Stop with the “White America” talk

By: Dylan Brennan, Columnist

I’m going to start this article off with a light hearted quote from Towson’s second-most famous graduate, Mike Rowe.

“Somebody’s gotta do it.”

Over the past few weeks since Trump won, I’ve heard this term used often by the liberal left for the miserable political climate we’re in: White America. I’ve heard a lot of my friends and family scoff at this term and say why people shouldn’t use it, so here I am to speak their minds as well as mine. I am writing this column because I want to highlight the hypocrisy of using the term “White America,” and how disappointed I am that even our vice president of Student Affairs has used this phrase without understanding how inaccurate and, dare I say, inflammatory it is.

Let’s get straight to the point here. The word is a blanket insult, mainly because it’s almost always used by white people who just so happen to exclude themselves from this “White America” they’re talking about. The reason is because they mean it in a derogatory way, saying that most, if not all white people but they and their friends, are ignorant, racist hicks who don’t know anything. This would be the equivalent of saying “Black America” is comprised of only criminals or “Muslim America” is a terrorist cell. It’s a disgusting generalization, and if you think that’s a hyperbolic exaggeration, they highlight how “White America” is basically in that same category, because they follow the “they’re one of the good ones” logic for excluded Caucasian members, such as themselves.

I understand that Deb Moriarty, our vice president of Student Affairs, didn’t mean it in a derogatory way, as she was insisting on listening to “White America,” but she shouldn’t have used the term. I have many non-white Trump supporter friends, who range from Armenian to one who is biracial Mexican-Japanese. Stop pretending that it’s just “White America” who supports Trump, and stop using a blanket term to describe Trump supporters, especially since it doesn’t even fit. Painting with broad brushes hardly ever makes a presentable piece of art, and the art of speech is the most important skill to bridge the political divide.

I don’t want an apology from Vice President Moriarty, since I know she genuinely didn’t mean it as an insult. But there are too many people out there that could not care less, like Laci Green, who we nearly had on campus and blamed “White America” for giving us “fascist” rule, going back on her heartfelt tweet stating we had to unite under our next president before the election was over. If we are to come together after Trump’s victory, we have to start by stop stereotyping and insulting the people who voted for him. You can debate them, criticize them, or even argue with them. But until we stop using the term “White America,” we won’t be respecting them.

 

 

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