Charlottesville terror

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” is writ large on the Statue of Liberty in New York. Yet today, that idea of an open, liberal, inclusive nation is under serious challenge and from the highest of offices.

Putting aside for a moment Russian interference in last year’s presidential election process, the support that Obama’s successor Donald Trump today commands among some sections of the electorate is a sign that the more things change, the more they stay the same. So much for a “post-race” USA.

Trump’s initial failure to denounce, explicitly, the actions of white supremacists who gathered in Charlottesville to protest the removal of a statue of confederate general Robert E Lee, has only served to worsen an atmosphere of dread and danger in the nation he presides over.

The vagueness of the president’s condemnation of the hateful violence (that saw one man plow into a crowd, murdering a woman in the process) is in stark contrast to his swift condemnation of video footage which emerged last November showing Richard Spencer crying out, “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail our victory!” Back then, Trump minced no words.

“I disavow, and I condemn,” he said of alt-right neo-Nazi groups.

The President’s dangerous relaxation of his stance against racist entities comes mere weeks after he sought to unilaterally – and via a tweet – ban transgender persons from serving openly in the US military.

The move, coming after yet another failed attempt to dismantle key healthcare laws introduced by Obama, demonstrated the president’s determination to dismantle the policies of his predecessor, even if it involves sanctioning discrimination and undermining his own authority as commander-in-chief by going counter to the wishes of top members of the military.

We have good reason to be concerned by all these developments.

The US is home to millions of persons tied to the Caribbean diaspora.

It is estimated there are more than 400,000 Trinidadian Americans alone living in the US. Thousands of other nationals from other islands also reside there. And thousands more transit through the country, for work, business or vacation.

When an environment exists in which a white supremacist feels emboldened to commit what can only be described as a brazen act of terrorism, this is a direct threat to all who come into contact with that environment.

However, US law enforcement officials were swift to apprehend the culprit. He has been charged with second degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and failing to stop at “an accident that resulted in death”. But the relevance of all of this to us is not limited to the diaspora’s direct ties to the States.

After all, it was Martin Luther King who said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” America sets the tone among global superpowers and elsewhere and developments there have a direct impact on the social conditions of countries far and wide.

Furthermore, developments on US soil such as those over the weekend affect America’s credibility and its ability to influence other regimes with respect to human rights and comity.

If America is unable to heal its wounds and to bridge the gap between its warring sides, we all suffer.

And we will all be in store for more terror.