When he won the US presidential elections in 2016, the world watched in utter shock and dismay. Mr. Donald J. Trump, after all, was a man who had broken all election campaign norms and conventions.
He began his campaign in New York City with a visceral and nasty attack on Mexican immigrants, calling them drug dealers and rapists, thereby deliberately and intentionally setting the stage for what is being unleashed today.
Unpredictable, immensely reckless, mendacious, vulgar, brash, crude, narcissistic and prone to outlandish statements, Mr. Trump has done a lot in his relatively short time in office to alarm, shock and traumatize planet earth.
And, to add to our collective misery, the guy still has 1095 days in the White House, that is, three long years to torment and bully us, in fact, a considerable amount of time for him to project his ugly racism and pour unmitigated scorn and disdain on the poor, weak and marginalized people of the world.
At a White House policy proposal meeting early last week that featured only white men, Mr. Trump made incendiary remarks about 54 African nations, Haiti and El Salvador. He branded them “shit hole countries” and wondered why their citizens were allowed to migrate to the United States.
Shockingly, Mr. Trump did not help matters when he suggested that Norwegien citizens who are predominately white, would be better migrants. Mr. Trump’s uncouth observations, ignorant and deeply offensive as they were, encountered anger, vitriol and overwhelming rejection around the world, setting off a firestorm of protests.
The United Nations condemned Mr. Trump outrageous and provocative comments, and so did the African Union. In fact, US ambassadors on the continent were officially summoned and sternly lectured about their president’s stunning lack of decorum and etiquette.
Our own leader, Mr. Nana Akuffo Addo was one of the strong voices to come out against Mr. Trump. He reportedly told the American diplomatic representative that: Ghana is not a shithole nation. My compliments to Nana.
Suffice it to say the world has had enough of Mr. Trump’s antics; it is finally standing up to the American bully, his irritating arrogance and petulance.Yes of course, it is gratifying to see the world put Mr. Trump in his place and the new found courage and strength to stand up to the American bully is certainly both refreshing and heartening.
In other words, the world community is telling Mr. Trump directly and unambiguously that his words and actions are harsh, cruel, insensitive and detrimental to international cooperation. The world would rather Mr. Trump stops dehumanizing people of color, Africans and Hispanics.
As the condemnation of Mr. Trump continues to gather steam, I am scratching my head to fully understand his hostility towards brown and black immigrants; apparently, he has chosen to ignore his own background.
Mr. Trump is unmistakably and undoubtedly the product of immigrants. His grandfather was a German immigrant who came to America shores without speaking a word of English; his mother came from Scotland, and his first and third wives — Mr. Trump has been married three times — are Eastern Europeans.
Mr. Trump’s disparaging remarks about African migrants are not consistent with facts on the ground. As an African migrant who has been a long time resident of the United State, I can state emphatically and categorically that Africans are productive citizens of their adopted homeland.
They are highly educated, law-abiding and hardworking. They have contributed and continue to contribute to the development of the United States. To portray them as unworthy and irrelevant to the American project is to deny the obvious.
While it is absolutely important that Mr. Trump is told the gains in modern Africa, that Africa has made great strides, that Africa has some of the world’s fastest growing economies and that it is poised to become an important player in world affairs in the next couple of decades, his ugly and racist remarks should inspire our political leaders to continue to work hard to reduce poverty, make education accessible and strengthen their economies. That is the only way we Africans will get the respect we richly deserve on the international stage.
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