“ . . . ugly sewage whore . . .”
This was a label applied recently to a colleague who, until last month, led diversity programs at the Bank Street School for Children in Manhattan. It was among the few things written about her that the Valley News will print.
The woman, of Indian descent, was mentioned in a New York Post article about Bank Street’s diversity programs, which include conversations with white children about racial identity. The Calhoun School, where I serve as head, has similar programs, as do many schools around the country.
The New York Post article was sarcastic and inaccurate — not surprising for a paper that is sensational and no more credible than any other supermarket tabloid. Its author claimed that Bank Street was shaming white children by discussing their privilege and making them feel responsible for and guilty about slavery and racism. That’s nonsense, of course. Bank Street, Calhoun and other schools that do diversity work are not instilling guilt or shame. Our programs are a wonderful way to develop understanding around race and racial identity. But I don’t write to explain or defend diversity work. I write because I am frightened about what is happening in America.
The Post article drew thousands of comments, most of which ridiculed Bank Street for “political correctness,” “reverse racism,” “indoctrination” and other alleged sins of progressivism. This backlash to anti-racism work, to Black Lives Matter, and to diversity work generally, is not entirely new. The political climate for some time has been reactionary. Many people are convinced that racism is a thing of the past, that any discussion of race is “playing the race card,” that affirmative action is reverse racism and that we should all be colorblind.
But we have entered a new and frightening phase of this reaction to social justice work and I believe it is being enabled and inflamed by Donald Trump’s campaign.
The original Post story went viral. My school, mentioned only in passing, received several calls from out of state, threatening, among other things, to “take us down.” The Bank Street School received hundreds of threatening phone calls, letters and anonymous digital communications. Extremist organizations all over America reposted the article with their own virulently racist commentary.
The woman from Bank Street received death threats. Her address and phone number were posted on white supremacist websites. Many commenters on these sites incited one another to go to Bank Street School and wait outside for the b—-. At her suggestion I Googled her name and was astonished at the depth and breadth of the character assassination and open, vicious threats to her well-being, all because she loves children and wishes to advance a civil and just society. Months before this article appeared, she had announced her resignation, as she planned to relocate. Now she despairs that she is unemployable because of this controversy. Even institutions that are committed to diversity work may be reluctant to engage someone who has unwittingly become such a lighting rod.
Thanks to his own narcissism, incompetence and ignorance, it appears that Donald Trump will not be president of the United States. But his sarcastic, thinly veiled invitations to violence will reverberate long after the election. He has declared his desire to punch those who disagree with him. He has directed supporters to beat up protestors. He thinks water-boarding is insufficient torture for our alleged enemies. He thinks we should kill mothers and children who associate with terrorists. He not so subtly suggested that the “Second Amendment” folks could take care of Hillary Clinton.
The dark underbelly of America is not primarily a product of the Trump campaign, but white supremacists, anti-Semites, racists and bigots tended to stay confined to their own insular communities until Trump opened the door and legitimized their anger and resentment. My colleague is among many, including me, who have been the targets of this simmering anger.
I’m sure that the vast majority of threats are empty rhetoric. In the anonymous murk of social media and online comment threads, most vile language and threats of violence don’t pose a literal risk. But it only takes a few ignorant, unhinged people to take the bait that Trump offers.
Empowered by the explicit urging of a wealthy, seemingly powerful leader, there will be angry men whose barstool braggadocio will bloom to delusions of grandeur and they will act. It is not substantially different from the dynamics that breed the ideologically inspired terror fomented by ISIS. A manipulative leader convinces people that they are the victims of injustice and that they are entitled to take things into their own hands as a matter of divine justice.
Donald Trump is that kind of man and it is the greatest danger he poses.
Steve Nelson lives in Sharon and New York City, where he is the head of the Calhoun School, a private school. He can be reached at steve.nelson@calhoun.org.