The History That Donald Trump Doesn't Want America to Know: Lynching

Courtney Portlock, Head of Diversity at our school at the time, and I taught a two-week course on Issues of Diversity during a special term between the Winter and Spring Terms. We covered a range of topics and included racism in the course. Once you educate young people on those vast arrays of topics, including antisemitism, it is difficult to avoid the issues. Trump has used antisemitism to gain control over the various workings of colleges and universities. What he is doing is using an important issue to get to what he really wants which is control over everything.

Trump is pushing programs against what he refers to as woke, ignoring that the word means to be awake to injustice.

He has removed any trace of the importance of black history or DEI. He wants to cancel the reality of our history and remove black people from the conversations around what their lives have been like and their important contributions to our history.

It reminds me of the era at West Point when the greatest punishment was not to speak to the person who has made the infraction. It made the targeted cadet invisible. It relegated him to the world of never existing. Fortunately, West Point stopped this practice. But Trump and his allies have picked it up as he knows its power.  Trump knows all the skills to be a dictator. He practices them daily. His lies are easily challenged and corrected on media writings and programs that are not controlled by him. He has appointed allies to important positions in his administration. The allies are there to support him and not the Constitution. His days in the White House are a revenge tour of his perceived enemies.

Courtney Portlock has a deep understanding of and can see why the N word is seen as a terrible word to use. In fact, she was invited to a local independent school to speak about the subject of the N word. She took me and our class with her. She made a statement that sent chills down my spine. She indicated, “that the N word is so abhorrent because it may be the last word that the person lynched would possibly hear. We must see that word in the context of a lynching as a public event where children were also invited to attend. It was a time of celebration and entertainment for white people.” What a powerful message.

In the article below quoting James Cone was written by Michael Gerson. He writes about lynching speaking to the horror that is part of our history that Trump and others want to forget. Dr. Cone is a Methodist minister who received his PH.D. from Northwestern University and taught at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. His books have influenced a great many people including me.

It is somewhat ironic that when our course in Diversity concluded on a Friday, that afternoon I received a phone call when I returned to my office at the end of the day from an alumni representative from the 50^th reunion class. The 50^th reunion class chooses the speaker for our alumni chapel service which begins Alumni Weekend. He indicated that the class had unanimously chosen a transgender member of this all-male conservative class.

I asked him why they had chosen Clemmie Engle as their speaker for this important occasion. He said, “We chose Clemmie because she was the best student, athlete, and nicest person in our class who has gone on to make significant progress through the law to advance understanding about gay and transgender rights. We love her.” I indicated to this member of the class that I wanted him to introduce Clemmie using those exact words that he used to describe her to me.

Why? Because that class of conservative individuals for the most part KNEW her. My philosophy regarding diversity is quite simple. Once you get to know the other (anyone different from us), for all that they are, all the labels drop off.

When the day finished after Clemmie’s address, Vicki and I had dinner with the 50^th reunion class. When it concluded, Clemmie and I spoke privately. She was in tears because of the warm reception she received from the community as she had received a standing ovation when she finished her chapel address. Among other things, she received that because of the introduction that I asked her classmate to do.

Trump’s anti DEI policies are the opposite of my view and create further division in our nation. He doesn’t want people to get to know immigrants and others the way that 50^th reunion class wanted the school community to get to know Clemmie, to become woke or awakened to injustice and correct it.

Think of Courtney Portlock’s words about the N word as you read Michael Gerson’s article below.

Words by Michael Gerson