I like to think that I am a fairly smart person and that I keep up on politics and current events really well. Not just what happens but the reason for it. Sometimes, I even read political science articles on different subjects on my own, I know it is nerdy, but I like to know things. That's just part of my personality. Sometimes I can be arrogant in my views on politics and on law, I know I shouldn't but my ego isn't always under control. Still, I try really hard to know as much as I can about the world. I try to be aware.
Having studied political science for four years now and being an international studies co-major I feel like I have pretty well informed political views, I try to read from numerous news sources and not just stick with only one or two. But recently I have been having a really hard time understanding the recent movement in America called the Tea Party and the republicans and conservatives that have either joined or are riding the band wagon. I have seen a tremendous amount of hate, real vicious hatred, that is pointed at the President, lead Democrats and just liberals in general. I have also heard of taking back the country, of taking back the civil rights movement and of getting back to the way the country use to be. And it scares me a little, it really does. More than once I heard of people saying we need to return to the way that our founders did it, turn back the clock 100 or more years. I feel like people who say this are mostly not in the racial minority category. Which is to say those that I have heard and seen are white. I don't believe that the Tea party movement is all white or all republican, because I've researched it fairly well. But what I do think is that the majority of this movement is massively angry, sometimes misinformed and far too accepting of people with very bigoted beliefs. Again this scares me.
Through out my life I've always known I wasn't white, but I grew up in a small town in Kansas and I assume I led a fairly normal life in America. Yes, sometimes my family celebrated the Chinese New Year, but we celebrate the other one too. We celebrated the 4th of July and Christmas too, they were always my favorites. We went to church, it was a United Methodist church. I was swim captain my Junior year. I am half-Chinese and half-caucasian. One hundred years ago I would not have been accepted in this country. My parents would most likely have been shunned and hated, as would have my sister and I. Please understand this, when this country was founded only people considered White were free, not the blacks, not the Asians and not the Native Americans. Please don't take back this country. Please don't turn back the clock. I like living here, in this country, in this America. I don't want it to turn into what it was, I don't want to have to hate Muslims, or gays, or whites or blacks. I want to be able to understand this movement, I want to believe that it is only about less spending, only about smaller government and not about fear and hate, but right now I can't believe it. I have never in my life felt scared to live in this country as a mixed race person. Never. Not even when students at my high school talked about burning down my house because I let the gay club use it for meetings, not when a one time friend wanted to fight me because he thought I was gay. That ruined my senior year of high school. I wouldn't have gotten through that with out my family and friends (both gay and straight) and support from members of Trinity Heights (my church). But I wasn't afraid then. So would someone please tell me when all this became ok? When arson at the future site of a mosque in Tennessee, when signs and shirts with hate-filled racial remarks were acceptable, when any politicians were ok with ANY of this, when reporters for the most watched News Station in the US would allow hatred and bigotry to be aired over and over again, to wish and pray for the death of the President, to vandalize the offices of Congressional Representatives because you don't like their vote, WHEN DID THIS BECOME OK? SOMEONE JUST TELL ME. SOMEONE JUST EXPLAIN IT TO ME! Please, I don't understand and it scares me. I really mean it, I need someone to explain all of it to me. Because if all of this is now mainstream, all of this is let slide, to hate people because of what religion they practice, or because they are on the opposite side of a political issue, then it is ok to hate me. Then this really isn't the country I thought I grew up in. Someone please… I don't understand.
Thank you to anyone who reads this and to anyone who responds. I appreciate that you took time to consider my note and thoughts.
Cole Hwa Davis wrote this in his note on Facebook.
