public servant are much more in line with the person that I would want making the national security decisions that impact us all.  I love that she has advocated for women’s rights around the world.  I appreciate that she has experience negotiating international treaties that have reduced nuclear weapons and made the world a safer place.  

I believe that Hillary Clinton has our best interest in mind while I believe that Donald Trump’s interests are much more simplistic:  his own.

Is There Anyone We Can Trust?

As is typical in any election, mistrust of our candidates’ words and records is rampant.  While the mistrust surrounding Hillary has gone to the extreme of hearing “lock her up!” at Trump rallies, I believe that some healthy fact-checking proves it all to be incredibly overblown.  A deeper dive into the unfolding of the email scandal explains why the FBI concluded that there was enough “lack of criminal intent,” that the actions of Clinton’s team could not be classified as crime.

I am far from tech savvy… I am the one that needs to ask her kids or her husband for tech support on what must seem to them as the simplest of tasks at times.  Still, they kindly control their eye-rolling and patiently give me the help that I need without judgment.  This is why it has been difficult for me to believe that a grandmother who, while Secretary of State, emailed her aides to find out how to get “smiley faces” (i.e. emojis) on her phone, had the tech savvy to carry out a nefarious plot involving a personal email server.  If she is anything like me, it is doubtful that she previously truly knew what it meant to have a personal email server.  In fact, it is to me far more believable to picture Hillary Clinton as a technophobic executive, that made ill-advised decisions due to a hectic schedule and a poor understanding of the underlying technology.

For context, it might be helpful to look into the over 22 million emails lost during the presidency of George W. Bush.  Or at the practice of Colin Powell who himself used a personal email address during his time as Secretary of State.  Or at this memo indicating that both Secretaries Powell and Rice have transmitted classified information via personal email addresses during their time in office.  Or at this list of other Republican politicians that have been in embroiled in controversies over their own use of private email addresses and servers. For some reason, Ms. Clinton is being held to a different standard.  According to Newsweek, “Clinton’s email habits look positively transparent when compared with the subpoena-dodging, email-hiding, private-server-using George W. Bush administration.”  In other words, this is far from a new problem and Hillary’s emails contain much less damaging content in comparison.  You can also find a book on amazon entitled:  White House Email:  The Top Secret Messages the Reagan/Bush White House Tried to Destroy.

What is confusing to me is that so many believe that Donald Trump is more trustworthy than Hillary Clinton.  The website Politifact gives a detailed accounting of fact checking on statements made by both of our presidential candidates and the scorecard results are clear.  Between the two and by a massive margin, Donald Trump is the candidate that should not be trusted.

(Further fact-checking about Hillary Clinton, Benghazi, and those emails can be found here.  The top ten myths about Hillary are debunked here.)

While Trump supporters believe that what our country needs is someone who will run it like a profitable business, I believe it is wise to look closer at the ethics of his business practices.  I cannot imagine that such reckless, litigious, hype and narcissism is how we want our country to be run.  Mr. Trump has proven to be far from honest and trustworthy as a businessman.  Let’s not give him the chance to change the course of American history.

The Danger of Mud Slinging

I understand that Hillary Clinton is not perfect, no one is and in any election we can be sure that the flaws of our candidates will be on display.  I have noticed that my more politically vocal facebook friends in recent weeks have shifted their comments about the election from Trump support to more anti-Hillary articles.  I recently read an open letter to Hillary Clinton from a mom who said she wishes she could tell her daughters that she will be a president that they can look up to but instead listed the reasons that she cannot.

Would this mom prefer that her daughters have a president who openly speaks of women in the most vile and disgusting of terms, even going so far as to publicly sexualize his own daughters?  Would she prefer that we go back to the politics and business culture of ages past when women were only as valuable as their bodies and their appearance made them to be?  Is Trump’s world of accepted sexual objectification what she would prefer to raise her daughters in?

I cannot help but question the benefit of continuing to sling mud at the woman who will most likely be the first female President of the United States.  Instead I would ask my friends to look deeper at the motives of the news services that continue in this vein while a very dangerous man’s leadership is our alternative.

Summing Up

I believe that in reality we are all the same, we want the same things.  We want peace and we want justice.  We want safety and security for our families and our loved ones.  We simply have differing views of how to attain those things.

The reason that so many of us do not resonate with Donald Trump’s rally cry of ‘making America great again’ is that we do not believe there was a pristine time in American history when American ideals of liberty and opportunity existed without the social ills of oppression, sexism, racism and greed.  We know that our nation began with native American genocide and was built with the labor of slaves.  We are not interested in more of what America was before the civil rights movement.   We see how far we have come in terms of freedom for all.  We long for more of what we have gained and we do not believe that we need to be bullies or bullied in order to attain peace.  Most importantly, we are confident that Donald Trump is not the one to lead us into greatness.