As a licensed clinical social worker of 40 years, I am truly concerned about people who may suffer in our country after the election.
My heart sank when I read the Nov. 9 AJC article “Racist texts sent to Black youths.” The article reported that Black youths were receiving anonymous text messages that said they should report as slaves to the nearest plantation to pick cotton and warned the recipient to be on time. It’s a clear reference to the pre-Civil War era when Black Americans were enslaved and forced, sometimes violently, to work.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
I am white and my children are white. They did not and will not receive such texts. However, my Black and Brown friends, coworkers and patients do worry they or their children will receive such texts.
A Nov. 10 letter to the editor, “The people spoke-and democracy won,” stated “both sides should accept that the people have spoken.” The letter writer said, “my hope is that Americans can now come together and look to the future.” I agree the people have spoken, and, fortunately, no one on either side so far is contesting the election results this go around.
But these text messages clearly show that Americans are not coming together. This election has emboldened those who harbor dark feelings to be public with their hatefulness. We shouldn’t assume that the text messages came from a Trump supporter, but that the texts appeared after Donald Trump was reelected president, implies that some of his supporters, rather than celebrating his victory and engaging on ways to bring the country together, are using it to further divide and to alienate Black Americans.
If the source of these disturbing, racist messages is found, that person or people must be prosecuted. Could anything be more clearly hate speech?
We can show the world that American ideals still exist by calling out these racist texts to young Black people — even a 13-year-old reported receiving one of these odious texts — as wrong.
I recommend that the young people who have received these abhorrent text messages report them to their parents, to their schools, to the phone providers from which they get their service and to local authorities. We should ask our pastors, priests, rabbis, imams and other spiritual leaders to speak up publicly about this. We must document what our communities have done to expose this racism and what action it is taking to alleviate it. Parents, schools and churches should be prepared to offer counseling to the affected students. I can’t imagine the fear that might wash over these students as they consider that their place in the country they love, their home, is being attacked.
These racist text messages highlight the tragic hatred some Americans feel for people with darker skin. One of the major goals of the incoming administration, something Trump campaigned on and has talked about for years, is to deport immigrants, including asylum-seekers, and to stop them from even entering the country.
Good Americans can show the world that democracy has won by encouraging our government to continue to give asylum to people who are in danger of persecution, starvation and death in their home countries. Congress can pass an immigration bill that would give border agents and adjudicators the resources they need to sift through everything that comes their way so the people at genuine risk get a full and fair hearing. We all agree that criminals need to be caught and dealt with. But we can’t criminalize those folks who desperately need relief, and we can’t let them suffer because the authorities can’t get to their cases. Unless you are Native American, this same protection was most likely granted to your own ancestors (and without visas in the early days).
It’s also worth noting that our country was founded on separation of church and state. Some white folks — we called them pilgrims, and we soon will celebrate their arrival in the Americas — came to the shores centuries ago because they didn’t have freedom of religion and were persecuted. They were actually escaping Christian churches. That’s the reason we have the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, no national religion and enshrining freedom of worship. We must extend the same protection accorded our ancestors to those who may worship differently than we do.
These racist text messages should spur all good Americans to support all of our children and to recommit to the qualities that make America that shining city on the hill.
Ellen Cliburn Slack is a licensed clinical social worker.
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