Blaming diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the aviation collision that killed 67 people in the Washington, D.C., area isn’t simply “inappropriate,” “sad” or “playing politics.” It’s the equivalent of Donald Trump and his merry band of nitwits ringing a bell they hope angry, knuckle-dragging MAGA cult members will hear loudly and clearly.
The only question is whether Trump is doing this specifically so Black Americans who didn’t support him can be harmed or if he’s doing it recklessly with no regard for whether Black folks will be harmed. Once the violence starts, I doubt anyone will care which was which.
Ask Asian Americans if it was only “inappropriate,” “sad” or “playing politics” when Trump called the coronavirus the “China virus.” That moniker, tossed out in an extended moment of national fear and pain, sparked random and vicious violence against Asian Americans.
The same could very easily happen again now that Trump and the MAGA folks are blaming any and everything on DEI, which many (inaccurately) view as primarily benefiting Black folks.
A ship crashes into a bridge near Baltimore? DEI. Fires range out of control in Los Angeles? DEI. And now, a horrific mid-air collision kills scores near the nation’s capital. What else? Even before all of the bodies were pulled from the Potomac River, Trump was blaming DEI, which, again, is viewed as a program that helps us. He said the administration of the nation’s first Black president put out a report determining that the Federal Aviation Authority was, in Trump’s words, “too white.” He later said race or gender “may have” been a factor in the collision.
Blame a people loudly enough and long enough and someone is going to decide to do something about it.
How long will it be before some MAGA screwball jumps a Black person on the street, convinced he didn’t get that promotion he sought because DEI dictated it went to someone else? Maybe the MAGA cultist will be getting revenge for some calamity Trump said happened because of DEI.
What’s “inappropriate” and “sad” is the inability of Black leaders to accurately read this moment and call out this racist DEI-blame for what it is - a looming and growing physical threat to Black Americans. No one is expecting Trump to be politically neutered right now. He and the cultists won; they will “govern” - at least until the midterm elections, when a disgusted electorate could decide it wants at least some modicum of sanity in Washington.
What’s needed now is every Black elected with a megaphone to get on TV and get on editorial pages to tell people this anti-DEI stuff could lead to violence. Indeed, given the recent example of what happened to Asian Americans, there is no reason to believe the DEI blame game won’t lead to violence.
Perhaps, if we’re lucky, such calls will turn the temperature down a tick or two, and that might reduce the threat. Maybe a few of the cultists not yet in the deepest depths of the MAGA rabbit hole will be chastened.
This is a dangerous moment. Will someone, for the love of God, grab the bullhorn and say so?